Why origin is fundamentally bad for consumers

In this article I would like to discuss the fundamental problems with origin and other services like it. Now I am only using Origin as a example because it is a good example not because "EA is EVIL" and Steam is the "BEST" while Electronic Arts have made some poor decisions leading them to be voted worst company in america two years in a row but that is just a internet pole and not a census of the average consumers who are not on message boards and forums all the time. But that is a discussion for another time as I want to talk about monopolistic digital services in general that don't have the side of the consumer to explain this I must first show how a normal purchase is made.

As this Simple chart shows that the consumer buys from stores digital or brick and mortar store, the stores get the games from multiply different publishers makers as their is a large choice of stores as such the stores are competing to get sales and with games from multiple publishers. Publishers also compete to look like they will sell well in the shops this is a ideal market for consumers as this competition will drive prices down and make better games this applies just about all industries not just the gaming industry. In this system when a product doesn't work consumers take the product back to the store and ask for a refund and the shops are inclined to as they want to keep up their band up now in the past this was the only way to for product makers to sell their games but now with online stores such as steam and amazon etc. They remove the need to have a brick and mortar store as they replace them so the cycle stays fundamentally the same but this all changes when a publisher in this example EA decides to make it's own digital store origin. Now looking at it from a business prescriptive the idea is appealing as it removes the 3rd party store and their cut on it's goods so the company would get more profits from running it's own store but this isn't a win for the customer.

In this chart you see the model for origin EA's digital store it appears the same as the normal digital distribution but EA is in direct control of origin, the problem for the customer is that origin is less inclined to give a refund as they run by EA. This can be clearly with Simcity as those brought the game on amazon and other 3rd parties could get refund when the servers were overloaded at launch and many bugs but those who brought on origin didn't get the option to get a refund.