EA eliminating Origin brand with new EA Desktop app

Electronic Arts is ditching the Origin name for something new: EA plans to replace it with a revamped desktop app (called EA Desktop), and “double down” on the EA Play branding, according to a report from GamesBeat.

EA describes its new app as a “next-generation PC gaming platform.” Using the EA Desktop app, players can subscribe to EA’s game’s subscription services, EA Play and EA Play Pro — the publisher’s recent rebrand of the EA Access service. Players can then download these games onto their PC and play them for as long as they hold the subscription.

With this rebrand and relaunch, EA will eliminate the Origin name from its suite of products. EA senior vice president Michael Blank told GamesBeat the new EA Desktop app will be faster than Origin, and let players engage with their games more conveniently. Origin, which launched in 2011, has a reputation for being slow and cumbersome, as a platform, which may be a factor in EA’s overhaul.

This news comes only a few months after EA started migrating its PC titles to Steam.

When the transfer happens, players will maintain their EA Origin game licenses and friends lists on the EA Desktop app. It’s currently unclear when EA will end Origin for good, and transition to EA Desktop.