Poll: Is EA refusing to have ME3 on steam going to change anything?

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Hazzard

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Jan 25, 2012
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As many of us know Mass Effect 3 isn't available on steam, does anyone expect this is going to bring issues between Valve and EA?
 

Sp3ratus

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Well... EA is doing it because they want to promote Origin, which, quite frankly, is understandable, even if it's annoying for some people, including me. That hasn't stopped me buying ME3 and playing it on Origin, but I'll admit I'd like to have had it on Steam instead.

Anyway, it's pretty old news, because supposedly:
"Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers."
meaning some sort of disagreement over the whole DLC issue.

In short, my answer is no, it's merely EA trying to promote their own digital distribution servic though their "reasoning" for it, is piss poor, to say the least.
 

Cobalt Lion

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Nov 4, 2010
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I don't really think so. EA seems to consider themselves some sort of marketing gods, and Steam seems to stand well enough on it's own without ME3 that I'm pretty sure that it won't have some sort of.....mass effect *rimshot*
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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The "start"? The "start" was back when they pulled Crysis 2 off of Steam because they were trying to push Origin forward. Besides, Mass Effect 3 is almost five months old now, which likely means that EA doesn't care about it anymore.

I'm tempted to ask if the OP has been living under a rock all of this time... :D
 

yuval152

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Jul 6, 2011
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Not really, valve has their terms and EA don't want to follow them so they made origin, simple as that.
 

Hazzard

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shrekfan246 said:
I'm tempted to ask if the OP has been living under a rock all of this time... :D
I haven't lived under a rock, it just suddenly occurred to me that this might not be a one-off and is a slippery slope. It now appears to me that it isn;t, it's already happened.

And EA can't pull games off steam can though? I thought that broke a consumer agreement or something.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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Hazzard said:
shrekfan246 said:
I'm tempted to ask if the OP has been living under a rock all of this time... :D
I haven't lived under a rock, it just suddenly occurred to me that this might not be a one-off and is a slippery slope. It now appears to me that it isn;t, it's already happened.

And EA can't pull games off steam can though? I thought that broke a consumer agreement or something.
They pulled Dragon Age... 2? I think. Maybe Origins as well. And Crysis 2. I think they may have pulled Mass Effect 2, but don't quote me on that because I don't use Steam very much.

Like the first response to this thread noted, EA pulled out a BS response about how Valve was being too "restrictive" in their DLC distribution methods - Basically, Valve wanted DLC to be sold on Steam in addition to anywhere else, if the games were going to be on Steam. EA didn't agree to that, because they wanted to push Origin forward as a digital distribution platform (despite not having issues with DLC being available on everything that wasn't Steam). EA threw a hissy fit and started yanking their games off of Steam.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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Draech said:
shrekfan246 said:
Hazzard said:
shrekfan246 said:
I'm tempted to ask if the OP has been living under a rock all of this time... :D
I haven't lived under a rock, it just suddenly occurred to me that this might not be a one-off and is a slippery slope. It now appears to me that it isn;t, it's already happened.

And EA can't pull games off steam can though? I thought that broke a consumer agreement or something.
They pulled Dragon Age... 2? I think. Maybe Origins as well. And Crysis 2. I think they may have pulled Mass Effect 2, but don't quote me on that because I don't use Steam very much.

Like the first response to this thread noted, EA pulled out a BS response about how Valve was being too "restrictive" in their DLC distribution methods - Basically, Valve wanted DLC to be sold on Steam in addition to anywhere else, if the games were going to be on Steam. EA didn't agree to that, because they wanted to push Origin forward as a digital distribution platform (despite not having issues with DLC being available on everything that wasn't Steam). EA threw a hissy fit and started yanking their games off of Steam.
Just goign to highlight Biowares involvement in this.

You see Bioware always wanted to handle their DLC themselves. NWN had DLC moduls handle in much the same way they have handle DLC for ME and DA. Now as you can see on DA:O you cant buy the DLC for the game on steam. Never could. Nor could you download it through steam.

Essentially you can blame it on EA pushing Origin, while in reality it was Valve who changed their policy on DLC and it didn't fit with how Bioware had handled DLC until now. I am guessing Origin was a factor as well, but not the main one.
The "DLC" for Neverwinter Nights was released the way it was because Bioware didn't have a huge publisher backing them. It was published by Atari, and let's be honest here, nowadays Atari is most famous for basically being the catalyst that started the video game crash in 1983 and pretty much nothing else. The Jaguar? Hah.

Atari didn't want to back DLC distribution. In fact, they even issued a cease-and-desist order to Bioware on selling the "premium modules" for Neverwinter Nights. The fact that Bioware could launch their own online store in the first place was a pretty huge thing. They "wanted" to handle DLC themselves because they had to handle it themselves.

Besides, that's really only tangentially related. Bioware may have told EA that they preferred DLC to be handled they way they liked, and EA may have agreed. But EA owns Bioware, so in the end it's EA's choice to make and Bioware has no power to disagree while they're still a division of the publisher.
 

newdarkcloud

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Aug 2, 2010
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No. The only thing that will change anything is reduced sales. They are a business. And money is the easiest way to affect them.
 

kortin

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Mar 18, 2011
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I won't be buying ME3 for a LONG while and I will most certainly be buying it for the PS3, because I refuse to allow that pile of shit called "Origin" to take up even a byte of space on my hard drive.

I don't really see how it matters though, people who wanted to play it will typically play it, no matter what platform they release it on (or through).
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Politeia said:
Valve's fanbase is more likely to look at an opportunity to dick over EA as a good thing.
If that's true, why all the crying about Mass Effect not being on Steam?