The statements made by videogame company executives when they shift into marketing speak mode can be difficult to believe. They are invariably going to talk up their employer — that’s to be expected. When they aren’t boasting but are merely outlining plans for the future, though, it seems reasonable to believe what they’re saying, particularly when those plans could be perceived as negative. That’s what makes it so surprising that Origin has a significant sale on a selection of games in the U.K. not two weeks after the head of Origin made it clear sales of this magnitude were not in the cards for EA’s digital distribution service.
During E3 earlier this month, EA’s senior VP of global ecommerce, David DeMartini, made it clear Steam-style, “going-out-of-business” sales would not be coming to Origin. Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports today that a variety of games are currently upwards of 50 percent off in the U.K.; Darksiders, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are 75 percent off, while Dragon Age: Origins can be had for 87.5 percent off. To see such a sale following DeMartini’s statement would be jarring enough; what makes it stranger is he had a very specific reason for why this practice was being avoided.
