EA Gets Ready to Throw Down With Steam - UPDATED

[Aprilgold]

Thanks EA but I already have Steam, if you want to make some money put it on there. And atleast I can trust Valve to be somewhat honest about the way they do things.

Awesome, does what I was going to rant on, also, where did you get your avatar?

 

[Atmos Duality]

And Blizzard is wondering why most of South Korea is still sticking with the original Starcraft...

To be fair, they did come in and try to muscle out their national sport.
Even if it was their copyright software, it was still bound to piss off everyone and everything that was already established.
Quite an odd situation when you think about it.

Despite EA's idiotic sales tactics, the only thing that they're concerned about is the bottom line. That's why they launched Origin in the first place- they want a bigger cut of distributor prices than what they were getting for their games on Steam. However, Origin is next to unknown compared to Steam, and limiting hot games to it would hurt sales. And a comparatively smaller cut of the sales is better than no sales at all.

Believe me, I know their business strategy. For the longest time, Publishers have held a natural monopoly on their product, but have been held back by restraints of distribution. The obvious long term strategy, to correct this, would be to cut the middleman out entirely.
Of course, now that we're at that point, we're looking at invasive DRM and increasingly absurd degrees of authentication.

The problem now, is that Steam provides better service and uses a less bullshit form of DRM.
To compete with Steam, they literally have to either pull exclusivity deals, or price competitively, and I'm sure you can guess which one they aren't likely to do.
They can "compete" with Steam, but only as long as their product remains in sufficiently high demand.

I agree that EA might make an exception to Mass Effect 3's exclusivity, and its odds are better than many people think. EA is running exclusive download disribution rights on The Old Republic as a field test for how effective it can be. This is very risky, as MMO sales and subscription fees literally keep the game alive. EA has dumped more money into this game than any other of its titles, so it might be killing TOR before it even began with this tactic. Perhaps in order to save such an enormous investment they'll be forced to crawl back to Steam for increased ranges of sales. At least they'll still get the subscription fees. And if it fails, Mass Effect 3 will be up on Steam.

*snip*

In the end, it comes down to how well TOR will do on Origin.

You are dead on correct about TOR being the make-or-break point for EA. That much I have known for a while now. This is where EA might establish itself as a genuine competitor against Blizzard (rather than Steam) directly, or die trying.
If TOR fails to take off as they hope, (even if they only break even) expect heads to roll at EA. Many, many heads. Especially at Bioware.

Slightly Tangential: EA is currently fighting a prolonged war against the two-headed beast that is Activision-Blizzard. TOR on one hand (against WoW), and Battlefield/Medal of Honor on the other (against Call of Duty).

The only remaining thought I have here is, "How will EA respond to Blizzard's Titan after TOR?"
Blizzard is already a step ahead of them there and TOR isn't even out yet...
There are a few possibilities to consider, but my are the consequences ever so dire for each of them.

 

[Dragonborne88]

Wait. So Valve kicked Crysis 2 off steam because crytek made it available on other digital distribution platforms? Did I read that right?

Because if so, this is the first major misstep which I can recall valve making with steam. Ejecting a product from your service because the producer decided to make it available somewhere else also can't be good business, can it?

Uh, I doubt thats the story. At all.

They sell a lot of games on STEAM that are available on other platforms, like GoG, and Impulse. They still have EA games on the store too, it's just the recent titles they are removing. And, note, that Valve have refused service in the past before if they aren't given the rights to have patches and whatnot available, which is why they don't support their console releases. They don't want to have to charge for the packs and content generally.

Story I hear is that Crytek has an exclusive deal with EA that only allows patches through Origin, which doesn't really surprise me.

Ok, that makes more sense. Still, I find it curious that EA would say that this is "...not the result of any action by EA" if it was an EA decision to discontinue support for the steam version which prompted the game's removal.

Welcome to the corporate world, where ever word said is said to make you look good, and every other word is a lie to make you look good.

 

[aashell13]

Why all the hate for EA and Origin? I used it to get my free copy of Mass Effect 2 for the PC, from Bioware's sequel celebration with Dragon Age 2, and it seems to work fine for me. I don't use it or Steam too often though, so I can't say too much.

I suspect the hate for EA in general and origin specifically stems from EA's history of building notoriously half-assed online systems and then making their use mandatory, even on top of other DRM schemes like CD keys or SteamWorks.

 

[Eireronin]

So apparently Valve screwed over EA?

Wow, i am genuinely surprised.

 

[DontPunchTrees]

Nothing on the computer can compare to Steam, I don't see why EA's so desperate to be different...

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

This is desperation. They knew they didn't have a chance.

This won't help them, though.

 

[Worr Monger]

Hope this bombs badly...

..Well, I can still take comfort in the fact that I enjoy Collector's Edition Bioware games as it is. So I'll have a physical copy anyway... and no one will be able to see the embarrassing amount of hours I put into them on Steam.

I will fight this though... no game will be purchased on Origin by me. Not a one.

 

[The Sane]

Of the little information I've seen on the subject, it seems Valve kicked Crisis 2 off because EA refused to supply Steam any game patches, opting for a separate downloader only.


Or something.... ?

Ok, that makes more sense. Still, I find it curious that EA would say that this is "...not the result of any action by EA" if it was an EA decision to discontinue support for the steam version which prompted the game's removal.

If it is because of not being able to patch the game through Steam, which is in my opinion a perfectly reasonable (and easy to fulfill) requirement from Valve, then I'd say they are trying to be clever with their wording. Rather than being taken off the service because of an action by EA, rather taken off by their inaction in supplying updates.

 

[Gefft]

i don't really agree with this at all, they are saying to all steam users. would you prefer to have two online distribution programs, or keep steam and pirate the rest. i bet ME3 and BF3 will be the most pirated games of the next two years if they are origin exclusive. maybe ill get a ps3 instead of a new pc....

 

[Burck]

i could just avoid origin buy buying, you know, a disc? ever heard of it EA?
If they pull this shite with BF3 and ME3, i will be visiting PC world more often!

Only problem is, EA is offering BF3 for $40 on Origin as a digital download, but on disc (yes, for PC) it costs $60.... wait...

I can't seem to find it being posted at $40 anymore... I could've sworn I saw it posted at a discount on Origin... Hell, maybe it was $50, but I can't find it anymore.

Well, there goes my argument.

Guess I'll be hoofing it to my local Best Buy come release.
(I hope they don't read this, but if they mandate Origin to play in the beta, I will throw a self-righteous fit. [Sarcasm aimed at myself)

 

[Gefft]

you don't think they will use origin like steamworks?

so you buy the game and HAVE to use origin to play it?

i can see that coming. they'll be shooting themselves in the foot but its totally possible

 

[Thumper17]

This is a shame. I was looking forward to the old republic. Guess I wont be playing it now.

 

[Polock]

Steam already runs awesomely for me.

I love it.

...Why do I have to download another service for most of the time meh EA games?

I'll stick to Steam, keep my eye on this Origin thing.

 

[Vigormortis]

Can't tell if they're covering their asses or if it's true that this is a Steam decision, not one of theirs. [http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20071213-1/updated-eas-crysis-2-new-alice-game-gone-from-steam/]

So the story on IRC is it happened something like this. Crytek signed a deal with EA to only support the Origin version of Crysis 2 with future updates (bug fixes) and DLC. Rather than sell a game that is gimped and won't be receiving updates or any more support from it's developer only because of the fact it's on steam. Valve decided to remove it from their catalog.

Wow. Really? I was wondering what kind of new "rule" Valve had in place that required them to bring down the ban hammer on Crysis 2. It just seemed odd and, frankly, a little unorthodox from Valve's usual behavior.

I had feared it was something petty. Say, other DD services being able to put Crysis 2 on sale while Steam could not. If it had been something like that that had forced Valve's hand, I'd have been very disappointed.

However, if what you say is true, then good on Valve. That deal between Crytek and EA is one of the most bullshit, idiotic things I've seen a while. Talk about giving a big 'ole middle finger to your customers.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

I am always apprehensive about buying EA games, because I believe they are more interested in share prices than true gaming experiences, thats why im a Valve/blizz fanboy

I never buy EA published titles on launch day, i will either wait till they drastically fall in price or they are critically acclaimed and a must-play, and even then it takes a bit of pushing

Now, EA will have made the decision for me! If its their steam clone exclusive, i CANT play it, yay, no more dissapointment for me!

Saying that, i would still buy it from retail, but if i find it requires that stupid piece of software I would straight up not buy it

God, I hate the blacksuits that run these companies, they dont give a damn about customer convenience, just as long as they get as much margin as possible

Silly, silly people

 

[Lizmichi]

Ok fuck you EA,I've bought all my BioWare games on steam and it seems I may very well have to buy a hard copy of Mass Effect 3. There's no way I'm going to a wantabe Steam for a game. I see this failing hard and I hope it does. All they're doing is pissing off the people they're trying to service.

 

[Blunderboy]

Oh EA.
I think GLaDOS summed up my feelings perfectly.

[claps slowly three times]
GLaDOS: Oh good. My slow clap processor made it into this thing. So we have that.

 

[quhouv vhqwiufv qwiu]

I'm not aware of any EA title which can come close to the quality of Valve games. I certainly won't stop using Steam because of this.

 

[Spindleweed]

Jumping in late without reading the whole thread, but this must be said. I would never use use an EA distribution service. I like EA games, played a lot since BF2, inc Crysis, ME 1 & 2, Dead Space 1 & 2, blah blah. But every game asked me to sign up to EA to get perks or in game items or similar. EVERY time it failed to allow me to tie my games together so I ended up with about 9 EA accounts, one per game. And ofc, a lot of lost ingame perks/items (still want my ME2 dragon armour!). So no, EA, keep your games offline. Compared to steam you don't know what you are doing.

EDIT: spelling and punctuation