Origin to Launch Kickstarter Games for Free

EA has revealed the decision to let games funded via Kickstarter launch on its Origin service for free during a 90 day grace period from launch. During that time, Origin will retain none of the cost of the game except where transaction fees are charged i.e. via credit card.

The first game confirmed for this offer is inXile’s Wasteland 2, which accumulated a whopping $2.9 million in its Kickstarter campaign. No others have been confirmed but it’s likely that we will see many fresh indie titles appear on Origin as a result.

The only real question is whether all the people who would be interested in purchasing these games have already secured copies through Kickstarter. EA is gambling that any one of the games could sell many copies after release, riding on good word of mouth and reviews, to generate massive profit for both the developers and its Origin service in the long run. It’s not a bad strategy, actually.