Electronic Arts has just announced that their launcher, EA Origin, is permanently shutting down… but don’t get too excited, because you’re not rid of it for good.
As revealed on EA’s official site, EA Origin will be shutting down operations in roughly three months time.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news, as Origin will be getting replaced by EA’s latest launcher: the “EA App.”
“The EA app for Windows is Electronic Arts’ all-new, enhanced platform,” they explain in the FAQ section on the EA website, “where you can easily play your favorite games. The app provides a streamlined and optimized user interface that gets you into your games faster than ever before.”
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Ok, so, why exactly are they bothering? What’s the point of shutting down Origin, if they’re only going to replace it with a new launcher that does the exact same thing?
Well, as it turns out, it’s not entirely EA’s fault.
As they state elsewhere on the FAQ, Origin will be shutting down on April 17 “as Microsoft has stopped supporting 32-bit software.”
This does mean that, if you aren’t using a Windows 11 OS you can’t actually install EA’s latest launcher… which would also mean that several of your games would become permanently unplayable.
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Dozens of EA games actually require you to authenticate them on launch through the EA app, which means that playing them would now be impossible on a 32-bit version of Windows.
They also clarified that if you’re a Mac OS user, Origin isn’t actually going anywhere - as Mac OS isn’t making the shift to a 64-bit operating system any time soon.
Origin will be joining several defunct EA launchers once it goes offline in April, such as EA Downloader, EA Link, and the EA Download Manager.
Who wants to take bets on what the next launcher is called after the EA App?