EA Gets Ready to Throw Down With Steam - UPDATED

[chibivash]

apparently, ea didn't ask steam to remove it. crytek is violating steams new terms with having a different download client than steam. interesting. maybe battlefield 3 won't be exclusive for origin.

 

[Soviet Steve]

This'll make it all the easier for people who hate EA to avoid buying their games, so I wish EA the best with this.

 

[Harbinger_]

Also with the new information if Steam has them sign a contract or some sort of agreement and a company goes back on it I can understand them pulling it from their store/site. That makes sense. They can't play favorites.

 

[Woodsey]

So, what about people who bought it, and other EA titles on Steam? Will they still be able to play it?

So Valve did this now? What new rules does Steam have that Crysis 2 violates? Is it because Crysis 2 is being offered on the Publisher's own service? If that's the case, why hasn't The Witcher 2 been removed for being on GoG?

Is it because Crysis 2 is offered on other Digital distribution services? If so then almost every single game on Steam should be removed.

So... what are these new rules, and where can we read them?

Not exactly looking forward to how this turns out, since EA doesn't have the same amount of care for its customers that Steam/Valve does. As evidence by how they say they have the right to ban you from playing your games if you say something naughty in their forums.

And what the hell is with EA challenging everything lately?

I agree, it makes no sense. Downloading The Witcher 2 through Steam was made to be less appealing by CDP (since GOG got the pre-load) and yet that's still on there. This is very bizaree.

I can't see why they'd outright lie when Valve can prove them wrong in a matter of seconds, but then I can't see why Valve would do this, and only to Crysis 2.

 

[nebrius]

To everyone saying "but Steam was crappy when it first came out too, so don't be so hard on Origin". Yes Steam sucked at first (I remember swearing to never use it either back in the HL1 days). But the comparison isn't really valid simply because Steam didn't have any competition to be compared with, Origin does. It's like the iPhone...it sucked when it first came out, but had no competition and did well. Windows Phone 7 also sucked when it first came out, but had iOS and Android as competition, and it's not doing very well. It may not be fair, but Origin will have to compete with Steam quickly or it will fail.

 

[bombadilillo]

Well, this can only go horribly wrong for EA, there missing out on millions of possible customers. Doesn't help that Valve is being kind of a dick though... Surely by their own rules they should drop every game that appears on GoG as well?

If you think real hard you will see why this fact makes EA's arguement a lie. Or at least a twisted truth. There are tons of other games on GOG and D2D and steam and nobody has had a problem until now. Think.

 

[Enrathi]

I'll buy physical copies of ME3 and SW:tOR. Unless EA decides to go digital only with either, in which case they just lost my sales on them (and my sub for SW).

SW:TOR is supported entirely via origin so even if you buy the disk all your patches game updates etc require you to use an origin long in name and password. You're not avoiding Origin by buying the actual disk.

I can live with that, since all MMOs I've played have their own patch system.

I'm not against Origins, per se, just against them attempting monopolizing the digital market (in regards to EA games). If I have the choice, I'll get a physical copy for whatever pre-order bonus or rewards membership I want to take advantage of. But if they tell me I can only get it through Origins, that's when I have an issue.

EDIT: Making a few games exclusive is ok, I just have this feeling they're going to try to distribute a majority of future EA games through Origins for digital purchase. I much prefer to be able to shop around and find sales or other incentives to purchase from one retailer (be it physical or digital) over another.

 

[InevitableFate]

Once again, I'll repeat myself:

"In the case of Star Wars we're trying to build an audience for Origin. And it's also an opportunity for us to better manage the downloads and how we bring people over from the beta and that sort of thing. For a lot of reasons it made sense for an MMO, which is a highly complex deployment,"

No it does not make sense. Any MMOG planning to go up against WoW needs to be easily available. Limiting platform is insensible.

A far wiser move would be to make Origin a necessary [and restrained!] inclusion in The Old Republic, as a centralised updating platform, but still sell it elsewhere.

They'd still get all the Origin users but additionally a bunch of people from Steam.

They do this in some cases already as far as I know, with the EA Download Manager.

 

[Kataskopo]

I find myself fearing this might work for EA. I mean, I dislike EA as much as the next guy, but if they actually design a good platform, non-intrusive, with good titles and incredible sales like in Steam, it may actually work.

And this could even improve Steam, with good 'ol competition.

 

[Woodsey]

I agree, it makes no sense. Downloading The Witcher 2 through Steam was made to be less appealing by CDP (since GOG got the pre-load) and yet that's still on there. This is very bizaree.

I can't see why they'd outright lie when Valve can prove them wrong in a matter of seconds, but then I can't see why Valve would do this, and only to Crysis 2.

Well all we have to do is wait a day to find out if EA is telling the truth or like you believe they are lying. If valve does not contridict them then we will know it was them who pulled the game and nothing to do with EA. Its not exactly very far fetched to believe that valve is the one who pulled the game.

"I can't see why they'd outright lie"

"you believe they are lying"

Anyway, it would seem silly to do something after-the-fact, seemingly pull just one game, and then lost the money from it.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

in related news, ea decides to be totally retarded and do the stupidest thing it can think of

you know cause if there is one thing pc gamers love its having to have a bunch of background programs open to run their games library

inorite? But maybe this a good thing. Competition means better quality products for customers after all. Well, they better at least match steams quality anyway or, yes, they will tank.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well, any hope of me playing Mass Effect 3 on Steam just vanished.
I'll settle with...not playing it at all.

Because honestly; Fuck EA. This is their stepping stone to "Always online DRM".
That's it. It's the only reason they would do something like this, because the notion of EA competing with Steam is quite frankly laughable.

 

[Alucard788]

*hysterical laughter*

If this were any other company but EA I'd be cheering them on...but I'm not sure that this is going to end well for us gamers.

Anyone want to hedge bets on how long it will take for EA to come crawling back to Steam?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

but if they actually design a good platform, non-intrusive, with good titles and incredible sales like in Steam,

If they do that, I'll believe Microsoft want to help PC gaming, the Wii U isn't just an Ipad and Bobby Kotick has played WoW for more than one session.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Good luck fighting Steam. I'd be nice to have to rely on the generosity of Steam to not just close up shop and make your games worthless but It's going to be hard to take on the juggernaut that is Steam.

 

[Worgen]

in related news, ea decides to be totally retarded and do the stupidest thing it can think of

you know cause if there is one thing pc gamers love its having to have a bunch of background programs open to run their games library

inorite? But maybe this a good thing. Competition means better quality products for customers after all. Well, they better at least match steams quality anyway or, yes, they will tank.

the thing is that we already have competition, we have impulse and direct 2 drive, not to mention brick and morter, chances are this will only be an ea game store so its not really competition, its just EA's baby and it will just be an annoyance for people who want to play a game by ea, besides, if microsoft cant make a good online service like steam I have doubts as to ea being able to, its not exactly easy

 

[Undead Dragon King]

Well, any hope of me playing Mass Effect 3 on Steam just vanished.
I'll settle with...not playing it at all.

I highly doubt that. As much as EA might like its new pet project, they wouldn't let the conclusion to one of its flagship serieses be exclusive to Origin. And Valve would be idiotic to NOT have Mass Effect 3 on Steam.

 

[C14N]

Iono, competition is good but only as long as EA keep their games on Steam too. Otherwise it's just a big inconvenience. Don't EA already allow downloads of their games with some other software?