Dragon Age 2 Disappears From Steam

[Albino Boo]

Meh, let EA have their tantrums. DA isn't even that good.

I'm all for letting EA look like the jerk again, not that they need much assistance -- and DA never floated my boat either. I just hope this little ripple isn't the start of a massive tsunami of cloud-based BS, or that soon we'll all be looking back dreamily on the days when we actually owned the applications we use.

You never have owned the applications, you just bought the right to use them.

Wrong, you always owned it until publishers started using the internet to force full price rentals. As an example. I have 3 copies of Super Mario 64, the N64 version which is on a cartridge that I own and can do anything I like with. The Wii Virtual Console version which is extremely limited, I can't even play it on my second Wii and finally the DS version which is on a card and I can do anything I like with it.

Oh dear that whole software licensing thing seams to have passed you by, you never have owned the cartridge just merely the right to use the cartridge. You never have and never will own the application, try reading the eula before you type

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Well if you've been at all following this mess since the whole Alice debacle you'd know it was Steam's decision.

That's not an answer.

This is not their first offense either. Want more info? Well they're not very forthcoming but here's what EA sent to Giant Bomb when asked to elaborate:

"EA Partners and Spicy Horse Games appreciate Steam?s decision to sell Alice: Madness Returns," said the company. "The game is also available on several other download services including Amazon, Gamestop and Origin.com."

Neither's that.

They've also made statements on this site that they are not interested in pulling their content from Steam. I sadly cannot navigate this site's archive to find the info but if you can you'll find it there.

So, because of offences you've sited but never elaborated on, they've done wrong despite

There's no information as to why the game has been removed,

C'mon...citation or retraction please.

The link you are looking for, googling "Escapist Alice Steam", is http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.291730-EA-Gets-Ready-to-Throw-Down-With-Steam-UPDATED

And yet that is simply EA blaming Steam without giving any indication of why, while selling it in a more expensive manner from their own site.

If Valve/Steam have done wrong, then EA need to say why - or the onus is on them.

 

[Monsieur E]

I couldn't care less about DA2 being pulled from Steam. I wasn't going to buy the game anyway. And if I were to buy DA2, it would be on the console; I hear it is better on console.

 

[Thoric485]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[Wandrecanada]

snip

Tired of arguing. Let's put this to rest. You have no proof this was EA's decision and both parties are remaining close mouthed about the whole thing. EA has been the only side to make an statements at all in this mess. Your tacit denouncement of EA was made wholly without any proof as well so you're just as responsible to provide proof for your argument.

Me? I can cite the article; "EA claimed that Crysis 2 was removed from Steam because EA had a deal with another distributor that violated Steam's rules , rules, EA added, that other distributors do not have."

Read it how you want but, it seems pretty clear to me that Valve removed something from Steam because it was breaking their rules. Rules that they applied only to EA. Yeah, they're totally the good guys here.

 

[Ken Sapp]

EA's animosity towards Steam is not news to me. I preordered DA2 from Gamestop when EA decided not to allow it on Steam until after the deadline to get the full preorder bonus package. I think EA is setting themselves up for failure with Origin, we already have Steam, D2D, and Impulse for digital distribution and while I can't speak for D2D or Impulse, most users seem to be very happy with Steam. And wasn't it EA that showed they care nothing for their customers when a forum ban resulted in some gamers being completely unable to play their legally purchased games thanks to the required sign-in authentication?

Personally I have racked up quite a collection through Steam sales and have no wish to add yet another DD service to my computer.

 

[Levethian]

This is clearly EA's fault; they've either deliberately pulled the games or they've refused to comply with some of valves conditions (which all other publishers comply with) to give them an excuse to pull the games and blame Valve.

This is a naked gambit by EA to support Origin. Plain and simple. Anyone who believes this is Valve's fault is naively swallowing EA's spin.

You won the thread.

Anyone who actually believes EA's report about removing games because of obscure Valve rules that no one else seems to care about or acknowledge is buying right into their nonsense. What EA is doing is pulling the rights to games so they can sell them exclusively through Origin for essentially full price. They just don't want to share profits with Steam, simple as that. And it's a battle they're going to lose, because every other major publisher is likely to stay on-board with Steam, especially the indie developers who have obtained an easy distribution platform through Steam. EA's just trying to take its ball and go home.

That's my take on this too - mainly based on their deserved reputation of being awful.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I also won't be getting Origin because I don't want to have to run even more software in the background.

You don't have to run the Origin client in the background. The only time you'll ever need to have it open is when you purchase or download a game through it.

If you disable the Origin overlay there won't even be a trace left of the client when you run your game.

If that's actually important, as in, the OVERLAY has a noticeable effect on your system performance, you're in a whole lot of trouble to begin with.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I don't buy any of EA's games on principle, but the ensuing distribution war will be interesting to watch if nothing else.

Make no mistake: EA does not want to enhance the quality of their games or service; they just want more control over their titles on the market.
So for the time being, the Status Quo remains; EA's games will compete with other games; not just their distributors.

Like it or not, if EA is only going to sell their titles exclusively through their own distribution system in the future, then there is no way EA can really lose money except by overpricing their titles, or by failing to draw in customers at all.

 

[w00tage]

I think we may be seeing the beginning of the downfall of Steam. That sort of pisses me off too but that's the result of each publisher having their own download service, it sets up a sort of monopoly.

It's like if EA owned Target, they wouldn't want to sell their games at Wal Mart as that would compete against them.

Except target does not manufacture games, and this is not the downfall of steam, just the downfall of stocks over at EA, when share holders (like my self) see that they lose money with Origin.

Look unlike other products on the market, you cant exactly have any thing BUT a monopoly when it comes to things like steam. You have all your games on steam, you don't want to have another thing that only houses some of your games, that you have to boot up ALONG WITH STEAM or have the hassle to also close steam to run this digital distribution application, and then play those games, it simply isn't practical. No one wants 30 steam copy cats running at the same time.

Good point, and it applies in a different way. Competition only works when different distributors are able to sell the same product. Any Valve or EA produced game is never going to show up on the other's distribution service, therefore we don't have competition - we just have more monopolies.

Also Origin will always suck because it is run by a company with public investments, where as Valve is private, and doesn't give a shit what a bunch of people who just want to get a big return on their investments say, and will do the right thing, not the thing that fucks over the customer to make lots of money.

Aaaand here we part ways. I have bought my first Valve product and found it to be fun, but filled with glaring flaws in singleplayer and omglookittheexploitsandgriefing in multiplayer. I went to the forums and found out that it's been that way pretty much since release over 2 years ago, nobody is policing multiplayer, and indeed, even the most basic aspect of competitive multiplayer - matchmaking - is totally absent. There isn't even a difficulty selector on the multiplayer game so people can match themselves up by skill level.

Valve's handwave of an answer to these really game-breaking problems did not impress. Their "when someone feels like working on it" as far as fixing them in the future does not impress. Their "but the DLC will be free" does not impress, because "free DLC" does not mean "oh and we're going to fix the small-to-do but fundamentally critical gameplay problems too". If I'm not playing the game because it's broken in ways that make you lose in singleplayer and coop, and exploited against and griefed in competitive multiplayer, exactly what value does "free DLC" have?

So sadly, I can't agree that "Valve will do the right thing" when I own a very popular Valve product that I've stopped playing because they didn't do the right thing for years. I honestly don't see the difference between their behavior towards their customers and a big game company's behavior (SOE comes to mind).

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Tired of arguing. Let's put this to rest.

If you're going to back off, then don't start arguing as you do it.

Your tacit denouncement of EA was made wholly without proof

An implied condemnation? I do not think it means what you think it means.
Especially as providing proof for an implied evil is inconceivable.

both parties are remaining close mouthed about the whole thing

EA has been the only side to make an statements

That's a statement with a closed mouth, I take it?

but, it seems pretty clear to me

That's the problem. You're basing your entire argument on how you feel. The OP said there was "no reason given". That leads your entire argument to be based on your assumption. That's not a valid reason. While you can't even be bothered to Google results.

Your citation is of EA's press release. And the word "claimed" is nothing more than blame.

Citation or Retraction. If you can't provide proof, it's simply hearsay.

 

[ciasteczkowyp]

Honestly guys, the more competition there is between digital distribution services - the better. I like lower prices.

Anyways Brick&Mortar For The Win, always 20% cheaper than digital pre-orders for me.

 

[Epona]

Meh, let EA have their tantrums. DA isn't even that good.

I'm all for letting EA look like the jerk again, not that they need much assistance -- and DA never floated my boat either. I just hope this little ripple isn't the start of a massive tsunami of cloud-based BS, or that soon we'll all be looking back dreamily on the days when we actually owned the applications we use.

You never have owned the applications, you just bought the right to use them.

Wrong, you always owned it until publishers started using the internet to force full price rentals. As an example. I have 3 copies of Super Mario 64, the N64 version which is on a cartridge that I own and can do anything I like with. The Wii Virtual Console version which is extremely limited, I can't even play it on my second Wii and finally the DS version which is on a card and I can do anything I like with it.

Oh dear that whole software licensing thing seams to have passed you by, you never have owned the cartridge just merely the right to use the cartridge. You never have and never will own the application, try reading the eula before you type

Sure, where is the EULA for my SNES version of Chrono Trigger?

 

[Faolan Cheveyo]

This is more of a response aimed at everyone saying things like "DA2 sucked, it doesn't matter" or "I hope Mass Effect 3 will be on Steam.


Unless Origin fails miserably, EA games will most likely stop being released on Steam. This includes every Bioware title from here on. So I highly doubt ME3 will be on Steam. EA is trying to push Origin and really doing it in a bully-ish kind of way.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

EA really has some backward ass marketing. There's no conceivable way they will gain anything by pulling out of the most successful digital distributor the internet has and will have for some time. Oh, well. I probably wouldn't have bought DA2 anyway.

 

[AsurasFinest]

Look its pretty obvious to anyone with a brain, that EA is deliberately violating these new terms so they have a reason to pull them off and play the innocent card when accused of it.
As far as i understand it, its because EA are selling DLC only through their own site and not through Steam as well, effectively screwing Steam customers. Hence that could be a violation of the agreement.

Valve also can't respond negatively because if they do, EA will use it as an excuse to pull off ALL their games. Thats the whole point of this, to draw Valve into mudslinging and its why we have not heard a response so far.
Its pretty clear that other games like ME2 aren't having the same problem, so its clear EA is doing it purposely to get them off without being accused of being the pieces of crap that they are

 

[Worgen]

I think we may be seeing the beginning of the downfall of Steam. That sort of pisses me off too but that's the result of each publisher having their own download service, it sets up a sort of monopoly.

It's like if EA owned Target, they wouldn't want to sell their games at Wal Mart as that would compete against them.

I dunno. STEAM serves as a huge community thing too, not just a digital distribution service. I love using it to talk with friends while playing games. Origin and most other services don't do that. Plus, most aren't going to have the sales that STEAM pulls off. I think, once the Publishers start seeing how hard it is to break into that market with how loyal STEAM users are, they'll drop the idea. They'll start losing tons of money if only they offer it. PC gamers are very fickle about having multiple services running at once (I am at least, I'd PRAY that others are too).

I said the beginning of the downfall, not the downfall itself.

EA's service may not be up to Steam standards but if that is the only place people can get digital versions of their favorite games then people will use it. Especially if the physical copies require EA's service too (a tactic Valve used as well).

Steam has had it's dominance but I think that's coming to an end in favor of each publisher having their own download service. It sucks, I agree but I think that's the direction things are going.

no but we might be on the verge of something much more annoying that involves each big publisher wanting you to have their own digital distribution thing going to play their games... which oddly enough could mean more of a downfall of digital distribution then steam, most of the games I get on steam are more indie anyway

 

[devotedsniper]

Honestly guys, the more competition there is between digital distribution services - the better. I like lower prices.

Anyways Brick&Mortar For The Win, always 20% cheaper than digital pre-orders for me.

While usually your right there, if EA don't let others like Steam have it, it won't lower the prices.

 

[Still Life]

This Origin-Steam war is in no way a good thing.

Errr? How is it?

A monopoly over a market is not a good thing and more competition works in the favor of the consumer. I love steam and have used it since its early (shitty) days, but it's good to see other alternatives popping up.

 

[Anjel]

Iirc, Valve pulled Crysis 2, not EA, so I can only imagine that Valve has pulled Dragon Age 2 as part of this pointless war.

I hold my hands up, I'm a huge fan of Steam, but Valve really need to consider their policy on games being allowed on other digital distribution services (which is what I believe Crysis 2 was pulled for). Origin is not a threat to Steam, I looked on Origin recently and Bulletstorm was selling for £60 (no, not $60, £60), Steam was selling it at £15 in a sale and £30 normally. Crysis 2 was £30 on Steam before it was pulled and, until recently, was £35 on Origin. Even Dead Space 2 is cheaper on Steam (excluding Origins current sale on the title).

Steam has enough games to keep me playing until I die, I'd rather skip titles not available on Steam than get them elsewhere for convenience.

Off-topic: D2D was marking items as 'Not available on Steam' recently - a shitty marketing tactic (and also half of the titles marked were available on Steam in some or full capacity) and as a result I wont even buy a Steamworks title from them in future let alone anything else. A tad drastic but money is the only thing these companies understand and I feel a bit better being a dick over it.

Edit: Link to story re Crysis 2 missing from Steam (it's near the bottom);
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111041-EA-Gets-Ready-to-Throw-Down-With-Steam-UPDATED