Origin game not launching – How to fix

Origin is a video game platform supported by EA. You can find a variety of games there to purchase and play, including popular titles like The Sims and FIFA. Origin has its own application you can download, which can be used to launch Origin games.

Unfortunately, Origin games can sometimes fail to launch properly. This is a fairly common issue across Origin users. Fortunately, there are quite a few methods you can use to try and solve this dilemma.

Origin game not launching – Here’s what to do

The first thing you should do if you’re having problems with Origin launching is to update your operating system. Then, restart your device. And if neither of these two things help, you may want to re-install origin on your computer too.

You can also clear the temporary files that Origin has stored over time, and then flush your DNS cache too. We’ll cover these different methods you can use to fix the launching error in more detail.

Update Windows (or MacOS)

The first method you can use is updating Windows. Origin may be failing to launch games due to your device using an outdated version of Windows.

You can check for Window updates by going to the settings. You can do so by opening the Start Menu, and clicking ‘settings’. If you’re using Windows 11, the settings option should be in the ‘pinned’ section.

Next, select the ‘update & security’ option.

Finally, click the ‘Check for updates’ option to check for any available updates.

Download any available updates. For some system updates, a ‘restart’ option should appear. If so, click the ‘restart’ option to install the update.

Restart Device

The Origin game may be failing to launch due to some error or bug that has occurred during the process. A possible quick fix for such an issue is a system restart. Try restarting your device before trying to launch the Origin game once more.

To restart your PC/Laptop, go to Start menu > Power Button > Restart.

Close Background Applications

Origin may be failing to launch its game because there are currently applications running in the background. These applications are using up some of your devices power, and may be using too much for your device to also launch the Origin game successfully.

Origin can be quite fragile in this regard, so it’s best to not have any background applications running when trying to launch an Origin game. This advice is especially pertinent in regards to heavier applications/programs. Running a game, especially a big game, is already a heavy task for a device to handle.

Simultaneously also running a heavy program in the background makes the task all the more difficult. Avoid doing this if possible.

You can also use the Task Manager (Windows-key + ‘x’) to check if there are any applications still running despite being closed. If so, select them and click ‘end task’ to close them.

Check Task Manager

You can also use the Task Manager to see if the game you’re trying to run is already running in the background. If the game appears on the Task Manager, it means the game is currently running.

This can prevent it from launching again, and should be closed before any further attempts to launch it. To close the game, select it in the Task Manager and click ‘end task’ in the lower right corner.

Clear temp files and flush DNS cache

There are a couple of things you can do here if you’re finding Origin games not launching.

First, we can flush the DNS cache;

1. First, use Windows and R key to activate the “Run” function.
2. Enter “ipconfig/flushdns” to flush your DNS cache.

After doing this, we can also clear the Origin cache files by using the command box;

1. Again, use Windows and R key to activate the “Run” function.
2. Then, enter %ProgramData%/Origin to find the temporary files that origin has saved.
3. Go into the Roaming folder and delete the Origin folder within there.

Clearing all of the cache files from your Origin folder is essentially like installing from scratch. Saved data can eventually become corrupted, which can stop you from running Origin properly.

Many Origin users find that this resolves their issue if they find games not launching on the platform – though if it doesn’t, there are other solutions that may work.

Restart Origin

The Origin app may be experiencing issues if it’s failing to launch a game. Try restarting the application before attempting to launch the game once more. In order to restart the application, you must first close the application.

Close the Origin window. Open the Task Manager (Windows-key + ‘x’) to ensure that Origin isn’t still running in the background. If it is, select it and click ‘end task’.

Next, relaunch the Origin app. Now, you can try launching the game again.

Reinstall Game

The Origin game you’re trying to launch could be experiencing some bugs if it’s failing to launch. Try reinstalling the game before launching it once more. First, uninstall the game. Open the Start Menu, and search ‘add or remove’.

Click the ‘add or remove programs’ option. It should appear as the best match result. You can also find this result by searching ‘apps’.

You should be taken to the apps settings. Search for the game you wish to uninstall using the search bar. Once you’ve found the game, click the three dots next to it. The dots should be on the far right. After clicking the three dots, click the ‘uninstall’ option.

To reinstall the game, open the Origin app. Click ‘my game library’ in the left side tab to access your purchased games. Find the game you wish to reinstall, and click on the arrow in the bottom left. Alternatively, you can right-click on the game and click ‘download’.

Reinstall Origin

If none of the solutions above worked, try reinstalling the Origin app. First, you must uninstall the Origin app. You can do so by opening the Start Menu, and searching for ‘add or remove’ or ‘app’. Both should come up with the same best match result. Click the ‘add or remove programs’ option.

This should take you to the apps settings. Search for the Origin app in the search bar. When you find the Origin app, click the three dots on the far right. Click ‘uninstall’ to uninstall the Origin application.

To reinstall the Origin app, go to https://www.origin.com/gbr/en-us/store/download and click the relevant download link. If you’re on Windows, click ‘download for Windows’. If you’re on a Mac, click ‘download for Mac’.

Once you’ve reinstalled Origin, log into your account and reinstall your Origin game if necessary. Then, try relaunching the game to see if the issue has been resolved.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Origin app can have issues functioning properly at times. And it can even fail to launch its own games, though this could just be that it’s taking a while to load (similar to how Steam takes time to fully launch).

In these cases, its best to make sure that there aren’t any background applications that could be interfering with the process. It can also help to reboot your device or the app itself. If all else fails, try reinstalling Origin.