Both services distribute games from third-party developers.Both services supply The Sims 3 and all of its expansion packs.The EA Store and EADM client were merged and re-branded as Origin in June 2011.Ĭomparisons and differences between Origin and Steam
The service was re-branded as EA Download Manager in 2007 and purchases from the EA Store were downloaded via the EADM client. The service was initially launched as EA Downloader in 2005 and was used to distribute Battlefield 2 expansion packs. The final rendition of EADM before it was re-branded to Origin.
I suspect now I wouldn't be able to use Sims 3 + my Origin bought expansion packs via Steam, but tbh I don't mind that. It all works just fine - if a little jerkily, but I suspect that's my computer struggling a little. I downloaded them via Origin (I think they then auto-installed) and, after googling, launched the Sims 3 through Seasons, as the latest expansion I own. I then logged out and bought both Seasons and Pets (on sale!) via Origin. Then I logged in to find out if Origin had a blank copy of Sims 3 or had my existing sims, and found that it had the (single) household I'd been playing. While that was downloading I uninstalled Steam's copy of Sims 3. In the end I downloaded Origin's software, opened that up, and downloaded Sims 3 onto that. Thank you for reading (wall of text I know, sorry!) :)Įdit: so it's a few days later and I thought I'd edit in the outcome for anyone who was following, or has a similar question on this and finds the thread in future.
And if this has been asked before and I've missed it, sorry about reposting. So if you can help clarify - if I buy an expansion pack from Origin (download) or Amazon (discs), will it work with my Steam-based Sims 3 (in the UK rather than US if that makes any difference) - I'd really really be grateful. I figured other people must have got confused about this too, but the closest thing I found to this topic was this starter guide, and I didn't find it helpful for my query. Once I found this sub I tried searching it before I posted. I don't know if Steam/Origin have fixed this, and so maybe it's now okay to buy an expansion from Origin (or Amazon) and use it with my Steam-based Sims 3.Īll I know for sure is I have a hankering to try Seasons and Pets, and that the expansions are currently MUCH cheaper on Origin and Amazon than they are on Steam. However, the answers I read which said that are all a year old or more. The other day I googled whether I'd be able to use an expansion pack I bought on Origin with a copy of Sims 3 that was bought on Steam.Īs I understand it, the answer is "no, you have to buy expansions from the same place you bought the base game otherwise it won't work." for now I'm going to assume it's still Steam-based. However I do load it from the Steam library whenever I want to play. The game works fine, but I don't know if my game still counts as being Steam-based or whether it's now Origin/Sims 3 site based because I registered it there.
So when Sims3 loaded I duly hunted for somewhere to use the auth code, and eventually ended up logging in to Origin, being redirected to their Sims 3 site, and used the auth code for my copy of Sims 3 there. a little popup box informed me I would need the game auth code when I played the game. However, I've become very confused about whether an expansion pack will work if bought from somewhere other than where I purchased Sims 3. So I've been playing Sims 3 for the first time and would like to buy an expansion pack for it.