Highlighted as a digital distribution platform in the mould of Valve's Steam when announced at E3, EA's Origin platform is being revealed as something more significant, at least in terms of the publisher's future strategy.

"Origin isn't about features or platforms, although those things are important," explains Chip Lange, general manager and senior vice president of EA's Hasbro Division, who's been heavily involved in the project, especially on the mobile side.

"Fundamentally, it's about tearing down the barriers between gamers and gamers, and gamers and EA as a publisher. The consumer relationship is key."

Bringing it all back home

Of course, behind such visionary terms, aspects such as features and supported platforms do matter. But talking to Lange, it's clear the goal for Origin is about more than being just another digital distribution and community channel.

As a proprietary service, it's the launchpad on which EA expects to power its existing franchises in the future, as well as building new ones.

"Your experience as a gamer is now dependent on more than the game when it's released," Lange argues.

"It's about the constant content updates and looking at what your friends are playing, challenges and achievements. Breaking down these barriers make your experience better straightaway. No other company can offer this on the scale that EA can."

Origin will support all gaming hardware EA releases games on, from consoles and PC to mobile devices, currently iOS and Android, and presumably Windows Phone and others as they gain sufficient scale.

"Playfish, EA Mobile and Chillingo are all part of the vision that Origin will connect gamers irregardless of what platform they're playing on," Lange confirms. "People don't call themselves Xbox gamers or mobile gamers. They're just playing FIFA and Madden."

Game focus

This attitude is mirrored by Origin's roll out. Currently available as vanilla digital download service for PC games, come the autumn, more complex aspects including the first wave of community features will be made available for games to hook into.

"The SDK is now finished and we're making it available for our developers to integrate into their games," Lange says.

"Each game will potentially use Origin in different ways. The franchises are the lens through which Origin will brought to life. This will let different areas of EA push forwards as fast as they can so we go from zero to 60 as quickly as possible."

Take it with you

When it comes to the mobile side of the business, Origin will support iOS and Android, expanding on the value of cross platform social frameworks that have already been proven by the likes of OpenFeint, with interaction with PC and console players.

Aside from this however, Origin's impact in terms of providing a robust discovery and promotional channel for EA content on Android will also be significant.

"It's hard to find things on Android compared to iOS at the moment, so Origin will be a real opportunity for people to find games and to see what their friends are playing," Lange says.

The open nature of the ecosystem means players will be able to download Android games directly from within Origin. Clearly iOS downloads will have to be routed via the App Store.

Another difference between the two platforms is that on iOS, Origin will be integrated within EA games, whereas on Android, there will also be an standalone app that will act as a shopfront to EA's games.

As for launch mobile content, few specifies have been revealed yet, although a taster of the service is available in the iPhone version of Scrabble.

But with Origin's vision all about bringing together EA's games and the people who play them, no matter what platform, we won't really see its potential across PC, console and mobile until the big guns such as FIFA, Madden, Need for Speed, The Sims and Battlefield 3 are released.

EA's Origin service is now live for downloading PC games here.