EA's Origin App, launched in 2011 as a rival to Steam, failed to gain widespread adoption due to a cumbersome user experience and frustrating login procedures. Now, EA is replacing Origin with the EA app, a move that unfortunately comes with some significant drawbacks.
Users who exclusively used Origin might lose access to their purchased games unless they actively transfer their accounts to the new EA app. This transition also leaves users of 32-bit operating systems in the lurch, as the EA app only supports 64-bit systems. While Steam also dropped 32-bit support earlier in 2024, this highlights concerns about digital ownership and access to purchased content.
Most modern PCs (those built within the last five years) will already be running 64-bit operating systems. A simple RAM check can confirm this; 32-bit systems are limited to a maximum of 4GB of RAM. However, users with 32-bit Windows installations will need to perform a complete system reinstall to upgrade to a 64-bit version.
The shift away from 32-bit support, while not unexpected, raises questions about the long-term accessibility of digital game libraries. The issue isn't unique to EA; Valve's Steam platform also dropped 32-bit support, leaving some users without access to their games.
This situation is further complicated by increasingly prevalent invasive digital rights management (DRM) solutions like Denuvo. These often require extensive system access or impose arbitrary installation limits, regardless of legitimate purchase.
A potential solution for preserving digital game ownership is to utilize platforms like GOG (owned by CD Projekt), which offers DRM-free games. Downloading a title from GOG guarantees access regardless of future hardware changes, provided the game is compatible. While this approach opens the door to piracy, it hasn't prevented new releases, with the upcoming Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 slated for release on the platform.
