So a few weeks ago, news broke that EA wouldn’t be selling Battlefield 3 on Steam, much to the chagrin of many PC gamers. At the time, there was no explanation given, however we’ve now got some info as to why EA won’t be putting the upcoming FPS title on Valve’s service — and it seems to be related to Steam’s patching and downloadable content policies again.
In a forum posting on EA’s message board, a staffer claims that “Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. No other download service has adopted these practices.” This does sound consistent with EA’s reasoning as to why Crysis 2 and Dragon Age II were withdrawn from Steam a few weeks ago. I wish we knew a bit more about what these supposed “restrictive terms and limits” were all about.
It’s still not so cut and dry, though. The posting does say that Battlefield 3 will be available at “over 100 other digital retailers” so it’s not strictly speaking an Origin exclusive. The posting also claims “We hope to work out an agreement where Steam can carry Battlefield 3” so there maybe some resolution to this situation.
Way I see it, gamers like their games on Steam and aren’t keen on using other download services. Yes, it may be slightly irrational but I wonder how long EA would keep their games off Steam when they start to look at sales.
EA confirms no Battlefield 3 for Steam [Planet Battlefield]
