Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

[Shawn Zipay]

To breathe some more fire back into this long standing rumor, BF3Blog.com heard from an anonymous tipster that Valve and EA are in some very late stages of discussion to bring Battlefield 3 to Steam.

According to an anonymous report BF3Blog received from inside Valve, the developer/publisher is currently in late-stage talks with EA in bringing Battlefield 3 to the Steam digital distribution service. The rumor says that Battlefield 3 would be available on Steam just in time for the game’s release on October 25.

According to the report, EA and Valve are very close to reaching an agreement regarding sales of DLC content, which is the main reason Battlefield 3 is not on Steam: Valve requires that all DLC is sold through Steam, while EA would prefer to sell via its own channels. This was the cause of another EA title, Crysis 2, for being pulled from Steam earlier this year.

Thus far, neither EA nor Valve have publicly confirmed this rumor.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

I suppose this is great news for those that really want to use Steam, but Origin is still required. During the beta there is no way around that and it loads it up every time.

For those that do want it on Steam, is it worth the efforts if BF3 still runs origin in the background?

Crunch

[Shawn Zipay]

Why do you believe Origin would still have to run in the background when all Origin does is act as a stepping stone to access Battlelog and possibly to authenticate? Steam can do this just as easily. This is NOT discussing having BF3 use Steamworks which is entirely different.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Its an assumption. DICE has said it is required and it is regardless of where you purchase it now. Origin isnt needed to run now other than, what I also assumed, to provide a check that the game was purchased. Yes, steam can do that, but going direct to Battlelog to your EA assigned account can do it as well. Why would EA give an exemption to Steam, but not the other digital download sellers? Numbers is the only reason. Maybe sells are not as good as they say and Steam can push that over the top.

I just wanted to know that IF a steam purchase was possible, but it requires Origin which is required everywhere you purchase now, would people still purchase from Steam.

Crunch

[RangerXML]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Would be nice if EA would provide us with some kind of link to use to run with Steam overlay. Trying to get my Steam friends to add me in Origin and then because of all the different names, because their names were already taken or its from an older account is like pulling teeth.

If Steam gets BF3, I will cancel my Origin pre order.

[Pl4cek]

I'm using steam overlay while plying bf3 anyway, so it's not a big deal for me. Sure, it's a pain in the ass to start origin using steam, and than start bf3 from origin, but than it's pure pleasure to be able to use my steam friend list etc... BTW. should the colors on this site look like this: http://imageshack.us/f/820/csne.jpg/ ? All comment buttons are unreadable, cause label color is the same as it's background?;/ Also posted comments are hardly readable..

[Anarchy1]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Why do you believe Origin would still have to run in the background when all Origin does is act as a stepping stone to access Battlelog and possibly to authenticate? Steam can do this just as easily. This is NOT discussing having BF3 use Steamworks which is entirely different.

Because EA wants to maintain control. Allowing Steam to bypass Origin would basically be them giving up their entire intended market for Origin.

And have you ever played an AC game on Steam (or, I assume, any Ubisoft game)? All Steam does is load the Ubisoft Uplay Launcher, which authenticates your account and then launches the game itself.

[Shawn Zipay]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

uPlay is a bit different by design. It's a means of DRM and not a digital distribution platform like Origin.

[Coleman]

I suppose this is great news for those that really want to use Steam, but Origin is still required. During the beta there is no way around that and it loads it up every time. For those that do want it on Steam, is it worth the efforts if BF3 still runs origin in the background? Crunch

The beta needs Origin to run because the Beta is being RUN through Origin. Retail releases, and purchases through Origin will need Origin to run. But other digital versions may or may not. I'm not saying they won't, but there's no reason to be "sure" they will, either. Battlelog is a redundant system to Origin. And with the fact that the friends list is entirely separate, there are strong beliefs that Origin won't be required in some versions. If BF3 comes to Steam, I *will* cancel my Origin preorder and get it on Steam.

[Anarchy1]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Origin can easily be considered a form of DRM as well.

Even so, the biggest reason I think it will have to go through Origin is because the people dedicated to using Steam are the people they are trying to target to use Origin as well. Letting them bypass that and use Steam instead would be backwards.

[Shawn Zipay]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Nowhere did I say that Origin wasn't a form of DRM. However, as I DID say, it's also a digital distribution platform. uPlay is not.

[Stryker]

eh, I ordered a hard copy from Gamestop anyway. I thought maybe if it would run on steam it would open the battlelog on steams browser. I miss the good old'e days where it just opened in itself, no steam, no origin..you know, like BF2.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

The beta needs Origin to run because the Beta is being RUN through Origin. Retail releases, and purchases through Origin will need Origin to run. But other digital versions may or may not. I'm not saying they won't, but there's no reason to be "sure" they will, either. Battlelog is a redundant system to Origin. And with the fact that the friends list is entirely separate, there are strong beliefs that Origin won't be required in some versions. If BF3 comes to Steam, I *will* cancel my Origin preorder and get it on Steam.

Hello Coleman and welcome to the forums.

I have to disagree with your statement about the beta being ran through Origin. The beta, as well as the alpha runs through battlelog. Origin is the download medium for BF3, but the alpha proved to me that it is not needed for anything. The reason for that is because during the alpha, after I installed BF3, I was able to turn off Origin and go straight to the battlelog to launch and play the game.

In the beta, Battlelog launches Origin for a background purpose, which I suspect to be DRM related, yet you still use Battlelog as the browser as well as for selecting options for the game. Origin, however, cannot do that and when you click to play the game, instead launches Battlelog and not the game.

Also, the friends list in Origin is in no way linked to Battlelog. You cant use squad features or have your friends list auto-populated because they are in Origin. Its an entirely seperate system.

If Steam was to be the launchpad for BF3 and Origin would not be needed, I would suspect that Steam would also launch Battlelog and the friends list would work the same as it does for BC2. Steam being the launchpad without Origin would also prove that Origin is not needed at all, but for some DRM related reason.

So yes, Origin is required for the beta, but when you look at its functions and how it behaves with the beta, its only running Battlelog and not doing anything else on the user side of things.

Crunch

[Anarchy1]

Re: Rumor: EA and Valve Still Discussing Battlefield 3 Coming to Steam

Nowhere did I say that Origin wasn't a form of DRM. However, as I DID say, it's also a digital distribution platform. uPlay is not.

But is is also EA's DRM. Valve may not like having to have the game through Origin since it is a storefront for EA, but since it is EA's DRM, if they want the game on Steam, then they will likely have to concede that.

[nemes1s3000]

You can't have both, just one. If they change that rule, then fuck em. BF3 may be a superb game, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give in to these nut jobs' demand just because they feel like telling me what do install. This goes for both Valve and EA, but mostly towards EA.