Unfortunately, not all EA titles in Steam will offer a CD key, but a lot do. In the example below, we can see that Crysis 2 : Maximum Edition is one such title that does. While Valve offers a list of games that can be imported into Steam this way, EA leaves the bulk of the guesswork up to you – or us, which is the purpose of this article.īut first – how to acquire a CD key from Steam? If the game supports it, a “View CD key” option will be found when right-clicking it. This is a nice perk that EA offers here, but it’s worth pointing out that Valve offers much of the same thing – there, though, non-Valve developers can get in on the action if they choose to. Likewise, if Steam offers you the ability to snag your CD key for a given game, you can try that as well. As alluded to above, if you own an EA game on disc, the code found inside the packaging could be used (or rather, tried) here.

Inside of Origin’s main menu, an option named “Redeem Product Code” can be found. Fortunately, if it’s an EA title, chances are good that you’ll be able to activate it on Origin and treat it as if you purchased it there.

Own a game that supports co-op or multiplayer, but doesn’t require online access? Do I need to say more? Or, it could simply be that you need or want to install a game out of Steam for any other reason. Granted, this is going to have limited appeal, but there are a couple of perks. There is one way to improve your Origin experience just a wee bit, though: Importing EA games you’ve either bought at retail or on Steam. But if you’re going to be forced into using one, wouldn’t it be nice if it delivered on modern expectations? Well, since its release, Origin has gotten a lot better, but compared to Steam, many would argue that it still has a lot of catching up to do (come on, EA, at least let us make simple backups of our games!). In effect, EA was forcing them into using a gaming platform which, let’s face it, was lackluster when compared to the competition (in this case, Valve’s Steam).Ī lot of gamers don’t even care for Steam, or game launchers in general. At the time, fans of the series weren’t pleased. EA’s digital gaming platform, Origin, received a major boost to its user base in late 2011 thanks to the release of Battlefield 3.

Origin and steam link