Adding Torrenting Feature

[tukykarmakar]

Before you report this post, or have wrong ideas or assumptions about me, let me make it very clear that I'm not promoting or encouraging any kind of illegal activity. The technology of torrenting is not illegal in itself, it's the data shared that makes it illegal.

I was downloading FIFA 18 Demo and Mass Effect: Andromeda Trial and my speed is stuck at 970 KB/s even though I can easily get 1.5 MB/s in my browser at busy hours. The Demo took 2+ hours and the Trial is showing 14+ hours to download. I am planning to buy a game and the download speed has disappointed me very much. I know that like me, many people can't afford or even get a speedy connection, and for that at least some people don't buy and pirate the game.

A well seeded torrent can reach 5+ MB/s easily in almost any connection. When I read that Origin downloads are fast, I thought that this might be exactly that. Although I haven't downloaded huge games, I can say Origin's biggest competitor is definitely faster. My idea is that Origin starts its own torrenting feature through Origin Client to make the download faster and easier, even for low speed connections. If thousands of people can keep a torrent alive through determination, then why can't EA? I hope they really consider this idea and soon make it happen. This would be an immensely useful feature.

I already shared this idea with EA a few days ago in a survey feedback but I also want your opinions about it, like what the problems are or why it is impossible or possible. I'm just an average guy and I don't know any technical stuff, it's just an idea. I'm sure at least one of the professionals at EA must have thought about this, and I don't know why it was not done. I just wanted to share this idea with you all.

Thank you and Happy Gaming!!

[EA_Alex · Accepted solution]

@tukykarmakar Hi.  Thank you for the thoughtful suggestion.

We have considered the idea of P2P distribution in the past, but there are a number of challenges with commercializing such a system.

One of the key challenges is that such a system would need to be strictly opt-in.  P2P's effectiveness is proportional to its network size.  Opt-in means low utilization, which would result in few peers, and slow download speeds.

Second, if the network is opt-in, then we also need to provide a network for non-opted users.  That either means also supporting a non-P2P network (which adds complexity, since we're doing the same thing in two different ways) or providing EA seed servers around the world and using P2P in download-only mode from those seeds.  At that point, the P2P network would probably just resemble our current network, and likely not perform any better.

Given the choice between the two, we believe most users would opt for the latter (why contribute your electricity and upload bandwidth if you have a viable alternative?), further reducing the value of using P2P.

That's not to say we'll never do this, but hopefully this should give you some insight into why we haven't done it yet.

Origin's downloader should definitely be faster than downloads in your web browser, as browser downloads tend to be single-threaded, whereas Origin is multi-threaded.  I'm not sure why you're seeing something otherwise.  You might try turning on safe mode downloading in the Origin Diagnostic settings and see if it helps.  Alternatively, maybe our support team or other users will have other ideas about things you can try to diagnose or increase your download speeds with Origin.

[Vellu78]

Generally speaking not a bad idea. However, I would no like it if my origin client constantly uploads something to other users, so would have to be from multiple EA servers at the same time, and not pure p2p.

Personally though, I'm getting fairly constant 8-9MBps (100Mb/s internet connection) which is about maximum possible for me. If you are not getting "maxxed out" might be a geographical or isp bottlenecking. Which would indeed be mitigated with multi-source download.

[EA_Alex · Accepted solution]

@tukykarmakar Hi.  Thank you for the thoughtful suggestion.

We have considered the idea of P2P distribution in the past, but there are a number of challenges with commercializing such a system.

One of the key challenges is that such a system would need to be strictly opt-in.  P2P's effectiveness is proportional to its network size.  Opt-in means low utilization, which would result in few peers, and slow download speeds.

Second, if the network is opt-in, then we also need to provide a network for non-opted users.  That either means also supporting a non-P2P network (which adds complexity, since we're doing the same thing in two different ways) or providing EA seed servers around the world and using P2P in download-only mode from those seeds.  At that point, the P2P network would probably just resemble our current network, and likely not perform any better.

Given the choice between the two, we believe most users would opt for the latter (why contribute your electricity and upload bandwidth if you have a viable alternative?), further reducing the value of using P2P.

That's not to say we'll never do this, but hopefully this should give you some insight into why we haven't done it yet.

Origin's downloader should definitely be faster than downloads in your web browser, as browser downloads tend to be single-threaded, whereas Origin is multi-threaded.  I'm not sure why you're seeing something otherwise.  You might try turning on safe mode downloading in the Origin Diagnostic settings and see if it helps.  Alternatively, maybe our support team or other users will have other ideas about things you can try to diagnose or increase your download speeds with Origin.

[ivrognard]

@tukykarmakar  I know a few MMO's (World of Tanks, Armored Warfare) that are using the tech, but it's optional. Personally, i wouldn't activate the option. And i wouldn't get anything that would force me to use it. Plus some users have either limited bandwitdth or are using a monthly plan. While it will probably happen at some point, my hopes is that it will not be too soon

[tukykarmakar]

It is really great to see people like my idea. I always believed that this is something people are working on, and now that I am sure about it, I really hope they succeed and wish good luck to the people working on it.

Thank you all who have shared more information and their opinion about this idea.

Wishing you all a Happy Festive Season. The festivals have already started here.

Funny thing is my download sped up after I finished searching if anyone had already suggested this.

Have A Nice Day !

[EA_Archi]

Thank you @tukykarmakar for being part of our forum community. Glad to hear some good new on your download speed. Feel free to explore our forum and share some other great ideas, or just join us in discussing all the great games, available in Origin.

Cheers,

Archi 

[buhentil]

Cool post by the way