Electronic Arts did not pull Crysis 2 from Steam, it was kicked out by new Steam regulations.
EA has moved to clarify the situation surround the sudden and unexpected removal of Crysis 2 from Valve's digital download service. Speculation suggested that EA had pulled the title in order to make it exclusive to its own new digital service, Origin.
The rep added: "Steam has imposed a set of business terms for developers hoping to sell content on that service - many of which are not imposed by other online game services. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis 2 from Steam."
"Crysis 2 continues to be available on several other download services including GameStop, Amazon, Origin.com and more."
It sounds like those Steam regulations are demanding increased exclusivity of some form. If this is the case, could a number of other games available on other download services follow suit?
Comments
14 comments so far...
runadumb on 15 Jun '11 said:
Coming from a steam fanboy I say that if this is indeed the case and publishers/developers are meant to make exclusive deals with steam then I hope they leave on mass. Steam is a store, it shouldn't be exclusive.
Uzi77 on 15 Jun '11 said:
Is this what happened to Brink in the UK steam store. The moment it hit release date, it vanished. Now you can't get it through steam in the UK at all... even after nearly a month...
almanac2015 on 15 Jun '11 said:
If that is true....why?
Steam is successful, enough people use it. Why make new rules that will take games off of Steam when it is already a success? Strange.
pRM8 on 15 Jun '11 said:
Indeed, I really hope Valve don't get too big for their digital boots.
Barca Azul on 15 Jun '11 said:
Sounds like if you want it on steam, it cant be anywhere else and they want the monopoly!
badgerpog on 15 Jun '11 said:
It's only conjecture that it's because of exclusivity. But as a Steam fanboy, this is a worrysome bit of news. Whatever the reason for it coming off Steam it ain't sounding good.
If true, then it looks like I'll be having to remember passwords for other digital stores and buying more disks.
I have a feeling this will rumble on for a few days before we get anything like the truth...
infernoxXx on 15 Jun '11 said:
well there are plenty of games on steam and other digital distribution services so this seems a bit strange. heres a quote from the EA forums.
'Reading between the lines, it's possible that the "different DD service" is, in fact, Origin, and that EA specifically wrote the agreement so that signing on with Origin would violate the terms Crytek agreed to with Steam, and maybe even pressured Crytek into doing it.'
bazzatuk on 15 Jun '11 said:
Surely what Steam is trying to impose, is anti-competitive, and should be investigated.
Noobsaibot on 15 Jun '11 said:
Another reason not to trust the digital only future.
Barca Azul on 15 Jun '11 said:
I have to say I'm in the concerned/not interested camp for DD only. If this year was anything to go by and the current set ups available, its not in the consumers interest!
Desert Fox on 16 Jun '11 said:
*Jumps on concerned Steam fanboy wagon*
wasted-again on 16 Jun '11 said:
It might have to do with prices, Steam are really getting into their sales at the moment, and they may have wanted EA to agree to selling this at a lower price on Steam, which would take sales away from those other services providing it too.
fyro11 on 16 Jun '11 said:
Give me a hand up there, will ya? Another. *rolls eyes*
more_bots on 16 Jun '11 said:
What happens if you have bought it from steam and there are new patches, how do you get them, and will they work with the Steam version of your game? If you want to get DLC will it work with the game from another provider, what with them having different types of DRM? This could have a lot of problems, and if there are problems we should get a refund or a pass to download the game from the new provider.