EA stops selling physical copy of games for PC gamers

You will no longer be able to buy EA PC games in Indian stores

EA has given up on PC gamers in India and will no longer be selling physical copies of PC games here, according to a report by Indian Video Gamer. Indian PC gamers who’d like to play upcoming EA titles such as FIFA 15 and Dragon Age: Inquisition will only be able to get those games from Origin, EA’s digital distribution service, at the same price as American buyers. However, according to the IVG story, EA will continue to sell physical copies of its games for all the consoles in India.

EA has had a hate-hate relationship with Indian gamers for a while now, especially those who’ve picked the PC as their platform for gaming. It was the first major video game publisher with a full fledged Indian distribution network to hike prices of PC games by a whopping 133% to bring them to the same level as the U.S. Its main Indian distributor, Milestone Interactive, had defended the price hike stating that it was acceptable to charge a ‘premium’ price for PC gaming, since it was a ‘premium’ experience.

While I can’t predict the future, as hard as I may try, I can hazard a guess that this won’t really help in ramping up the popularity of EA’s PC games in India since Origin isn’t a much loved service to begin with. With new games measuring upwards of 20GBs per download, not having the choice to conserve your download limit by buying the game physically, will also hurt gamers here. Also, it will give a considerable boost to piracy numbers, all of which show EA’s strategy in very ridiculous light. All in all, a dismal announcement for everyone concerned.
Source: Indian Video Gamer

Source: You will no longer be able to buy EA PC games in Indian stores | Digit.in

A backward step from EA.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

A retarded step from EA.

I own Mirror's edge on Origin but I refuse to download with shitty ass 256 kilobytes/second through origin .. Id rather download the pirated torrents where peak reaches ~800 kilobyte/second..

and what about those minority indian legit gamers that dont have the bandwidth to download via DRM ? EA just said **** you to them ?

LOL, its like they WANT us to pirate their games

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

If piracy is what they want then I'll give it to them. Sorry EA I'll play DA:I but won't buy it, like ever.
I did bought DAO after playing it for around 900 hrs but not anymore. My money don't belong to EA, no matter how good is the game. :evil:

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

EA is getting worse every time first the pricing, now no physical copies. If this crap strategies continue EA will soon bankrupt.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

alienempire said:
EA is getting worse every time first the pricing, now no physical copies. If this crap strategies continue EA will soon bankrupt.

You think EA is generating profits only because of India? EA might loose some shares, but definitely not going to bankrupt.

But seriously, stopping to sell physical copies? That is the most absurd decision I ever heard.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

alienempire said:
EA is getting worse every time first the pricing, now no physical copies. If this crap strategies continue EA will soon bankrupt.

not as long as they keep releasing a "new" fifa every year with updated roster list

N

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

This is bad. But in fact, my last 3 purchases were all digital, and of course the *snort* versions.

So one can't pre-order from Flipkart now?

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

NVIDIAGeek said:
This is bad. But in fact, my last 3 purchases were all digital, and of course the *snort* versions.

So one can't pre-order from Flipkart now?

Nope, I don't think so, coz they sell physical copies of the games not the digital ones.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

yep. sorry to say but piracy is the only viable option in India. It's not the cost of the games, it's the cost of the internet. It's not like Gamer's are pirates, they respect devs so much that seen many pay for the game - then pirate it. A single good title is about half the monthly usage limit for most. It's like India is in a special time warp stuck in the stone age. Acche din.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

Nerevarine said:
I own Mirror's edge on Origin but I refuse to download with shitty ass 256 kilobytes/second through origin .. Id rather download the pirated torrents where peak reaches ~800 kilobyte/second..

and what about those minority indian legit gamers that dont have the bandwidth to download via DRM ? EA just said **** you to them ?

LOL, its like they WANT us to pirate their games

I get better speeds on origin than steam

~1.2MBps on origin and ~0.9MBps on steam.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

Origin shows FAKE speed.

N

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

gameranand said:
Origin shows FAKE speed.

IDK, when I was downloading BFH Beta, it was giving me 150 kBps for 6 GB. Torrents were giving me 120.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

gameranand said:
If piracy is what they want then I'll give it to them. Sorry EA I'll play DA:I but won't buy it, like ever.
I did bought DAO after playing it for around 900 hrs but not anymore. My money don't belong to EA, no matter how good is the game.

Wow 900 hours for DAO ? awesome . Skyrim is my favourite game of all time and still i have only played it for like 150 hours .

gameranand said:
Origin shows FAKE speed.

Well not fake , but since they shows the game size and not installation size , people think they are getting more speed in origin .

Well i am not taking side of EA but this is just business . When they set the price @999 for every game to attract more people here in india , they didn't got the result . And there was also the risk of foreign exploitation of cheap price games here . But yeah , this really sucks . Well no option left except for Origin mexico .

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

Yes they download 15 GB and show that they are Downloading 27 GB. I'll count it as fake and cheat.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

FACEPALM at thread title ... EA stops selling physical copy of gamers

for PC magers

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

rajatGod512 said:
FACEPALM at thread title ... EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

LOL didn't noticed that at all.

Re: EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

rajatGod512 said:
FACEPALM at thread title ... EA stops selling physical copy of gamers for PC magers

That's on purpose. That's to show how raged "Gamers" are with this move from EA.
Anyway, reported to fix the title.

you know what
I don't see any justification for any company to sell physical media any more at all. As physical media costs less than digital distribution, there is some major problem somewhere, digital distribution is not serving the purpose it was introduced for in the first place.
The problem is not with EA, it is with us.

Anorion said:
you know what
I don't see any justification for any company to sell physical media any more at all. As physical media costs less than digital distribution, there is some major problem somewhere, digital distribution is not serving the purpose it was introduced for in the first place.
The problem is not with EA, it is with us.

It needs more explanation. You mean all those gamers buying "physical" and original copies of the game is bad?
I read in someone's signature a long time back "Stop piracy, steal original disks". What that's suppose to mean then? :/

does EA pay sales taxes in India for items sold in their origin store to Indian customers ?

Vyom said:
It needs more explanation. You mean all those gamers buying "physical" and original copies of the game is bad?
I read in someone's signature a long time back "Stop piracy, steal original disks". What that's suppose to mean then? :/

two issues here one global, one local
the global issue is off sale prices, physical media is cheaper than digital media... bizarre. For $3 I can get a DVD mailed home for a game that costs $10 on digital distribution.
the local issue is the cost of downloading the game is often more than the cost of the game itself. Roughly it is Rs. 50 for a Gigabyte.

Either way, there is not much EA can do about these things, but this is what is bothering us. It is because of these conditions that this looks like a bad move by EA.

icebags said:
does EA pay sales taxes in India for items sold in their origin store to Indian customers ?

I don't think so. I could be wrong though.

icebags said:
does EA pay sales taxes in India for items sold in their origin store to Indian customers ?

They don't paying sales tax and no 3dsecure for credit card transcations mandatory by RBI. Must report it

high price + no physical media + no tax = profit profit all the way ......

N

^And they introduced a very great subscription offer, EA Access. Get value for money, that.

I bought DA:O and ME2 and was thinking for Inquisition as well...this is bad decision.
3g night packs are cheap but that doesn't mean I'll download a ~20 GB game for which I have already paid. Sorry EA I'll get physical copy otherwise.

Come to think of it..my friend bought Hitman Absolution and activated it on steam only to find out that additional 9GB update was required to play the game. Borrowed a pirated copy instead and vowed never to buy original. :/

JojoTheDragon said:
Come to think of it..my friend bought Hitman Absolution and activated it on steam only to find out that additional 9GB update was required to play the game. Borrowed a pirated copy instead and vowed never to buy original. :/

You friend bought the game with one of the worst possible update system. Every time that game updated in the past, it was like 12-13 GBs.

I am done with EA now after their this move. I was not satisfied with their price hike and now this. They have no idea regarding the broadband speed of average consumer in India. Looks like they are saying go and get a pirated version of the game.

Really it's not only bad but worst move ever taken by EA but they are not new to take such moves anyway.

Vyom said:
It needs more explanation. You mean all those gamers buying "physical" and original copies of the game is bad?

I meant this

JojoTheDragon said:
Come to think of it..my friend bought Hitman Absolution and activated it on steam only to find out that additional 9GB update was required to play the game. Borrowed a pirated copy instead and vowed never to buy original. :/