ATTN: EA App developers and project managers, please read this

Question

I am writing this as a user who has several EA games purchased on Steam.

They worked fine for me through Origin Thin Client until I reinstalled Windows a few days ago and Steam installed the new EA App instead.

You claim that this application is "out of open beta" and ready to replace Origin Thin Client.

I disagree and here is why:

1. It defaults to syncing saved games to cloud storage and this cannot be disabled neither globally, nor per game. This is also a basic feature.

2. It includes EABackgroundService which runs at all times using the highly privileged NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account. This is not only unnecessary (running it while EA App is not running), but it also presents a security risk because it increases the attack surface available for malware writers. There is absolutely no need for having system privileges or a background service for this kind of app. The proof is that Steam does not need it or use it and yet it works fine. The only reason I can think of for having this is for shady purposes and I don't like where that thought is going.

3. When you open it, it defaults to "home" tab which shows ads for new releases. As far as I am aware, it is not possible to set it to default to my game collection. This is a fairly basic feature.

Out of those 3 issues, #1 is an absolute showstopper and the app should not be released until and unless it has proper cloud save management.

Let me elaborate a bit on why this is a showstopper:

- I tried to launch Mass Effect Legendary Edition and the EA App started and just sat there while my game was not launching. I killed the EA App after one minute and tried again only to be told that the cloud sync was interrupted. Since there's no option to disable cloud save sync I had to wait several minutes for my saves to upload (even if I did not want them uploaded!) before I coul play with absolutely no indication of the sync progress or any launching progress whatsoever.

- I then tried to launch Mass Effect Andromeda and I could not launch it because I have more than 1 GB of local saves. EA App "helpfully" told me to delete some of my local saves and try again. No thanks, I want to keep all my local saves (which I am perfectly capable of backing up myself) and I don't want your cloud sync at all. So, the options were -- lose saves or not play the game. How did that pass QA?

I uninstalled EA App and manually installed Origin Thin Client as a workaround.

I am saying this as a senior software engineer myself -- these kind of issues should not exist in beta, let alone in something you deem production ready.

My advice is -- pull it back from Steam and fix the aforementioned issues before forcing a switchover from Origin Thin Client, or you are going to have a lot of really bad PR very soon.

stg_mordin · Answer

@ATFGunr&nbsp;To be frank I have no idea what is the purpose of such service -- Steam Client works rather well without one.I only know that NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account has more privileges than Administrators group, which means everything on your PC is accessible to it.If you asked me as a developer whether that is necessary I would say no -- The EA App should do whatever it needs to do under the regular user account which is logged in, and only ask for elevation when privileges are needed to perform tasks that require Administrator (but not SYSTEM) access.The unnecessary background service running all the time on a couple million PCs under a privileged system account is just asking for malware writers to target it, and knowing how shoddy EA code is the holes will be found and exploited -- it's just a matter of time.For me it is ridiculous that I need to accept an increased malware attack surface on my PC in order to be able to play a couple of games, and don't even get me started on the waste of my compter resources, "telemetry", and other personal data collection.

atfgunr · Answer

@STG_Mordin I’m still incensed that they force us to have a Background Service running even if I physically close the EA App in task manager. What data is it collecting? What is its purpose? It’s annoying to physically have to open TM to close both the app and its BS (background service).

skateboardnorth · Answer

I just lost my favourite game today because of this "New and Improved App" .&nbsp; I purchased BF1 through Origin, and it has worked flawlessly up until today, when I was forced to download the new EA App.&nbsp; Now my game won't launch.&nbsp; It says it's "an error on their end".&nbsp; I'm worried that I will never get my game back, and that EA has virtually robbed me of my hard earned money.&nbsp; I'll never support EA ever again.

k0rey03 · Answer

@STG_Mordin The EA app is clearly still in beta, but for an EA product, that's common these days. And you forgot to mention the fact that we can't change the game language when it is already installed (What Origin does). Now, if you want to change language you need to redownload the whole game.

worldscaper · Answer

Thank you.&nbsp; Your post saved me the time of writing my own.This app is a god damn disaster.&nbsp; Was there a bet in the offices that you could make an app worse than Origin?&nbsp; If so, you won.&nbsp; Congrats!

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ATTN: EA App developers and project managers, please read this

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