Origin's DeMartini: Steam sales 'cheapen intellectual property'
EA's Senior Vice President of Global Ecommerce David DeMartini said that deep-discounting of games on Valve's Steam service "cheapens intellectual property" in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. As head of EA's Origin digital distribution service, DeMartini suggested an alternative to Steam's approach in dealing with "aging inventory."
"We don't believe in the drop-it-down, spring-it-up, 75 percent off approach, but we've got something else that we do believe in that we'll be rolling out," he said, without revealing the company's plans outright.
DeMartini also commented on the company's recent announcement to waive distribution fees for crowd-funded titles, saying it was "the first thing Origin did that no one could complain about." Fully-funded games that hit Origin's virtual shelves will not be subject to the service's fees for the first 90 days.
He added, "We figured this is something we could do that is going to please the hardcore; it's going to please the independent development community."
