US retailer GameStop has suggested EA and DICE's highly-anticipated shooter Battlefield 3 will not be available on Steam when it's released in October.
Although most initially speculated that this was a move to shift the balance of power in favour of EA's Origin service, it has since been revealed that the shooter will be available on other digital services including GameStop's, suggesting there may be some bad blood between EA and Valve.
Financial research firm Baird, which is believed to have held a meeting with GameStop management, confirmed the absence in a report.
"The upcoming EA title Battlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam," it read.
It went on to suggest that publishers were warming to EA's service. "Given Steam's dominance - and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application - publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative," it added.
In June Crysis 2, another high-profile EA title, was pulled from Steam and later appeared as an 'Origin exclusive' on EA's digital release platform.
EA later moved to clarify the situation, claiming it did not pull the shooter from Steam - it was kicked out by new service regulation.
Comments
24 comments so far...
MightyJordan on 18 Jul '11 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to download an application to download and play Origin games as well, don't you? Bit of a pathetic excuse if that is the case.
knibble on 18 Jul '11 said:
If this is true, it will loose so many sales it wont even be funny.
wesb2 on 18 Jul '11 said:
So what I get from this, is everyone is crapping their pants over how good Steam is, so they're just gonna ignore them and hope they go away?
I heard that closing your eyes whilst covering your ears and yelling "lalalalalalalalalala" solves all your problems as well.
Barca Azul on 18 Jul '11 said:
This cant be good for steam either though. People will still buy it if they want it, alternatives are good for the consumer. There seems to be a lot of over loyal steam users IMO.
VampiricPadraig on 18 Jul '11 said:
This was known since April.
We kinda got the hint that Battlefield 3 was not coming to Steam once they had announced that Crysis 2 was being pulled from Steam and placed onto EA's Origin.
This makes absolute sense to me. Have EA games being sold purely on Origin, just the same way Half-Life 2 can only be bought on Steam (Not talking about Retail Disk's btw)
In my eyes. I don't care. As long as I can play my game at the end of the day, I couldn't care less on WHO was distributing the game. Steam, Origin, GamersGate, GoG etc. Same thing at the end of the day!
shogunreaper on 18 Jul '11 said:
I don't think you understand what they said, Origin is they own application, and if they let people download through steam they might be more likely to see their competitors games and buy them instead.
Not that i support EA or anything, just saying.
nash121 on 18 Jul '11 said:
idiots! there chance to really give cod a run for there money and they remove it from one of the best online stores going! #fail
ricflair on 18 Jul '11 said:
Will you be able to play it/activate it over steam?
I'm sure this will costs them some sales, but then if they make more with Origin etc, I'm sure they'll be happy. Valve should really release their stuff on other platforms too, if they want to really claim EA are being unfair.
Idgaf on 18 Jul '11 said:
EA and Valve have never had a great relationship, EA did sue them over Steam. Since we haven't heard Valve's side of the story we can only speculate over what really happened. To me, the only thing that makes sense give the info that we have is that EA broke the contract with Steam in regards to Crysis 2. That breach was to do with EA wanting to selectively decide who gets to sell the DLC content for the games, most likely just through their store. Origin popped up at the same time so I wouldn't put it passed EA to have planned it to try and make themselves look better. And I think pressure from retailers have added to it as well, since they don't like Steam either.
TheLastDodo on 18 Jul '11 said:
Wow, crazy move by EA if this happens, gonna lose so many sales, I'm not into PC gaming but whenever I hear PC gamers talk of Steam, it's either Steam or GTFO, not sure how many will go through with the threat but Steam users really love their Steam.
EA should just release a version on Steam and put an 'Origin exclusive' version on Origin and pack it full of extras. Give people a reason to buy it on Origin.
ricflair on 18 Jul '11 said:
EA have published a lot of Valve's stuff in the not to distant past haven't they?
Kenjirus on 18 Jul '11 said:
I dont like origin one bit so really they lost a sale, shame i wanted to play the game
JD_Method on 18 Jul '11 said:
Way to cut out a large market, EA. Well done.
KMakawa on 18 Jul '11 said:
Expect they wasnt aiming to do that anyway..
plightstar on 18 Jul '11 said:
Glad I am buying it retail, just hope I don't have to activate it through Origin and I can just do what I did with BC2 and import the shortcut into Steam, so my mates can see me online.
vinny993 on 18 Jul '11 said:
Nice one EA, I was interested in picking this game up on steam but now i'll just wait and pick it up when it drops in price somewhere or I mite just leave it altogeather.
I really don't want EA software on my PC...... EVER
richm74 on 18 Jul '11 said:
Can someone please explain to me what is so damned evil about Origin?
Now i've never been such a massive of fan of EA in general, but i'm not about to cut my gaming nose of to spite my face. I luuuuurve Steam, but I really also dont have an issue with maybe downloading and playing through Origin.
Anyone who complains about having to download another piece of software is living in a happy dreamland. All PC owners download all sorts of files and prog all day every day. Unless Origin is gonna wipe your comp, s**t on your carpet and slap yo momma, I really don't see the issue.
PDHale on 18 Jul '11 said:
I consider myself an avid PC gamer, and I'm very proud of that fact. But when I read stories like these, it suddenly becomes clear why PC gamers often get so much hate from console players for being pretentious.
Listen to yourselves: "I know this is a great game, and I was planning on playing it, but because its no longer on a service I like I will no longer play it." Tell me, when did games stop being about fun and start being about acting like a pretentious hipster?
Origin is welcome competition to Steam's dominance, in my very humble opinion. If a game being exclusive to Steam is okay but being exclusive to Origin is not, then feel free to boycott the game. The rest of us will enjoy the game without your pompouss ass.
ricflair on 18 Jul '11 said:
I think it's about having such a massive publisher also controlling sales. Plus EA's record on yearly updates, whereas Valve 'seem' a lot more generous with content etc.
It's also just another program to fragment your friends list I guess.
gmcb007 on 18 Jul '11 said:
Not the end of the world but annoying for customers who have all their games on Steam and have to download another hosting programme just to play certain games. It is a bit of a dodgey move removing their biggest upcoming game from an extremely well known digital distributor.
eddiehitler on 18 Jul '11 said:
This is great news for Activision and Modern Warfare 3 and retailers with boxed copies as when you look at the market nowadays there is a rise in PC gaming due to people gettin fed up with increasingly inferior console versions of games such as Black Ops, Duke Nukem Forever and Bulletstorm.
The use of lower resolution textures and games uprezzed to 720p from lower resolutions has been on the up in recent years and is beginning to push people like myself to get a pc capable of playing these games as their developers intended.
richm74 on 18 Jul '11 said:
Ah cheers for that Ric. Nice to see someone with an nice level headed answer for once.
BF3 4 Life on 24 Jul '11 said:
I know I'll sound really dumb but what is steam? I never found out.
MRHONGKONGDAVE on 24 Jul '11 said:
Steam is a digital download service that also allows you to connect and play with friends online. Think of it as psn or oxobox live but for the pc.
I think I'm right in saying that Steam take 25% of the sale, so this is perfect timing for EA to sell their own games in their own store, remove the biggest competitor and drain from the running as BF3 will sell any where. Gamestop also have retail stores so to remove it from their download store would be shooting yourself in the foot really as retail still counts for the majority of all system purchases (multi-format combined).
If you love STEAM so much go put the kettle on!!!!!!!!!!!