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Last year, when Origin hit the Internet, many of us thought that its only purpose was to allow EA a way to release Battlefield 3 without having to use Steam, and, for the most part, we were right. But when Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third showed up on Origin, it was starting to look like the service could actually take a chunk, albeit a minor one, out of Steam’s market. Well, that chunk just got significantly larger, because EA has added eleven New Publishers to their digital distribution service. So far, the Trion Worlds MMO RIFT is the only new game that’s available, but very soon titles from CD Projekt RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games will become available. 
Even with a slew of new publishers, it’s doubtful that gamers will actually make the switch from Steam to Origin in large numbers. But competition is a very good thing, so we hope to see Origin continue to grow. By Josh Engen |