Ruined My Life

I was browsing around the EA Store today, looking at the Northern Strike add on to Battlefield 2142 and upon adding it to my cart noticed there was an additional $5.99 item placed in their called “Extended Download Service“.  Apparently EA only allows you to download your digitally distributed games for six months, that is unless you pay the additional $5.99 to have download access for two years.  The whole idea of paying an additional $5.99 for download access to a digitally distributed game you have purchased is asinine.  Let’s see EA’s description of their “Extended Download Service”:

Think of this as your digital safety net for those unexpected occurrences - like your hard drive frying or a virus infection. EDS means that with the purchase of your digital product, we’ll keep a copy of your file for two full years, so you don’t have to. You’ll gain peace of mind knowing that we have your program stored and ready for you to download again at your convenience.

A little extra protection on your order to keep your products safe? Why not!

Why not?  Because I’ve purchased the game from your digital distribution service and should never have to worry about it being unavailable.  Then again it’s EA, so I suppose it goes with their business model.  Perhaps this is the reason that Steam is so successful, purchase the game and it’s available anywhere you are whenever you want it.