SimCity Helps EA Origin Hit 1.3M Concurrent Users

Origin, the fledgling digital distribution from EA, has hit a milestone of 1.3 Million concurrent users, a new record for the service that first began in its current for in 2011, according to Gamespot.

The service has experienced a boost in users since the launch of SimCity. SimCity is reported to have sold over one million copies in the two weeks since its launch, despite the problems the game has faced with internet connectivity. Almost half a million of the game's sales have been through Origin, which EA has modeled after the successful digital distribution service Steam, run by Valve. Steam has an estimated concurrent user database of almost 5 million users, so while Origin is catching up, it still has a lot of growth needed to catch up to the premier digital distribution service available.

Origin started off being only available on the PC, but has since moved towards mobile gaming as well. Origin is rumored to make its way to Android very soon.

No doubt this is huge news for EA and Origin, as the company seeks to gain ground against the entrenched and beloved Steam. Considering that Origin got a major boost from users buying SimCity from the service, in spite of the huge obstacles the game has faced, it signals that many users are interested in having a digital distribution system from one of the biggest video game companies today.

With the huge library EA has at its disposal, it has enough content to keep users coming back to buy more games. EA also has the resources to attract indie developers away from Steam. After all, the company has some rather huge pockets of revenue it could tap into to bring smaller developers into Origin and make the service a success.