Origin strikes again.

From the “unsurprising, but annoying news” department comes this tidbit from Bioware. Chris Priestly, Bioware community manager has confirmed that Mass Effect 3 will only be available on Origin and require the service for a one-time activation. This activation includes all physical copies of Mass Effect 3.

He then gave the same routine that EA has given from day one since Battlefield 3 was made an Origin exclusive: “Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content.” This is a tired line now, and I’m not even sure why they are spinning it. EA is trying to grow Origin to compete with Steam, and EA clearly thinks the best way to accomplish that goal is to make Origin the exclusive platform for its marquis games: Battlefield 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and now Mass Effect 3.

you know its a good thing. when steams down u can always lawl @ bf3

EA’s Origin service is facing an uphill battle, despite having exclusive titles such as Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3. Origin has had numerous reported issues with delivery of games taking days to show up in libraries, and clueless Origin service representatives have become the butt of many jokes. These unnecessary difficulties have led many to lament having to use the service, typically opting to use other digital distribution platforms for all games that aren’t exclusive to Origin itself.

Undeterred from these sentiments, EA is looking to continue growing Origin by signing on more publishers and bolstering its library of available games. Some of the larger names include CD Projekt RED, the studio behind the hit Witcher series, and Trion Worlds, makers of the popular MMO Rift. Also being added are games from Paradox Interactive, Robot Entertainment, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games.

Whether adding more publishers will convince more gamers to make the switch to Origin isn’t certain. We here at NDM have few complaints with the Steam platform, and until EA drastically improves the Origin service itself, simply adding more publishers won’t put a dent in Steam’s lead.