Navigating the Unfortunate Dance Between Steam and Origin: A Gamer’s Frustration

Greetings, fellow gamers and digital enthusiasts!

Today, I find myself compelled to share a rather frustrating tale revolving around two of gaming’s major platforms: Steam and Origin. I hope this post resonates with anyone facing similar woes in the digital gaming landscape.

To put it simply, I recently purchased and installed three highly acclaimed titles via Steam, all of which my system meets the specifications for. However, there’s a catch: EA, the publisher behind these games, mandates that they be played through their Origin client rather than directly through Steam. While this system may sound manageable, it quickly spiraled into an exasperating paradox.

Upon attempting to launch the game via Steam, I was redirected to the Origin client, which then failed to recognize the game already installed on my hard drive. Instead, it displayed an erroneous message indicating I still needed to download the game. Attempts to resolve this led to two scenarios:

1. If the game wasn’t installed, it forced installation via Steam.
2. If it was already installed, I faced an error message claiming it could not be downloaded.

This prompted me to seek help from EA’s customer service. The representatives, who were genuinely kind and eager to assist, unfortunately, guided me through typical uninstall and reinstall procedures that came up empty-handed. After waiting three agonizing days for the game to download again—thanks to my less-than-stellar Australian internet—the situation remained unchanged.

In a subsequent chat with another EA representative, I learned some troubleshooting tips focused on Steam. I cleared my download cache and repaired my library folders, and for a fleeting moment, it seemed I had made progress. Origin suddenly stopped claiming the game was uninstalled! But, to my dismay, it then proceeded to do absolutely nothing when I clicked ‘play.’ Instead, I was thrust back to the Origin homepage after an apparent first-time setup, a new level of frustration to add to my gaming saga.

To top it all off, I reached out to Steam support in search of help, only to receive a vague response suggesting I contact EA or request a refund. A refund? I tried that already, but my slow internet had caused an unfortunate lapse outside the refund window. This situation raises a valid question: why can I purchase these games on Steam if I can’t play them without jumping through these hoops?

I’m throwing this out to the community: has anyone else encountered this bewilder