Yesterday's EA financial report turned up plenty of big numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic . Some of that success seems to have rubbed off on their new digital download service, Origin, which now has more than 9.3 million registered users. That's about a quarter of the number of users as Steam . Not bad for a service that's only seven months old.
EA's Financial Results report also mentions that Origin has generated "more than $100 million in non-GAAP revenue since launch." Origin-only pre-order deals and Origin digital exclusives like Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Battlefield 3 beta will have helped the service enormously in its early months. Its future prospects are none too shabby, either.
The big numbers recently encouraged 11 third party publishers to sign on, including Rift creators, Trion, Witcher 2 devs, CD Project Red, Paradox Interactive and Orcs Must Die! creators, Robot Enterteinment. That'll give Origin's library a bit of breadth in the coming months, and Mass Effect 3's Origin requirement will grow that already-impressive registered users figure.
Origin still has a long way to go before it's starting to challenge Steam. It'll need a much bigger library, deeper community features and much more generous sales to start competing, but it's a big start nonetheless, and a bit of competition could be a very healthy thing for digital distribution.
