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[oh noes] Digital Downloads are fracturing - Crysis 2 and Dragon Age II pulled from Steam

Discussion in 'Archive: Games' started by zacparis, Jul 27, 2011.

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  1. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    Due to some bust-up between Valve and EA, EA have now pulled two high profile games from Steam, Crysis 2 and Dragon Age II. Battlefield 3 will not be available on Steam, and it seems increasingly unlikely that other high profile games (Mass Effect 3) will be released on Steam either.

    Why? Seems like EA doesn't like Steam's dominance, so they're pushing their own DD service - Origin, but still releasing games on other DD services like Direct2Drive and GamersGate.

    There's also a theory that Valve made a new policy that forbids game DLC being offered outside of Steam (like EA does), so EA had no choice but to remove their games from Steam. But there are other non-EA games on Steam that sell DLC outside of Steam.

    So it just sounds like a major disagreement between the two platforms to me. All it means for us is that we'll have to run another game client along side Steam if we want to play downloaded games from EA.
     
  2. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 10, 2004
    I heard a rumour that it was about undercutting prices....EA wanted to put things on sale on Origin but Steam policies don't allow that.

    Anyway the DA social features have never worked for me (I finished DA2 ages ago yet my character is still level 10 on my profile, and the DA1 one never even uploaded) and the 'Bioware Points' system is the devil, so I am not pleased with this move.
     
  3. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    Sounds rich coming from Valve, considering Steam is the only place to buy their games online. It's easy to see this as EA's fault, but I wonder how much of this is Valve's doing?

    Also, it turns out you don't need Origin running to launch games bought from there, so you could still add the shortcut to Steam and have one client running.
     
  4. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

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    Oct 3, 2004
    FWIW, you don't need to run Origin to play the games. I used it to download Sims3 stuff and running Sims3 from Origin just opens the Sims3 launcher, the same as if I used the desktop icon. Other than that I don't use it. I only really added my Sims3 stuff to Origin so I could reinstall it without swapping discs.

    I've also just remembered another possible factor in this. AFAIK bioware games (ME, ME2, DA:eek:, DA2, possibly others) can't be activated on Steam with a retail key. Maybe it was to do with that. I mean, if people really wanted it on Steam then they'd have to buy it on Steam, so maybe EA wouldn't get as much money from those sales as they would from store sales.

    All I can really tell from this is that there's more to this than we know and I doubt we'll ever know the whole story. The only thing that's certain is that it's a pain in the pituitary for the gamer.
     
  5. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    Yeah, only Steamworks games can be activated on Steam with a retail key. It's not a huge list but it is growing.
     
  6. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 19, 2007
    Huh. That's unfortunate. Looks like I can cross EA's games off my list, now.
     
  7. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    It doesn't bother me that much. A lot of my favourite games are from EA, and I'm not going to cut them out just because they aren't on Steam. I've always gone where they're cheapest anyway; Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm I bought from GamersGate.

    I really don't know why people are looking negatively on EA in this (around the internet). Why shouldn't a publisher want full control of their property? Looking at some of the reaction around, it's like people believe Valve deserves a cut of every single PC game ever sold.
     
  8. Katana_Geldar

    Katana_Geldar Jedi Grand Master star 8

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    Mar 3, 2003
    Thing is, EA is coming late to the party. Steam has pretty much established itself.
     
  9. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 10, 2004
    So? So did Facebook. So did Windows.

    I don't care about Steam or no (I don't have any EA games on Steam, I bought the discs) I just hate the selling DLC for points system.
     
  10. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    But that doesn't mean anything if EA pulls its games from Steam. Want to download Battlefield 3 on PC? You'll have to use Origin. Steam's marketshare and history becomes irrelevant.
     
  11. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 12, 2002
    A little bit of competition is a good thing. I actually don't like how you need Steam running to launch games bought on Steam, so maybe this will force some changes.
     
  12. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    Yeah, competition can be good. Origin actually lists games in NZ$ and they're reasonably priced, but still not as cheap as buying games from Steam in American dollars. But that's more like cheating the system than a legitimate pricing structure.

    I was a bit dramatic earlier, you will be able to buy BF3 from other DD retailers, but the real story is the Steam snub. EA are actually willing to lose income by not offering their game through one of the biggest DD platforms, it really makes you wonder what's going on there.

    Does Valve require too many hoops to jump through? What other publishers would be willing to ditch Steam but can't afford the loss of income? The only other major publisher who can afford to ignore Steam is Blizzard.
     
  13. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/118/1184485p1.html

    That's EA's version. Will Valve come out any say anything? Probably not.
     
  14. Katana_Geldar

    Katana_Geldar Jedi Grand Master star 8

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    Mar 3, 2003
    I actually agree, and wish there was a legal way to break games out of Steam.
     
  15. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

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    Feb 9, 2007
    I heard a little about this earlier when something was removed from Steam (Crysis 2 or something like that?), whatever is going on between Steam and EA seems to be escalating. Although seems like the release of DLC might be what changes things, or at least is an excuse.

    I know EA is making a major push for their own online service Origin, so having their games exclusively on there would sure push sales, which is what they're going to do with TOR (whenever it is released). Seems odd though to exclude Steam but not the others, unless they're just getting ready to try and overtake Steam. I think Steam is the leader? Not really sure, although their sales are nice.

    This is why I like physical disc copies of games just in case, although digital has a lot of advantages too of course (and its hard to beat Steam's sales).

    Although sometimes its kind of annoying having to go through the Steam client. Its not like its that difficult to use, just don't care for adding another required step for launching a game (and sometimes it leads to crashes at random points or something, no idea why). At least EA's download manager wasn't like that, though my experience with it was very limited (I only used it once to download that free ME2 copy they were giving away at one point). Although I probably should look into Origin to get ready for when TOR comes out (I have a physical copy pre-ordered, but probably going to have download the possibly open beta when it comes and the early access game client from there).
     
  16. FlareStorm

    FlareStorm Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 13, 2000
     
  17. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    You can mod some Steam games (like Oblivion, Fallout, Dragon Age), and some you can't (GTA IV can only be modded on the non-Steam version).
     
  18. FlareStorm

    FlareStorm Jedi Grand Master star 6

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    Nov 13, 2000
    Which all are easily modifiable, or even come with a toolkit to make new stuff

    Bet that's it. Steam wants DLC, creators approve of user-created content
     
  19. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 19, 2007
    I've yet to come across a game on Steam that doesn't work fine with mods.
     
  20. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Aug 20, 2003
    What's the issue with using both steam and origin.
     
  21. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    No big issue really, it's just another system hog that no one asked for. Games already require me to run Steam, GFWL, Ubisoft Uplay, EA download manager, Gamespy, and god knows what else. Sure, you don't need to have Origin running, but it's still sitting on your system.

    The biggest issue is the drama, someone big enough has decided to take on Valve and they're causing a bit of collateral damage.
     
  22. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

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    Oct 3, 2004
    Does anyone know how this affects those that already have Crysis 2 or DA2 on Steam?
     
  23. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Nov 19, 2007
    As far as I'm aware, it doesn't affect anyone who's already purchased either game.
     
  24. zacparis

    zacparis VIP star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 1, 2003
    No. If you've bought any game on Steam that's later pulled you can still play and redownload it.
     
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