Origin, the original PC app for publisher EA, will be ceasing operations on April 17, 2025. Origin was EA’s first foray into creating its own PC store, back when it was common for major publishers to ditch Steam in order to avoid paying a 30% cut to Valve.
Origin, of course, was later replaced with the EA app, but because of its lack of features compared to Origin, many kept using it in place of the EA app. Those people will soon be forced to switch.
EA announced Origin’s shutdown this week. The decision is the result of Microsoft ending support for 32-bit software on Windows. Origin does not run on 64-bit code – but its replacement, the EA app, does.
EA is asking players who still use Origin to migrate to the EA app before Origin is gone forever, and this goes for anyone on Windows 10 as well as Windows 11. If you’re on Mac, refer to this support article for more. In theory, all the games you own should transfer over. The same is true for games you currently have installed, too.
The only – official – winkle here is cloud saves. If some of your games don’t support the feature, you’re going to have to migrate those saves manually. Anyone who did the Origin-to-EA app transition in the last couple of years, however, will tell you that some games may not make the jump, and it’s very common for existing installs not to be recognised by the new app.
The best way to do this is install the EA app on top of Origin, essentially letting the installer “upgrade” Origin into the EA app. This should save you from having to redownload games. In some cases, restarting the app a couple of times may be required for some of your games to show up, so don’t immediately panic if you see something missing.
No matter what you do, however, it’s always best to create a backup of your game saves – just in case.
Origin originally launched in 2011. It remained the only place to play EA games on PC for nearly a decade, until the publisher decided to return to Steam. By that point, EA was gearing up to replace it with the better-looking – but worse-performing – EA app in 2022.