New EA Origin interface is live after extended beta test

The new design makes the service a lot easier to use ... and tolerate.

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Electronic Arts has known that it needed to upgrade Origin. There were plenty of complaints about about clunky and unintuitive the service was. In late July, word got out that an update was in beta, and much of what was shown offered hope that EA had heard the cries and lamentations of users.

Now, the new design is out in the wild, having been in the works for two and a half years, with 10 developers working on the storefront since September of last year.

As always, EA said it will continue to take feedback, but the new changes look pretty good, and going form checking your library to finding friends online seems a lot easier than it was before.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 16, 2016 9:19 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, New EA Origin interface is live after extended beta test

    • reply
      September 16, 2016 9:30 AM

      [deleted]

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        September 16, 2016 9:32 AM

        Can get in on the OMGITSNOTTHEORIGINIAMUSEDTO instead?

        I like the new notification center and the menus have more useful stuff, but the sidebar on the left is annoying to me. When did the world lose access to their menu bars or are they just not hip anymore?

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        September 16, 2016 9:36 AM

        [deleted]

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        September 16, 2016 2:33 PM

        That's basically every post about Origin in the last 5+ years. I don't get the hate for it.

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          September 16, 2016 2:34 PM

          [deleted]

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            September 16, 2016 2:37 PM

            There is only one more feature I need from Origin. Gifting. Why haven't they introduced that yet? Does Valve have a patent? Why the hell do I have to go to Amazon most the time to get a gift for someone on Origin.

            Blah.

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              September 16, 2016 3:04 PM

              Agreed. Even Blizzards' gifting implementation is terrible.

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              September 16, 2016 3:13 PM

              True, this is a valid complaint.

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          September 16, 2016 3:03 PM

          Same, it's stable and unobtrusive and it works. I have zero issues with using Origin.

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          September 16, 2016 3:07 PM

          Neither do I. Origin isn't fantastic, but it's not terrible either. It gets the job done.

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            September 16, 2016 3:12 PM

            Yeah, if it wanted to get fancy, integrated forums, mods and community pages would be nice. Permanent groups like Steam would be an extra bonus.

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              September 16, 2016 3:18 PM

              Basically become Steam.

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                September 16, 2016 3:21 PM

                Well...if they want to innovate other features I am fine with that too. But, those are the frills on Steam I would eventually like. Bare minimum as I said above is gifting. I get that and I have no real complaints. Everything else is bonus on the working effective wrapper.

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          September 16, 2016 3:30 PM

          [deleted]

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            September 16, 2016 3:35 PM

            I thought the last time I moved something Origin just detected it. Granted I keep two Origin folders, but on different drives so maybe that structure helps?

            My origin detects my dragon age that I have installed on Steam for whatever reason too.

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      September 16, 2016 10:04 AM

      will it remember my login info after it updates?

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        September 16, 2016 10:10 AM

        it did for me in the mac os version. haven't had the chance to try it out on windows yet.

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        September 16, 2016 10:14 AM

        [deleted]

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          September 16, 2016 10:32 AM

          the old version, every time it updated id have to type in all my stuff over again, so annoying

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        September 16, 2016 1:59 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 16, 2016 3:20 PM

        I haven't had that problem for a while. I don't remember when they mostly fixed it, but it was attached to a notable update.

        The only time it asks is when it's been months since I last opened Origin which, honestly, is probably fair enough.

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      September 16, 2016 10:35 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 16, 2016 3:17 PM

      Notable improvement, DLC is mostly now visible (though hidden away under a separate tab), BioWare points are still around but now appear to be consolidated and sale codes universally apply to them, which is an improvement.

      However the interface still doesn't support window snapping and the minimum window size is still about 60% of 1920.

      At least Win+↓ now actually restores? Though I guess they could argue that Origin doubled the support for snapping related behaviors since previously only Win+↑ worked.

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        September 16, 2016 3:25 PM

        Not having a cart is still irritating, single item purchase is dumb.

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      September 16, 2016 4:06 PM

      [deleted]

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      September 16, 2016 6:51 PM

      Since the update all Ive been getting is "Origin has encountered a serious problem and must close"
      Cant play any games - Anyone know a fix thanks Mick

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