Crysis 2 Pulled from Steam aka 'OMG EA Are pulling all their games from Steam'

[sixteenth]

Word has gotten around today that Electronic Arts has stealthily removed some of its recent releases from the Steam digital distribution platform, including Crysis 2 and Alice: Madness Returns.

Interestingly, while these titles are available on EA’s new Origin service, the games remain available at other popular download stores, such as Amazon and Impulse. Although there has been no official statement from either EA or Valve concerning the matter, it would appear as though EA is preparing to drop the proverbial gauntlet in the battle over digital distribution market share.


This comes in the wake of an E3 announcement that BioWare’s upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, would be released exclusively on Origin. Coupled with the upcoming high-profile launch of Battlefield 3, which is rumored to be headed for Origin exclusivity, EA seems to be poised to make a big push against Steam, which has enjoyed virtually uncontested rights to the digital distribution crown.

Given how new the Origin system is, not to mention EA’s previous questionable policies with regards to single player access many remain hesitant to adopt the new platform. However, Valve’s Steam service endured a very rocky beginning itself before becoming the industry standard, so only time will tell what becomes of EA’s new venture.

http://geek.pikimal.com/2011/06/15/ea-removes-recently-released-games-from-steam/

Well, this probably means no Battlefield 3 on Steam.

 

[Shakermaker]

 

[Shem]

Good luck, EA.

 

[StardogChampion]

Amazon is cheaper than Steam anyway. I usually only use Steam for older games on sale. I would never pay full price.

 

[Krynn72]

Wow, sucks for Valve. Not just that they're losing EAs games, but that they had to shut down their entire store today. I wonder if Valve even knew they were going to be doing it today, seems like they would have sent out a "hey, we're going to be closing the store for a bit on Wednesday" type of message beforehand.

I am interested in seeing how this works out for them, but I'm pretty sure that if they're the only ones backing the Origin service, and have no other developers using it, there will be zero chance in competing with Steam. Not to mention Origin sounds like a terrible service anyways. I expect a walk of shame to come soon, as EA comes back to Steam, downtrodden, embarrassed, and looking like fools.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

The box for BF3 will come with Origin and EA titles will no longer be sold on Steam (though you can obviously retain the games you've already bought), this strategy worked for Blizzard, it will work for EA, too (if for no other reason because they have fantastic brand power and a decent sized market share).

It cuts out the middle man and makes adding premium services (Major profit margins here, as they already publish @ brick&morta. This is just the beginning of these sorts of decisions. This will hardly hurt sales of BF3 PC.

 

[ríomhaire]

I am very interested to see how this plays out. As much as I love Valve and have gotten great use out of Steam (after they upgraded from the buggy piece of crap that it was and after I got broadband of course) monopolies are genereally a bad thing and no one has been able to so much as make a decent attempt at competing with Steam and few companies have the cash, infrastructure and expertise to catch up with them now. If Origin is as good a programme as Steam then renewed compotition in the industry could be good for all of us.

Hopefully EA won't screw this up, or worse, create a terrible excuse for a distribution platform but succeed in securing a powerful market position regardless due to their games line-up.

By the way, I assume that anyone who previously purchased Crysis 2 on Steam can still download and play it to their heart's content, right?

Edit: Oh jesus. In the terms of services it say they have permission to delete your account if you don't use it for two years. Why?

 

[Ennui]

Yep. EA is putting everything it has into making Origin an actual competitor with Steam. That means that Battlefield 3 will undoubtedly exclusive to Origin (as will future AAA titles from EA) and I'm willing to bet tha.

On the one hand, I am obviously super irritated and would rather have it on Steam than have to run two Steam-like apps at once all the time. On the other hand, I do think it's healthy for someone to give Steam competition... GOG does, of course, but they occupy a completely different and much less mainstream niche. Direct2Drive, EA Download Manager, Stardock and other digital distribution services have all failed to even begin to hold a candle to Steam, so I'm willing to give EA the smallest of chances to impress me.

I downloaded it today to see how it is... looks pretty much like it's trying to match Steam's features. Store, friends lists, profile pages, in-game overlay that allows you to chat, etc while ingame, and so forth.

The box for BF3 will come with Origin, and so far it's just a browser based store. It worked for blizzard, it will work for EA.

There's actually an Origin Beta that is a program just like Steam, that asks to start up with windows just like Steam, and presumably will need to be running when playing BF3 just like Steam.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

This will be the platform they launch and manage ToR on as well (again, think like battle.net accounts + some Steam style features and distribution).

It was an inevitable business decision, tbh. They have the investors, money and determination to make a system worth while now - so here's to hoping it's halfway decent, because I'll be using it no matter what.

For those unsure of how to download origin from it's... [strike]origin[/strike] source (hyuck hyuck :V) , here you are: http://www.origin.com/about

Also... cash cards are huge (WoW cards, facebook point cards, iTunes/app store cards). We sell quite a bit of them at work, and they're greater and more specified gifts (yet they actually give someone something they'd use) - Steam, for obvious reasons (namely because it's up to the given publisher's decision) cannot use a typical Steam gift card.

Just to clarify, I'm talking about the games you buy and activity in a store like Best Buy or Future Shop where I work - those cards do very well and provide (nearly) direct profit to companies like EA or actiblizz. I have access to a lot of this information through our employee tool kit.

There's actually an Origin Beta that is a program just like Steam, that asks to start up with windows just like Steam, and presumably will need to be running when playing BF3 just like Steam.

Yeah, you're right, corrected my post. What I mean to say is - just like when you buy a Steam-based game in stores, it will merely say a broadband connection is required on the system specs and come with Origin pre-packaged and guide you through the activation of your product. (again, just like when you buy something like CS:Source at a retailer).

 

[Shakermaker]

There's actually an Origin Beta that is a program just like Steam, that asks to start up with windows just like Steam, and presumably will need to be running when playing BF3 just like Steam.

Serious question: Can you run Origin through Steam? The reason I ask is that I want to be able to play BF3 with the Steam overlay. The Steam version of BF2 can't be played with the overlay without crashing so chances are probably slim.

Also: clarification of EA on their Origin strategy. Tl;dr they want to become Steam.

 

[CptStern]

a competitor to Steam that only carries games by a single publisher ...hmmm it'll probably go over like a lead zeppelin

meh if it means cheap games then I'll install it otherwise I wont

 

[Yorick]

I don't disagree that competition is healthy, but come on, it's Electronic Arts. Does anyone in here expect Origin to be anything other than buggy and irritating? I expect it to be another Games for Windows Live.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't disagree that competition is healthy, but come on, it's Electronic Arts. Does anyone in here expect Origin to be anything other than buggy and irritating? I expect it to be another Games for Windows Live.

Me too. I'm just being optimisitic. But then again, Steam was also buggy and irritating at first.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

They'll funnel enough money into it that regardless on it's intuitiveness. At least it's not ****ing EA accounts. It will be useable before BF3 comes out. Steam was ****ing horrible for years and we put up with it just because it was Valve, do keep that in mind. They're taking this much more seriously than Link or their half-assed previous attempts.

From a logical fiscal standpoint gaming publishers should have been doing this (especially for their PC games) a damn long time ago. Regardless of how horrible this may seem - ...especially considering the store only sells EA games - it's a publisher catalog which creates revolving and loyal customers. and communities of EA gamers, interested in EA products. As such, the service only deals with selling EA games, with the best direct to bank profit style possible (digital downloads).

They can sell their products for cheaper (good deals on games are appealing), but gain MORE profit (by cutting out the middle man) by having themselves as their sole distribution platform. Even if it doesn't bring up the numbers Steam previously had, it will still be both popular and almost certainly result in a payoff for EA (this is because of brand awareness aroused through Origin and the significant profit increase earned on every digital sale).

....and make no mistake, people will continue to digitally purchase EA games, especially now that they have a stable program and are the exclusive retailers of their own games. Just fiddling with the interface I can tell that it's a better storefront/piece of software than GFWL, OnLive or anything of the sort.

It's (Origin) pretty much failrpoof with how much brand power EA already possesses with it's trademarked properties. They'll probably even start using it as a front for their mobile games and tie everything together if they're savvy about it.

In terms of brand awareness, companies like Activision, Blizzard and Apple have been using these methods successfully for years, this is just big news because EA has failed it's few half-assed attempts. I'll have to buy some EA stock, see where this goes. It goes without saying the money there is to be made putting things like banner adds, daily popup ads and other sorts of marketing ops Steam has introduced to the market.

 

[Krynn72]

Everything I've read so far about it makes it sound like a worse version of Steam. Its trying to offer the same benefits, but with several major drawbacks, such as limited # of installations, piss poor selection compared to Steam, deleting your account due to inactivity (basically stealing your games back). A rough, buggy launch is one thing, but these are fundamental decisions that will keep me away.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Have you played around with it Krynn? Sure, it's a publisher exclusive catalog, but it seems to have borrowed nicely some of the more beloved features of Steam already. I certainly don't think it's an all-bad thing.

Sure, I'd much rather use Steam at this point, but it's no major loss all for me (yet). I can easily run both clients simultaneously and rarely talk/play with my Steam friends list as it is. I guess one upside is this is a personalized gift I'd love to receive from a friend - as Steam physical gift cards don't exist. I also appreciate the connectivity to PSN and XBL, and to a lesser extent, Facebook. It's all quite savvy.

As it stands now, it's less bloaty, lighter weight and a tad more user-friendly to newcomer PC peoples than Steam. Though, as they add features, things will obviously get rougher and ads will increase.

Connecting ToR and BF3 players on the same chat client / game service provider is a truly fantastic idea - and a great counter-blow to Call of Duty: Elite.

 

[Krynn72]

Have you played aroudn with it Krynn? Sure, it's a publisher exclusive catalog, but it seems to have borrowed nicely some of the more beloved features of Steam already. I certainly don't think it's an all-bad thing.

I havent played around with it, but as I said, I know its trying to do all the things steam does. My whole point was that theres plenty of serious downsides to their plan as well, so even if they're as good as Steam in those features, the limited activations, shit selection, and account deletion threat are enough to make me not want to even partake initially.

 

[Stigmata]

I went through the EULA and picked out the most interesting passages:

C. License Validation. The Application and an internet connection are required to validate the license for certain products distributed by EA. You acknowledge and agree that the Application can automatically validate license rights for some or all EA products without separate notice to you. This means that in order to use the Application and certain EA products, you must leave the Application installed on your computer. You acknowledge and agree that the Application may use information regarding your computer, hardware, media, software and your use of the Application to validate your license rights and to update the Application.


2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data

You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you.

3. Application Communications and Conduct/Privacy Settings

Your use of online features available via the Application is governed by EA’s Terms of Service, available at www.ea.com <http://www.ea.com>. By installing and using this Application you acknowledge and agree that you will abide by EA’s Terms of Service and otherwise agree not to:

? Create a false identity for purposes of misleading others;
? Defame, abuse, harass, threaten, spam, violate the rights of others and/or otherwise interfere with others’ use and enjoyment of the Application;
? Publish, transfer or distribute any inappropriate, indecent, obscene, foul or unlawful conduct;

The last one is especially worrying. I'm not allowed to "spam", "defame", or "interfere with" others' "use and enjoyment". Awfully vague. And if I do these things, I can lose access to my games. And I'm not even allowed to "transfer" "inappropriate" conduct? Does that mean I can't say "shit" to my friend in chat? Could it be interpreted as such? More importantly, hasn't EA already shown a history of revoking game licenses on the basis of non-illegal forum conduct?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

This hasn't really affected me just in that it took EA games long enough to get on Steam and now they're off again, whoopdie ****in doo. If I ever wanted an EA game I've bought a retail version. Nothing changes for me and I probably won't be using their shitty sounding online store.

 

[Shakermaker]

hasn't EA already shown a history of revoking game licenses on the basis of non-illegal forum conduct?

All revoked licences have been reinstated and the dudes involved were pretty nasty trolls but, yes, EA did that multiple times and, yeah, it is pretty reprehensible.

 

[Krynn72]

This hasn't really affected me just in that it took EA games long enough to get on Steam and now they're off again, whoopdie ****in doo. If I ever wanted an EA game I've bought a retail version. Nothing changes for me and I probably won't be using their shitty sounding online store.

You'll be using Origin though. I believe its going to work like a Steamworks game does, you have to register it to Origin to play it.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Well then I won't be buying their games on the PC. But I'll find a way to play them regardless.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Via Giant Bomb:

Electronic Arts has responded to my questions regarding its current relationship with Steam, claiming Crysis 2 was not removed from Steam because EA asked. Instead, EA claims Steam "imposed a set of business terms" that resulted in an existing agreement Crytek had regarding Crysis 2 that "violates the new rules," resulting in the "expulsion" of Crysis 2.

I've asked EA for better clarification on what "business terms" have changed and why games like Alice: Madness Returns are no longer on Steam. I've also requested comment from Valve.

The full statement is below:

"It’s unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis 2 from their service. This was not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA.

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."

Curious to hear Valve's response, but yeah.

 

[Stigmata]

Sounds like more doublespeak.

Spoiler

imposed = continued to have

existing agreement = "crysis 2 shall only be made available on steam so long as ea does not have a wholly-owned online content delivery platform of their own"

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

"inappropriate" conduct? Does that mean I can't say "shit" to my friend in chat??

Can't tell if troll. Valve has similar clauses in it's ToS - no, no it doesn't mean anything like that at all. Do you have any idea how much money they'd lose monitoring and banning for the word shit in a largely adolescent based gaming community?

Looks like the ZOmG oppressive alarms are going off again in much the same way they did during the WoN to Steam switchover. You can find equally "frightening" small print in the Steam terms of service. You want to shit your pants over use policies and consequence for violation of said policies? Take a look through the hundreds of pages within the EULA/ToS for Windows 7.

Valve and Blizzard (and social networking / chat client) have clauses very similar to the one regarding policing vulgarity that frightens you so much. It's nothing new, and you don't have anything to worry about. Only extreme cases of repeated literal harassment get investigated, and even going that far is rare - as it causes bad publicity and loss of game sales disproportionate to the ban.

Collection and Use of Information
By using Valve's online sites and products, users agree that Valve may collect aggregate information, individual information, and personally identifiable information, as defined below. Valve may share aggregate information and individual information with other parties. Valve shall not share personally identifiable information with other parties, except as described in the policy below.

src: http://www.valvesoftware.com/privacy.html, http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/

 

[Acepilotf14]

Damnit EA, I thought you were better than this. And you were doing so good, too, when Activision took your huge bitch title from you.

 

[Ren.182]

I really don't like the sound of Origin. Sure it's pretty much the same as Steam, but like Krynn said, it's some nasty terms which really put me off.

Plus the games aren't any cheaper on there. £29.99 for the Sims 3 which has been out for years. £40 for Battlefield 3 which is at least £10 over the RRP.

Sure competition is good... but this isn't going to be any competition for Steam with prices and terms like this.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Battlefield 3 is $60?
Well, I'm done. No sale.

 

[Ren.182]

It'll be cheaper in other stores, but if you just wanna buy it digitally you have to pay more. :/

 

[Acepilotf14]

$60 on Gamestop.
$60 on Amazon.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

AAA games cost literally hundreds of millions of dollars to produce these days, $60 is the reasonable going rate, and we're (being lead to believe) that the PC version is seeing a lot of extra attention and will have features the other versions don't. If that is true, I'd gladly pay $60 then get console-style garbage for $40/50 that other developers slap in our face all the time.

They're competing with Call of Duty here, they've already admitted to that. This applies to every regard - this is a good thing for the industry, this kind of competition. It's not an atrocity that we're being charged $60, it's just a new industry standard.

...and if Dice proves they can sell a higher quality product than CoD at that price range - that's a good thing, that indicates a PC blockbuster.

It's dice, I think they'll make good on it. I'm certainly willing to pay, it began and continued development as a PC game and ventured it's way to consoles.

 

[ríomhaire]

Via Giant Bomb:

Curious to hear Valve's response, but yeah.

Rather. Doesn't sound very Valve like. As far as I know they only game they've ever pulled was Codename Gordon and that was because a link in it became a link to a porn site, and even then it was just hidden, not made unavailable. I'd believe EA if their statement wasn't so vague.

 

[Acepilotf14]

AAA games cost $60 to produce these days, and we're (being lead to believe) that the PC version is seeing a lot of extra attention and will have features the other versions don't. If that is true, I'd gladly pay $60 then get console garbage for $40/50 that other developers slap in our face all the time.

They're competing with Call of Duty here, they've already admitted to that. This applies to every regard - this is a good thing for the industry, this kind of competition. It's not an atrocity that we're being charged $60, it's just a new industry standard - and if Dice proves they can sell a more quality product than CoD at that price - that's a good thing.

It's dice, I think they'll make good on it. I'm certainly willing to pay, it began and continued development as a PC game and ventured it's way to consoles.

Wouldn't it make sense to charge less than MW3 will be? That's incentive to buy.

 

[Shakermaker]

Nice twist to the story.

Now lets hear Valve's response.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Wouldn't it make sense to charge less than MW3 will be? That's incentive to buy.

No, rather that makes it seem the weaker product to the masses. They see the lower price tag and figure the developer made some concessions or is trying to sell off something unfinished or non-competitive.

Funny how it works, that. Capitalism is ****ed up.

There's a name for the economic principal when companies have these kind of price-bouts and discounting just makes you look less confident, but I can't remember what the principal is called.

The price is meant to, and will, make the product look more appealing to the average PC Gamer. It's something we're getting used to from major publishers.

 

[Dynasty]

I passed an EA truck heading South West on the A303 today here in the UK. Big black truck, white EA symbol's all over it, with lime-green slashes everywhere. First time I have ever seen a game developer logo on a vehicle. I smiled.

That is all.

 

[StarBob]

Steam doesn't really do much for me except let me get nice deals. Regardless they're good at what they do. EA is a distributor and Steam is stealing their thunder. People would rather buy stuff from Steam when it ultimately goes on sale giving Valve a cut rather than buy directly from the EA store where the get the full price. I don't see how anyone could skip out on Steam's amazing ability to get game information like screens and videos to millions of people who are exactly your customer base.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Blizzard's certainly managed to circumnavigate Steam just fine. It's only a matter of time.


Also if you want to import your game keys and download from Origin you can do so now. I tossed Medal of Honor on just to see if it'd work. It registers keys just like Steam.


Guess I got a free $30 worth of Battlefield BC2 stuff I'll never use. Ah well, free is free

 

[joule]

I want to know if Crysis 2 will continue having support on Steam(especially for the upcoming DX11 patch). Most people prefer this because of it's continual and easy update system and if it's now going to be screwed because of whatever issues going on between Valve and EA over their new "Origin" system, I suspect an angry mass of support tickets requesting some sort of compensation.

Also, why only Crysis 2 and Alice?

 

[Dynasty]

But doesn't the lowering in price trigger the 'oh yeah, now I remember, Activision are money-grubbing whores' hatred in gamers these days?

This is being aimed at the gamers who hate CoD, surely? DICE and EA KNOW that CoD is plummeting to it's inevitable and long-over-due doom, so let's help it get their quicker with a shove (lower pricing) and a middle finger (high sales)?

It's surely more of a statement being made by EA, to try and make it obvious to those limited few of us that havent cottoned onto the fact, that Activision are overcharging for CoD because they know morons will buy it anyway. £5-10 extra per sale is worth a ***t load more to Activision in profit when they sell their inevitable almost-a-billion-copies-in-1-month or whatever stupid record MW3 will break.

CHarge more because they know they can get away with it, claiming some bollocks about higher production and development costs.

Yeah, I hear you need to hire senior developers to hit ctrl-c and then ctrl-v these days...

Get ***ked Activision. How dare you take advantage of us.

BF3 here I come.