EA under Fire in Germany over Origin, Battlefield 3

November 1, 2011

Overclock.net has gathered an avalanche of stories related to how Battlefield 3 and Origin are being received in Germany (thanks to Solarian for tip). The short answer is that Germans seem to hate it because of the company's terms of service and what Origin is doing on people's PCs.

The first article in German gaming magazine GameStar features an analysis of the ToS by a German lawyer, who says that it enables EA to gather all kinds of information on the computer for some vague use. They call this a "massive privacy violation."

Another damning bit of information comes from the Amazon forums, where a user shows off a YouTube video of Origin accessing programs it shouldn't. The video maker claims that Origin accessed a tax management program and their cellphone management software. They found this by using a process monitor. That video can be found here. Naturally this is not helping the game's rating on Amazon's German site.

Another story linked by Overclock.net says that German retailer Media Markt/Saturn is accepting opened returns of the game at its retail outlets.

The print media is even getting on the bandwagon; Lübecker Zeitung ran a story recently with the headline, "Datatrap in new shootergame." "Games giant wants to spy on customers" is a recent headline of weekly newspaper Der Spiegel. Finally, if you understand German, this news report will be of interest. So far, EA has not publicly commented on this raft of stories about Origin.

We'll have more on this story as it develops. In the interim, check out Overclock.net's exhuastive list of news stories, forums posts, and online petitions for more details.

 

Comments

Re: EA under Fire in Germany over Origin, Battlefield 3

Submitted by MechaTama31 on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 14:27.

One more reason why Origin will never be on my computer.  EA, hurry up and put your games back on Steam.  That is, unless you don't want my money...

Re: EA under Fire in Germany over Origin, Battlefield 3

Submitted by Uncharted NES on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 13:27.
Really Germany, YOU'RE worried about big gaming companies spying? Okay... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111031/13205016572/germany-to-put-spe... Fucking hypocrites.

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"WARNING GUARANTEE: This post contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress."

Re: EA under Fire in Germany over Origin, Battlefield 3

Submitted by Kajex on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 13:31.

These are German gamers and German game news outlets.

NOT the German government.

Learn the friggin' difference, and bear in mind that they're probably not happy about EITHER arrangement- this one just happens to be in focus because it's the most recent.

 
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DorthLous: Anybody tried Hiversaire? Thoughts?05/22/2013 - 5:48pm
E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm
E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm
E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am
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E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am
E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am
Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am
Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm
PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm
Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm
Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm
Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm
Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm
Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm
james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm
Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm
Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm
PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm
Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm
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