Why Has EA Removed Steam From Its List Of Digital Retailers Selling Battlefield 3?

13 years ago

July 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm

The last time we asked EA it was made very clear that EA would continue distributing games like Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 through the Steam service. However, now Joystiq are reporting that Steam is conspicuously absent from a list of digital services expected to sell Battlefield 3.

Strangely enough, the link provided on the story is now coming up as a 404 error, which is strange. EA has had problems with the Steam service before – Crysis 2 was removed from Steam last month – and we’ve had numerous different EA spokespersons say a number of different things about that situation.

Does anyone know what the hell is going on over there?

Since we’ve already had it confirmed that Battlefield 3 is being released on Steam by EA’s Senior Vice President of Global Online, we’re going to call this a overly safe post by EA – a cautionary measure taken in light of Steam’s rules on patches and DLC.

More news as we get it.

Battlefield 3 may not come to Steam, according to EA’s list [Joystiq]

Comments

40 responses to “Why Has EA Removed Steam From Its List Of Digital Retailers Selling Battlefield 3?”

READ THE COMMENTS

weresmurf

July 11, 2011 at 3:02 pm

Oh gee I wonder why… I wonder where the cause of this ORIGINates…

Reply
1. The Insufferable Señor Steengo
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:08 pm
  
  Very ORIGINal.
  
  Reply
  1. Reign
    
    July 11, 2011 at 3:14 pm
    
    Haha, it might have something to do with EA’s ORIGIN service…
    
    …wait.
    
    Reply
    1. HunterSBonobo
      
      July 11, 2011 at 3:19 pm
      
      I see what you guys did there.
      It’s a rugby league State of Origin thing isn’t it?
      
      Reply
      1. Chazz
        
        July 11, 2011 at 3:38 pm
        
        No no no, it’s a tie-in with the next X-Men Origins film.
      2. HunterSBonobo
        
        July 11, 2011 at 3:47 pm
        
        Sorry, my mistake. The subtlety eluded me.
Chazz

July 11, 2011 at 3:08 pm

Well I loved BF2, found the BC games a step in the wrong direction so I wasn’t yet sold on BF3 but if it comes to be that BF3 is not on Steam then that’s only more reason to pass on it.

Reply
1. Lyndon L
  
  July 11, 2011 at 5:42 pm
  
  Yeah.. I *WILL NOT* buy BF3 if it isn’t available on Steam. The simple fact that Steam means I don’t need a DVD in my drive every time I want to play a game is enough of a reason for me to only buy games on Steam.
  
  EA will shoot themselves in the foot if they ditch it from Steam. There’s a hell of a lot of Steam fanboys out there 😉
  
  Reply
  1. James Mac
    
    July 11, 2011 at 7:36 pm
    
    Yeah… that drive thing is the real kicker.
    If only there was some other kind of digital distribution service offering BF3.
    
    Reply
M1557

July 11, 2011 at 3:08 pm

More power to them.
Somebody has to give the steam cage a bit of a shake.
Friendly competition never did the consumers any harm.

Did i not also read somewhere that the new Star Wars MMO will be origin exclusive?

Reply
1. Steven Bogos
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:21 pm
  
  Nope. EA have stated that ToR WON’T require Origin to play
  
  Source: http://www.industrygamers.com/news/star-wars-the-old-republic-wont-require-origin-to-play/
  
  Reply
  1. Steven Bogos
    
    July 11, 2011 at 3:22 pm
    
    My mistake, looks like you’re half right. It will be an origin exclusive for digital retailers. That sucks. Looks like I’ll be buying it at retail…
    
    Reply
  2. Ev
    
    July 11, 2011 at 3:44 pm
    
    I think people are more annoyed because it means they have another client they have to deal with, and it just seems unnecessary for alot of people.
    
    Reply
2. Alinos
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:55 pm
  
  when will people realise it’s not competition if one side aint allowed to sell stuff.
  
  Competition would be all well and good but for anyone that compares origin prices to any other service.
  
  Their RRP price is the most expensive out there they aint competing with no one
  
  Reply
Grim

July 11, 2011 at 3:09 pm

EA wants to contact customers directly for promotions/patches/DLC/etc, Steam’s agreement prevents this. EA is trying to get their way.

http://www.1up.com/news/ea-desire-stay-in-touch-keeping-games-off-steam

Reply
1. Chazz
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:31 pm
  
  Yes but it’s EA. Do you really think other DD services will get fair treatment? I’d put good money that EA will delay DLC and patches on other services whilst giving Origin preference in an effort to get people to pick Origin over the others.
  
  Reply
RUFiO

July 11, 2011 at 3:14 pm

I understand why people prefer steam considering it’s the market leader in digital distrubtion, that being said I don’t understand the hate being thrown at EA for choosing to promote titles via their own service. It makes sense from a financial standpoint, and TBH Steam could use a shake up.

Reply
1. David
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:23 pm
  
  Maybe. I just wonder what this would be like as a brick-and-mortar equivalent. Wouldn’t there be outrage if EA set up lots of real world stores and denied all other retailers copies of their game?
  
  It’s a bit more complicated here because of the privacy policies involved, but if they deliberately withhold a game where there is no legal issue then I think we’re in dangerous territory.
  
  At that stage they’re not really competing with steam, they’re just fragmenting the online purchasing space.
  
  Reply
2. minusInfinite
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:31 pm
  
  For me it more that I may have to install one more program to get games and play with friends…
  
  Reply
Jack Monaghan

July 11, 2011 at 3:21 pm

I don’t mind using another digital distributor. I have a 30 mbps cable internet connection, and Steam only ever gives me 300 kbps MAX download speed. It’s pretty poor.

Reply
1. Chazz
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm
  
  Aren’t downloads from servers hosting Steam content that are run by ISP’s and not Steam therefore Steam have no control over the rates one gets when downloading from said servers?
  
  Also your speeds could be affected by your exchange and the ISP you’re with. I have standard ADSL2+ and I get up to 600kbps+ downloads.
  
  Reply
2. ChoM
  
  July 11, 2011 at 4:05 pm
  
  Maybe you need to change your download server. I have a 20 megabit connection and normally download at around 1.4mbps on steam…
  
  Reply
AnonymousPessimist

July 11, 2011 at 3:23 pm

Wow, if they only decide to sell their wares via Origin… well I will just take my ball and go home.

Dear EA, if you release mass effect 3 on Origin only, or require origin to be installed for it to run, I will not buy it.

I don’t like what you people are playing at. I will not be locked into a format just because you want to exert your control over how I play your games.

Reply
Jonathan B

July 11, 2011 at 3:42 pm

From the link from Grim: “Steam sells DLC and automatically downloads patches for every game it sells. Presumably EA wants to do have some way of notifying users about these things […]”

My thoughts were exactly the same as above. I can get updates and I get marketed to for DLC already with Steam. Sounds like a weak excuse. How does Steam’s agreement prevent this? My guess…. because it costs EA money.

I’d be happier if EA just said, “We want to compete, and we think we can do it better”. Seems logical enough. Stop squirming about with PR talk and side-stepping the issue.

Reply
1. David
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm
  
  See, I think refusing let others sell a product isn’t competing in the strictest sense.
  
  If everyone is selling the same games then they are competing and capitalism says we should get the lowest prices (yay).
  
  If everyone is selling their own games they can set the prices to whatever they want and too bad if you wanted to buy it cheaper.
  
  In that scenario you’re competing with which games are better value for money, not where I can get a specific game cheapest.
  
  Reply
  1. James
    
    July 11, 2011 at 5:16 pm
    
    Do you expect Valve to make their game catalogue available on competing digital distribution platforms then?
    
    Or does this only apply to companies other than Valve?
    
    Reply
    1. David
      
      July 11, 2011 at 5:45 pm
      
      I’m trying not to advocate either way (although I’d prefer if both EA and Valve shared). I’m just saying it’s not EA competing in the sense that we’re getting competitive prices on a particular game of interest. It’s more like competitive prices on a genre of interest. I think that’s sad, but much the same thing applies to console exclusives…
      
      Reply
2. Alinos
  
  July 11, 2011 at 3:59 pm
  
  they do not automatically patch every game they sell there are infact a bunch of games which have their own patchers.
  
  Most of the MMO’s for example(bar Global agenda) all use the games proprietary patcher.
  
  the issue steam will have with games that get patched outside of steam will be that their patching cannot be done by a piece of 3rd party software.
  
  that is to say that if BF3 needs patching it either uses steam or it uses a Battlefield 3 based patcher system. Needing to install something like Origin or Gamespy to patch a game on another service is annoying to the consumer and serves no real benefit since steam could offer the same service
  
  Reply
Chevz

July 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

Yet you have no problem being locked into Steam to play it on PC?

Reply
N0NEoftheAB0VE

July 11, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Let me ask this… Are Valve games available on other digital platforms? Can I go to any digital distributor and buy a copy of Half Life 2 or Portal? No you say???

Why are you all defending Valve – they do exactly the same thing you people are worried about EA doing!

Reply
1. Chazz
  
  July 11, 2011 at 4:40 pm
  
  Let me ask this…Do EA offer competitive prices? Can I use Origin and get a top-shelf experience with little to no problems? No you say???
  
  Why are you defending EA when they clearly want to monopolise on their games rather than actually be competitive?
  
  Reply
  1. N0NEoftheAB0VE
    
    July 11, 2011 at 10:15 pm
    
    I wouldn’t defend EA in a pink fit – in fact they owe me a game from a competition run on this website a year ago which I still haven’t seen – so I’m not exactly “cool” with them as an organisation right now – but really there are two points I’d like to make.
    
    a) None of us Console players will have any of these issues when you can just import the damn thing from overseas without any dramas.
    
    2) you say that “they clearly want to monopolise on their games” well there you go – THEIR games! They can do as they damnwell please I guess, you don’t have to like it. I don’t like that Nintendo monopolise on their games by requiring you to buy a Nintendo system to play em – but thems the breaks!
    
    Reply
Cymelion

July 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm

oH NEOS U MEANZ TEH WIL NOTS BE BF3 ON STEAM O.O

Where will I get my military based fps fix from now? It’s not fair it’s not like we have many FPS based on wars I’m going to write them an angry letter >:(

Reply
Wonko

July 11, 2011 at 4:02 pm

If anyone thinks origin is good for the market, just compare its price to steams prices (on the off chance that steam isn’t having a sale)

Origin is still asking $80 for recent release games. On average $20 – $30 more than Steam

This does nothing for competitiveness.

Reply
Awnshegh

July 11, 2011 at 4:11 pm

More and more it’s looking like I’ll be playing this on console despite the expected resolution hit, frame rate hit and lower player count.

I know PC is going to be infintely better but I can buy my console copy, take it home and if it’s not up to scratch I can take it back for a trade-in/refund.

Which is much better than trusting that the PC version will not be full of ridiculous DRM and cause my PC to throw in the towel in disgust.

Reply
1. Fenixius
  
  July 11, 2011 at 5:00 pm
  
  No refunds, mate. It’ll have EA’s Project $10 VIP pass BS just like its predecessor did. You’ll have to settle for a trade.
  
  Reply
Reoh

July 11, 2011 at 4:22 pm

EA wants to sell the DLC to its customers, Steam wants to sell all DLC for games it distributes to get its cut of that action too. EA publishes the game, and has just re-launched Origin. What’s the big mystery?

Reply
Matt

July 11, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Wow, if they only decide to sell their wares via Origin… well I will just take my ball and go home.

Dear EA, if you release mass effect 3 on Origin only, or require origin to be installed for it to run, I will not buy it.

I don’t like what you people are playing at. I will not be locked into a format just because you want to exert your control over how I play your games.

——– Win comment is WIN ——–

I totally agree.

Reply
1. David
  
  July 11, 2011 at 5:46 pm
  
  I honestly don’t know this so don’t take it the wrong way but…
  
  Do you need steam installed to run valve retail games?
  
  I’ve always had steam so I’ve not encountered the issue.
  
  Reply
RobbyM

July 12, 2011 at 11:08 am

This is EA we’re talking about

They’re the sort of company that would sell you a Norweign Blue (lovely plummage!) – and then try to sue you for the death of the parrot when you tried to return it on discovering it had been dead on purchase and had been nailed to it’s perch.

They have the worst name in the industry and their CFO would sell his entire family if he thought he could make a quick buck out it.

Reply

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Why Has EA Removed Steam From Its List Of Digital Retailers Selling Battlefield 3?

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40 responses to “Why Has EA Removed Steam From Its List Of Digital Retailers Selling Battlefield 3?”

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