EA Confirms No Battlefield 3 on Steam

[Clive Howlitzer]

Poor poor deluded EA. They don't know what they are getting themselves into. You know what is hilarious about Origin? Twice in the past 6 months, things have come up when EA has offered me a free game from their Origin line up. Both times, I've just stared at their library unable to decide, because they had so few games of worth. Both times I just sorta picked a game at random just to avoid wasting it, but never played it.
Origin's lineup is never going to be able to compete with Steam. They are shooting themselves in the foot by cutting off steam.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I'm just hoping EA don't pull more of their games off Steam and other publishers don't follow suit in creating their own digital distribution platforms. I suppose with time Battle.net will become the Activision equivalent, but I can't help but feeling that we consumers will be the worse off for all these pointless quarrels.

Really? Doesn't competition tend to benefit the customer?

OT: Eh, I was going to get a physical copy anyway, or I'd just get it xbox.

 

[pspman45]

EA are holding themselves hostage
Buy our games and I will BLOW MY BRAINS OUT...
... of steam
*comedy drum line*

 

[Wes1180]

As I understand it, valve are wanting all games on steam to be able to get the dlc for, to not be a lesser product, but EA aren't going to sell the dlc that way. And I don't think its down to valve as fallout 3 dlc you bought through Games for windows and not steam.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Anyone know what "limiting" policy Steam has implemented that hinders a company's ability to support to their fans?

I'm not for or against EA's games being on Steam, it's just that everyone seems to be avoiding the details of what lead to this. As a result people are jumping to the conclusion that EA is pulling its' games from Steam to hinder it's largest digital distributor competition.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From what I've heard:

EA: Steam's policies limit us in our commitment to fans.

Steam: EA refuses to agree with our terms set for all companies who use our service.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Where is the disconnect?

Is Steam asking for a cut from dlc?

Does EA not want to give patches through Steam?

Is there an answer anywhere?

 

[strum4h]

It won't take any of your experience away as Battlefield has always had Stat Tracking/Achievements/Friends List/Clan Support/Voice [...]

(Emphasis mine)
This is the sequel to BF2 and 1942, and the Bad Company games aren't "true" battlefield games (something DICE themselves have said several times). Neither BF2 or 1942 had Achievements, friends list or clan support, and 1942 didn't have voice or stats. No BF game has ever had clan support.

You've been setting other people's facts straight (thumbs up, +rep or equivalent), so this time it's my turn

Anyway guys, Battlefield 3 will suck because it's basically Bad Company Two and a Half, not because it isn't available on your monopolized digital distribution service.

You forgot Battlefield Vietnam and BF2142 which nobody bought because it was shit, upon which DICE turned to consoles xD

Battlefield 2 certainly had "Achievements", e.g. http://bf2s.com/player/59173458/
Look at all the Badges/Medals/Ribbons which are basically nothing else. Also I'm not sure what you are reffering to when you say "Clan Support" but I'm pretty sure that you could both make and keep a Clan Server in any Battlefield game and from 2 onwards it was very much possible to add a separate Clan-Tag/Prefixes to your name and a few other things.

Friends List true, but the latest Bad Company game did have them.

TBH BF2142 was one of the most fun games I have played. The maps were all designed very well, the squad system was refined and the titan mode was really fun. Out of all the battlefield games I think they got that one right but it never received any spotlight.

 

[BoredDragon]

I agree with most people before me that EA will probably lose a lot of sales with this move, but I don't really care as much since I'm going to get it for the 360

edit:

Still doesn't effect me because retail exists. Hooray for physical copies.

dammit, ninja'd

 

[GeorgW]

Okay, people, there seems to be a lot of confusion as to why they do these things. The problem EA has with Steam, or rather, that Steam has with EA is that they circumvent Steam when they sell DLC by doing it in-game and directing them to a separate service where Steam doesn't get their cut. EA also refuses to let Steam sell their DLC directly from their Steam store. EA has refused to give Steam their dues for getting their games to people through their platform and Steam has responded by pulling their games.

That's the reason, now whether EA is refusing to change is so they can blame Steam and promote their Origin through news coverage is entirely possible, but purely speculation.

-snip-

Could you please include this reason the next time this controversy comes up to avoid confusion?

 

[Sevre]

I'm just hoping EA don't pull more of their games off Steam and other publishers don't follow suit in creating their own digital distribution platforms. I suppose with time Battle.net will become the Activision equivalent, but I can't help but feeling that we consumers will be the worse off for all these pointless quarrels.

Really? Doesn't competition tend to benefit the customer?

OT: Eh, I was going to get a physical copy anyway, or I'd just get it xbox.

Well think about it this way, this means that you have to go to a different DD platform whenever you want a game. This means setting up different accounts, running different programs, basically what you're doing with Steam a few times over.

 

[AT God]

Why don't they do what Ubisoft does, they have their own independent downloader that patches the games from their servers, Steam just installs the original game files and launches the downloader. It works perfectly for me and I don't mind having to click play twice.

 

[GeorgW]

I'm just hoping EA don't pull more of their games off Steam and other publishers don't follow suit in creating their own digital distribution platforms. I suppose with time Battle.net will become the Activision equivalent, but I can't help but feeling that we consumers will be the worse off for all these pointless quarrels.

Really? Doesn't competition tend to benefit the customer?

OT: Eh, I was going to get a physical copy anyway, or I'd just get it xbox.

But if every publisher is gonna limit digital copies to only their service then that eliminates the competition entirely, since it means that the game is only gonna be available on one service that the publishers have full control over.

If EA wants to make Origin competitive with Steam, they should stop pulling games from Steam and in stead focus on making a good client that can compete on a purely qualitative basis. Forcing people to come to them in stead of making it beneficial but optional is going to achieve the opposite, it's gonna build animosity towards them and drive people away in stead.

 

[Macrobstar]

Lol thats why i like consoles, don't have to deal with this shit
My thoughts go ut to all you PC gamers

 

[spartandude]

I agree with most people before me that EA will probably lose a lot of sales with this move, but I don't really care as much since I'm going to get it for the 360

whoo, give me a high five my brother

 

[GeorgW]

So, let me get this straight. EA want to release the game on Origin, a few other DD services, and on Steam. Steam says no, only on our platform or not at all. And EAs pulling the dick move here? Right.

But let me guess, you didnt read the article, checked the comments section and saw that all the cool kids were hating on EA so you decided to do the same. Yep, that must be it. Because if you actually had read the article before making a reply, you would have noticed that BF3 does not need Origin installed to run.

I'm guessing you didn't read the article too well yourself, because the reason BF3 isn't showing up on Steam is not because Steam said "our platform or not at all." It's because of issues regarding how they get DLC to customers. Or, as another poster explained quite well, Steam now has a requirement that all DLC offered for games must also be purchasable through Steam as well. This is likely because of a previous issue with Mirror's Edge (an EA game) where the DLC didn't work with Steam versions of the game.

Other online retailers may be offering the game because they don't have this restriction, but looking back on the history of this particular issue between EA and Steam I'd be weary of buying BF3 on these other stores and expecting the DLC to be compatible with any non-Origins version.

Really, your "steam said just our service or it won't be on ours at all" comment made no sense. You do realize that Steam if full of games that are available on other online services as well, right? It doesn't even match up with what EA said the reason was; if Steam said "only our service or none at all" then EA would have said that, not "The service limits our ability to deliver patches and downloadable content directly to players."

It still makes sense. Steam is still working against having the game on their platform, and are just as much "at fault" here as EA. That was the gist of my statement, and its still right.

I'm still calling bullshit on what EA is saying. As I recall, I had to download an expansion pack directly from EA for Mass Effect 2. It was really annoying, but I did it.

Yeah, im by no means arguing against that. This kind of stuff nearly always ends up making the experience more complicated and annoying for the user. And I think theres a lot more in it than EA are saying here. What I was saying was just that I can guarantee that Valve isnt completely innocent in this, and EA getting all the hate is unjustified.

If I may say something. I think Steam is entirely justified in their decision. Why should steam advertise EA's games, give them server space and so on if they're gonna be completely cut out of the DLC profits? I think EA is being stubborn and stupid, possibly because they want publicity for Origin. Sure it's entirely Steam's decision to pull it, but EA had it coming and I respect that Steam's willing to lose out on the massive profits that BF3 is gonna make for its principles.

 

[TheMagicLemur]

Now that it's not on Steam,I officially don't give a shit about it. Because I am not downloading EA's stupid ass attempt to trump Valve just to play a first person shooter.

You dont need Origin to play BF3, you can buy retail (or from another service) and play it without ever touching Origin.

Honestly, I've dl'ed origin, and can see no problems with it as yet. And some competition to Steam is never a bad thing. Capitalism folks, get used to it.

Unless you live in China or North Korea.

Uh, not to get off-topic, but China is essentially cluster-fucky hypercapitalism with an authoritarian overlay at this point.

 

[sir.rutthed]

Now that it's not on Steam,I officially don't give a shit about it. Because I am not downloading EA's stupid ass attempt to trump Valve just to play a first person shooter.

Instead you should get EA's stupid ass attempt to trump Blizzard just to play an MMO. Like me.

OT: EA calling out Valve on making it harder to support customers? How come this is the first anyone's said about it? Seems to me everyone else's having no trouble about it. This stinks of marketing gimmick. The only bright side to their trying to hype up Origin is that it could be a sign of Old Republic coming out soon.

 

[mjc0961]

Can we all just say "Fuck you, EA" enough to drive them out of business?

Sure... Just as soon as I get my copy of Mass Effect 3. Then I'll help you with taking out these giant lying douchebags.

 

[The Lunatic]

Eehh. Can't say I was interested in the first place, this basically just means I'll never obtain it via one of steam's awesome sales.