EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

[RangerXML]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Valve games are retail boxes only, EA is the retail distributor of Valve games. You can order Valve games on the Origin website, but they are physically shipped to you, and even if they sold digital versions on Origin, they would require Steam as they are Steamworks games.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Yes, Origin is EA's download/community client. You can get digital downloads from them just like from Steam, although they only offer EA games of course.

Actually they announced some Valve games on it the other day.

Crunch

[Anarchy1]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Yes, Origin is EA's download/community client. You can get digital downloads from them just like from Steam, although they only offer EA games of course.

[-Shifty-]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

This isn't good news to me. I like steam, for the fact that all my games are online, and I never have to worry about scratching or breaking discs. I had having to repurchase a game because something happened to the disc. Steam solved that problem and has all my games.

Now if I understand correctly, there's an EA download manager thing called Origin that is just like Steam? I'm glad they have that at least.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

It makes sense though. EA says they dont agree with the Steam policy. Valve agrees with the Origin policy.

Crunch

[Anarchy1]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

I never knew that. It's kind of funny that EA publishes some of Valve's games, yet they can't make an agreement over DLC.

[Stev0esque]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Actually yes you can, EA is the publisher for physical distribution of Valve games, like the Orange Box or Portal 2, so you can order physical copies from the Origin store.

Orange Box (PC/Mac)

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/pd/productID.81565900/sac.true

Portal 2 (PC/Mac)
http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_...57700/sac.true

Oh the irony... (I hope Im using it correctly...)

[RangerXML]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Actually yes you can, EA is the publisher for physical distribution of Valve games, like the Orange Box or Portal 2, so you can order physical copies from the Origin store.

Orange Box (PC/Mac)

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/pd/productID.81565900/sac.true

Portal 2 (PC/Mac)

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/pd/productID.181157700/sac.true

[troybob]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

Major problem with your argument, Steam is the only digital retailer not getting BF3. Amazon and D2D are going to offer the game as a digital download. So this is about controlling content, like patches and DLC, both of which Steam has taken a tighter control of.

Ah ha! You would be correct sir! If Amazon and D2D were also game publishers. EA publishes games, so they have their fingers in the pie. Valve publishes games too, so they have their fingers in the pie. That's what changes the angle a bit.

Controlling content is something Amazon and D2D aren't really concerned with, because they don't compete with the publishers. Just like Best Buy and Frys. This is a paradigm shift. I want to see how this plays out.
.
So speaking of which - can you find steam games on Origin? I've never used Origin.

[RangerXML]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

To me it's the principle of it. I loved Sim City 2000. Maxim was a great studio. Then EA bought it. I loved Battlefield 1942. Dice was a great studio. I helped beta test Desert Combat (Trauma). Trauma went to Dice. Then EA bought DICE. I haven't been as happy with any battlefield title since as I was with 1942. Additionally, this isn't just a studio, it's a distribution method. This is mini-history in the making, as it could lead to market precedence down the road. If a game company owns a digital distribution company, Steam is going to have a hard time negotiating winning terms. It's an interesting paradigm in the tech industry called "coopetition". (Like Cisco competing against HP in one market but uses HP hardware in another). It's interesting because the box-version market is much different. EA doesn't compete against Best Buy. But if Best Buy released an online digital delivery and manegement system, would EA yank boxes from shelves as well? Probably not. But thats what EA isn't counting on. EA is counting on steam users to use 2 systems at once. If EA keeps BF3 from STEAM, I'll just do what I always do when games aren't on steam: Buy the box. EA is betting on Origin. And people think that if there are Steam die-hards out there (like me), they must be open to other platforms as well. And that's not an unreasonable position, but there are still boxes. And I'd rather play the game out of a box then trust a company run by EA. Prove me wrong EA. Make me believe, but not with gimmicks of Origin orders. I grew up with your titles and I deserve a little more. EA wants Steam out of the picture to drive Origin sales. But I bet most folks will just pre-order a box from their local gamestop.

Major problem with your argument, Steam is the only digital retailer not getting BF3. Amazon and D2D are going to offer the game as a digital download. So this is about controlling content, like patches and DLC, both of which Steam has taken a tighter control of.

[Vreki]

Re: EA States Battlefield 3 Will NOT be on Steam

For me the main thing is that EA is a lot less trustworthy than Valve.
Besides being evil, this is just an experiment for them. If it fails, then some wonder-kid gets the boot and a new wonder kid with the next great idea is hired.
So we get stupid stuff like the "Only 6 months to download your game" and "Inactive accounts may be deleted after two years".

That said, BF3 is already tied so much into EA with login and ranked servers that I don't really fear adding Origin on top of that. I am sure I will be able to access the game as long as EA keeps the relevant servers running.
But every time I have the choice, Steam wins.

[DunkinSPE]

My thoughts about it revolve around how to link my games to an account. Let's face it with CD activation keys linking to a particular online gamer handle or email account there's just a lot of complications that arise with each new online store that comes out. Take for example my own Origin account. Years ago i bought the armored fury and euro forces packs through the EA store. Since that has now migrated over to Origin it shows those games as purchased and in turn acknowledges that I have actively played battlefield 2 online. Now with BFBC2 which i purchased on steam and BFBC2 Vietnam as well i can't seem to link these as active known accounts on origin. My handle is the same in all the BF Series games yet going from one online store to another i have no true compilation of my gaming purchases and history. So my biggest problem with EA and Valve bickering about distribution channels is it revolves at its core around money. If you take away the ability to purchase games and the auto updates of purchased software both systems just become another version of a game tracker system. At this point I'm probably going to place my order through a retail outlet because I've not been impressed with Origin so far.

[MurderDogg]

EA`s last attempt at a game download platform failed miserably. Steam is the one that has worked all along. Steam would have bean my 1st choice to prepurchase. Wont stop me from buying it though.

[Rambo]

the wall of text ate it!

[troybob]

what the hell happened to all my paragraphs!