EA eases controversial penalty for banned Origin users

Newsbrief: Electronic Arts has revised the controversial banning policy for its digital distribution service Origin, and now allows banned users to access their games and other features. Previously, once users had their accounts disabled over misconduct in Origin's multiplayer games or forums, they were unable to access their games purchased on the service. EA began allowing those banned users to play the single-player modes in their Origin-bought games last month, according to Cinema Blend. They are still prevented from accessing multiplayer content, though. Launched last June, Origin has nearly 9.3 million registered users. The service is positioned as a rival to Valve Software's Steam platform, though it has faced criticism from consumers over past policies for user banning, account inactivity, and PC monitoring.