With the success of Xbox Live Marketplace, PSN, and Steam, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that Electronic Arts is stepping up its online distribution plan. EA has replaced their old EA Link online distribution center and replaced it with the newly revamped EA Store.
The biggest change for the EA Store is the ability for gamers to purchase console games directly from EA as opposed to picking it up at the local store. EA is probably hoping to take a crack at the monster sales of some of the more popular EA games like Madden, Need for Speed, and Burnout.
In addition, PC owners also get a few new options for downloading games purchased through the EA Store. Games can be downloaded again — up to six months after they were initially purchased. Anyone wishing to extend that download time frame can pay an extra six dollars to have the window pushed up to two years.
All in all, the EA Store is a good move for Electronic Arts. Online distribution is become more and more prevalent and important in the entertainment industry and videogames are no different. From EA’s perspective, they probably think it’s better to get in on the ground floor then be left in the dust.
[Via Gamasutra]
