Report: Battlefield 3 not coming to Steam, says retailer

Financial firm Baird recently met with GameStop, and says that in the meeting executives claimed Battlefield 3 wouldn't be sold through Steam.

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Battlefield 3 won't be coming to Steam, according to a financial firm that recently met with GameStop. Develop reports that the brick-and-mortar giant recently met with the financial research firm Baird, and subsequently claimed in a report: "The upcoming EA title Battlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam." Baird says that the statement came directly from GameStop executives, but GameStop itself hasn't offered an official comment.

The Baird report cites Steam's dominance and "insistence on users downloading the Steam client application" as reasons that publishers might want to look into other digital distribution partners.

It's worth keeping in mind that this information is second-hand from Baird. Plus, as GameStop is positioning itself as a competitor to Steam, it makes sense to paint itself in the best possible light. Still, there would be no value to making a such a claim and being proven wrong months later, and a (quickly pulled) EA page left Steam off its list of Battlefield 3 digital retailers. Shacknews has contacted both EA and Valve for comment.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 18, 2011 9:55 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Report: Battlefield 3 not coming to Steam, says retailer.

    Financial firm Baird recently met with GameStop, and says that in the meeting executives claimed Battlefield 3 wouldn't be sold through Steam.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:06 PM

      ill be buying BF3 retail then. i am a Steam slappy, and i want BF3 available to me thru Steam for a DD. i just like all my games in one spot. :( i dont trust Origin and EA enough to buy a DD copy from them.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:12 PM

      puts popcorn in microwave

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:16 PM

      There's always someone out to ruin PC gamers fun.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:21 PM

      I don't understand how EA has the argument that they can't speak directly to their customers with news/updates on Steam but Sims 3 is on Steam and has a Launcher that does exactly that.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:16 PM

        There's even a forum for all the games on Steam, I wonder how hard can it be to have a person from DICE to moderate the forum for the game.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:26 PM

      "insistence on users downloading the Steam client application" umm, without downloading Steam thats called torrenting.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 6:54 PM

        I actually understand this point as other places like GOG.com doens't require you to download the client at all. I don't particularly like having to have steam running when I want to play a game as I like less not more background apps running. It would be nice to just launch my game and launch steam if I want to have the friends overlay or achievements going.

        I also understand this point after installing Empire total war which I bought retail for the captain's box collectors item thing. The install bugged up after "installing" steam which was already installed and proceeded to download the game which just didn't make sense to me since installing from DVD would have been quicker.

        I don't like steam the platform that much, I've also had problems with it bugging up when trying to access offline mode on my laptop. But I love the sales on steam so it's hard to resist.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:29 PM

      let me preface this by saying I love Steam and am not a big fan of EA.

      However, isn't having competition with Steam a good thing? Shouldn't we want to avoid a monopoly on game distribution?

      My knee-jerk reaction is "no! Steam should have everything!" The fact they've integrated a pretty good Friends system WITH their distribution means having multiple like services is a pain in the ass. Remember AOL instant messenger, yahoo messenger, ICQ, MSN - you had to have all of them to keep in contact with friends that only had one. Steam is great in that way in that everyone is on one service, and having more could cause another shift like this.

      I just don't want this monopoly to go to Valve's head and they start taking advantage of customers (not that I think they would, but the best laid plans of mice and men....)

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 12:31 PM

        wouldnt EA just offer EA published games? so not really a competitor to steam

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 1:46 PM

          exactly.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 1:48 PM

          That's how Steam started out. Only Valve games, right?

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 1:50 PM

            derp? did they have licensing figured out for digital distribution of other folks' stuff? nope

            they weren't looking to be exclusive, so they had to start somewhere. this is the reverse.

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 2:11 PM

              Do we know for a fact that EA isn't looking to branch out?

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 2:17 PM

                if that were their goal why wouldn't they attempt that at the beginning?

                That's what Downforce meant is that steam originally came in an age where there wasn't digital distribution so getting everything in order to push non valve games was very difficult. That period of pioneering is over for the most part and there are several services besides steam that deal with this (gog, d2d and a couple others)

                there's no reason anymore for Origin not to start out with non EA games as well if that's what they were truly intending to do.

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 4:15 PM

                Why the fuck would 2k or THQ or Paradox want to give a massive direct competitor a slice of their profits?

                • reply
                  July 18, 2011 5:22 PM

                  Aren't they already doing that with steam?

                  • reply
                    July 18, 2011 7:03 PM

                    steam understands collaborative licensing? more sales = everyone does better? EA is going to shut all that down.

                    you pretty much have steam completely wrong along the entire path from inception to what it has become

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 1:53 PM

            [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 12:31 PM

        It's a decent point - absolute power corrupts absolutely. Everyone always thought Google would never get involved with anything people wouldn't like but as they gained more of a monopoly status certain things did start happening (net neutrality thing with Verizon etc)...

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 1:02 PM

        The problem most people have with that idea is that most Steam competitors are currently inferior in some significant ways and the likelihood is that they will always be that way (as in, always playing catch-up to Steam). Remember, Valve's been working on Steam for seven years now. Good software and services take time and simply put, Valve won. We've been through Steam's growing pains. We're not interested in going through everyone else's.

        Plus, Valve got some things right on day one with Steam. You have this one account, your games are tied to it forever, and you can re-download as many times as you like. Whether it's fair or not, EA is always going to be judged by he EA Downloader debacle.

        Also, whereas Blizzard only sells through themselves and retail, EA here is potentially selling literally everywhere else except Steam. This would be like if you only ever did your shopping at Walmart and you couldn't find Lay's Potato Chips anymore. Are you going to make another stop at a grocery store on your way home? No, you're just going to buy some other chips and move on (flawed analogy but you get the idea)

        • reply
          July 19, 2011 11:40 AM

          I agree. Putting it everywhere but Steam is simply stupid.

          There is a reason people like to buy all their stuff on Steam. It's simply a convenience thing. I like the client, I like how the downloads work, I like that there are no codes to memorize or download limits to keep track of.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 1:49 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 2:14 PM

        If the two were competing then it would be available on Steam. EA is basically saying "Buy it from out service or else." And like impatient, spoiled children most people will rush off to buy it on Origin, even after complaining about how much it sucks and how they'll never support it.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 2:15 PM

        Competition? Yeah. Exclusivity? No.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:22 PM

        As long as Robin Walker doesn't make a mutiny against Gabe, I think we're fine.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:38 PM

        If they were competing by actually being competitive, sure. If its just exclusive access to games, they can fuck right off.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 3:54 PM

          Yeah I agree, I'm thinking more along the lines of them trying to get people to use their Orion service.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:54 PM

        Competition, sure. Great, fanstastic. Sell it on their store AND on Steam and give me a reason to go to them other than just saying "If you want it, you have to go through us."

        Give me features, don't take them away.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:59 PM

          Isn't EA still selling it on the other digital services (Impulse, Direct2Drive)?

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:30 PM

      the best thing for EA to do to win people over to the new digital download service would be too deeply discount BF3 before release. otherwise it's retail for me (which will be the first in 2-3 years )

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 12:31 PM

        The best thing to do would be to provide a superior service. Nothing I've seen indicates that that's the case.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 12:50 PM

          I don't see how that would be possible. Even if it were technically superior, it wouldn't gain a big user base just like that.

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 2:06 PM

            "Even if it were technically superior, it wouldn't gain a big user base just like that." It's not even close to competing with Steam in quality and features. Origin really is pretty bad in its current state.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 1:14 PM

          the thing is they aren't even trying to offer anything steam already has like patching

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:39 PM

      Is this to control how many purchases they can get off digital downloads for the game? Steam doesn't publish their purchases off downloaded material right? Or was that just Valve and their own games? Either way, isn't a purchase a purchase regardless of where it's being bought? Retail, Downloaded? To me, it's to control more of their purchase data?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 1:03 PM

        Valve takes a cut when a game is bought on Steam; EA gets it all if you buy on Origin.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 1:21 PM

          Yes, but there is still the fact that the only people they seem to be making the big stink about is Steam, yet still continuing to deal with the other DDs, which ALSO take a cut. And Retail, which takes an even bigger cut that what DDs take.

          So this seems more like taking their ball home than a simple "We want people to buy via Origin so we can get the mad ducats."

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 1:42 PM

            I don't really see it as a case of them "taking their ball home"
            This is all purely speculation, but it could be that EA wants control of how additional content is delivered (in-game DLC store/delivery method) so that they don't run into a problem like they had with mirror's edge and DLC purchased through them not working on all versions of the game.
            Valve's new business terms don't allow for this (which is not unreasonable for Valve) which results in some EA games not being listed on Steam.
            If this is indeed the case both sides seem to have reasonable positions:
            - EA wants to have a unified method for content delivery, which seems to be fine with every DD service but Steam. I imagine they're not excited by the prospect of having to create a custom version of their product to comply with Steam.
            - Valve wants products on it's service to comply with their method for addon delivery to ensure it works.

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 5:02 PM

              Congratulations, you make the most sense of anyone in this thread. Sadly, that's not really saying much. I'm buying it retail, so I don't care either way. But the people saying no Steam no sale are ridiculous. And they WILL cave.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 12:58 PM

      This makes no sense, if anything, EA would limit it to Origin, not Gamestop. FUD.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 1:15 PM

      Don't support the move? Don't buy BF3. It's that simple.

      The simple truth is here: all owners will become online publishers. ActiBlizzard already has WoW's patching mechanism, it's only a matter of time before the CoD franchise goes down a similar path and refuse Steam. EA is now going down that route and using their AAA title as the mechanism to do it. I wouldn't mind them doing it (honestly), if it weren't for their EULA pointing out the fact they can and will revoke the licenses after a given period of time (of no use).

      Changing that small and simple item will get me to buy it on Origin. EA won't go down this path and we all know it.

      • reply
        July 19, 2011 3:22 AM

        Exactly.

        And whilst, yes, most services have similar T's & C's, I don't trust EA one bit and never will. Nothing they do or say could make me buy something from them without regarding it as a significant risk, such that the ONLY way they have of getting any money from me now is to put it through Steam.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 1:34 PM

      What about OnLive? They seem the decent type. If they carry this game, this might steal a portion of the market and may give them a large amount of customers (maybe more-so then their cloud-servers can handle 0.o).

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:17 PM

        The lag would make this game complete fail in multiplayer (and single player for that matter) on OnLive.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 1:42 PM

      Because fuck you, that's why. lmfao!

      Hell, i don't even care anymore.. it's been so long since I stopped playing BF '42 / BF 2 that the entire franchise just doesn't appeal to me any longer; even if it was a true PC exclusive, which it's not and never will be again. I feel bad for PC gamers who actually think "oh boy, this is the one!"

      cool story, right bro?

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 2:17 PM

      Maybe it's all a clever marketing scheme by Steam. Because you know the instant you see it up for preorder on Steam you will buy the shit out of it.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 2:18 PM

      Considering the game is shaping up to be Bad Company 3 and not Battlefield 3, I honestly could care less. Don't think I'll be buying this game at all, let alone digitally.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 2:56 PM

      Someone needs to tell me: why the "i'll only buy it, if it's on Steam" mentality? Why do people insist on supporting Steam's monopoly power (high prices when not on sale, price discrimination, restrictive EULA...)?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:04 PM

        Uh, they don't have a monopoly and we support them because Valve is a good company, where as most other digital services are created by publishers, who are fucking worthless in this day of the internet where they are basically forcing themselves into a middleman position that the internet does a billion times better. Did I miss anything?

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 3:06 PM

          Oh and valve earned our respect. Something I'm not even sure the major publishers know how to do anymore. They seem more concerned about fighting pirates than forming a relationship with the people who actually pay for their games.

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 3:13 PM

            Well said!

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            July 18, 2011 4:04 PM

            I'd say that Valve earned the title sleazebag during the release of HL2.

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:17 PM

              And since then?

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 4:20 PM

                Good stuff aside from the occasional launch of an mp game with only 4 maps (DoDS).

                • reply
                  July 18, 2011 10:36 PM

                  hello to the year 2005. welcome to 2011. you have a lot of catching up to do...

          • reply
            July 19, 2011 9:03 AM

            ^^^^^^^^^^

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:53 PM

          because Valve is a good company

          I wouldn't go that far...

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:06 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:06 PM

        considering how often they have sales ie. every day, midweek and weekend, there's no excuse for buying a game at regular price unless you're impatient. Also I like having all my games in one place and Valve has been good to me so far, when it isn't I'll rethink it.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:11 PM

        You understand that the publishers set those prices on steam, right?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:12 PM

        High prices? It's the same price as every other retailer then they do great sales have you even used steam? I haven't noticed anything remotely restrictive about the EULA. It comes down to ease of use, good sales when they have them, and the fact that my game library is in one place rather than scattered across half the internet.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 7:37 PM

          A DD selling at retail pricing (when not on sale) is considered high pricing because of the lower cost of overheads.

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 9:41 PM

            So it's companies like EA that set the digital pricing at the end of the day i'm going to pay 60 bucks in most cases whether i'm buying the disk or it digitally new. They benefit most directly from the fact they aren't having to have a bunch of disks manufactured.

            Even then I normally wait until something goes on sale to purchase it which is fairly regularly with steam so in most cases i'm paying 50-75% less than I would otherwise have to pay. So the issue of price is largely irrelevant.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:13 PM

        Because idiots don't run it and Valve is awesome.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:14 PM

        The right question is, Why do I insist on supporting a superior service?. The answer should be obvious.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:15 PM

        fuck steam and their steam sales : wallet

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:18 PM

        Prices are same or better than most places, auto patching, ease of use.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 5:38 PM

          NOPE. Steam is always expensive here in Europe. I can get boxed games for half the price.

          • reply
            July 19, 2011 2:33 AM

            Very true! Gamers I know here all buy the boxed copy because it's a LOT cheaper.

            Thankfully I can still use my US credit card to buy steam stuff.

          • reply
            July 19, 2011 11:45 AM

            That really sucks. :-/ I probably wouldn't buy half the stuff I've bought on Steam if the prices weren't so good (in the US). Not that it would be a bad thing if I bought less stuff on Steam. >

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:20 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:22 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 3:28 PM

        I'm not a valve fanboy, ( I don't think HL/L4D series are that great), but I have to admit, steam
        pretty much gave the pc the boost it needed.
        I'm buying and playing more PC games because of them.

        Also, they worked their way to their possition by mostly giving the ppl what they wanted,
        not pissing off the masses like Microsoft when they wanted to make GFWL a paid service.

        Everyone is pissing and moaning instead of working on having a connection with PC gamers,
        instead they ditched them for the consoles and gave them crappy console ports.

        EA wants a piece of the pie, which is understanble, but again the customers are going to decide,
        if origin takes off, or gets renamed into something else and try again.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:24 PM

        I buy plenty of stuff that's not on Steam, but I don't see where you're getting your arguments from.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:30 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:52 PM

        What?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 5:33 PM

        i'm lazy, want everything in one place

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 6:45 PM

        Steam enables publishers to set prices. If a publisher doesn't allow/want to see their prices lowered, they can. Why do so many people complain about Steam's prices?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 8:19 PM

        I just want one place to launch my games from. I don't want to try and remember which game was bought on which download service. I certainly don't want it to fragment into 4, 5, 6 or more download services from EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc; along with Steam, GameStop, GoG, etc.

        I don't want to buy on a disc either because it generally costs more in Australia. Often we get the US price on steam so I can save 40% or more at launch on some titles compared to going to EB at the mall.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 11:32 PM

        You know, I didn't start out that way, but that's pretty much where I am now, with a few exceptions.

        If I can't get it via Steam, I'm not really interested anymore.

        Why?

        Convenience is the single biggest thing.

        Patches and updates get applied automatically, see above.

        I never have to worry about a scratched, broken or lost disk. Again, see above.

        I don't know what you're on about with the "high prices", their typical price pretty much is the same you'd pay in Best Buy or another bricks and mortar. Or at least, it was last time I looked in a bricks and mortar at video games.

        Besides, most of my purchases through them are sale items. Which they do pretty regularly.

        Have you seen the selection that bricks and mortar have recently? They're not even trying anymore with PC games. Steam beats, hands down, any video game store for catalog, just like Amazon beats B&N and Borders. See also Netflix vs Blockbuster, et al.

        I bought my first Steam game four or five years ago. I figured it would be a one off - it was the orange box iirc - and that I wouldn't do it again. Then a bought a few more, might have been a Holidays sale, I don't remember.

        Fast forward to now, and yeah, pretty much I'll only buy it on Steam.

        Hell, I'm re-buying games on Steam that I already own just because it's convenient.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 4:08 PM

      Isn't it obvious that they want to boast Origin's market? (I pre-ordered it through EA when it was announced, don't really care for Steam honestly).

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 4:12 PM

      I'm still waiting for an official confirmation from EA themeselves. But if this is true then EA can go fuck themselves - I won't be buying it! So much for being a "PC game" and not releasing it on steam.

      And because the console platforms were not enough to destroy PC gaming, now we're getting multiple platforms on the single PC. Screw this shit!

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:14 PM

        Sounds more like Steam is refusing to carry it. In which case I'd say Steam can go fuck themselves.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:15 PM

          lol

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:18 PM

          Get your head out of your ass.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:19 PM

          man you are horrible. just stop.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:19 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:24 PM

          That makes no sense. No reason for Steam to do that...

          • reply
            July 18, 2011 4:31 PM

            I don't think Steam like games with storefronts in them. EA wants to sell DLC directly to their customers. I'm sure EA would love for BF3 to be on Steam. But thier not going to change the games business model to do it.

            http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Steam-Crysis-2-PC-Gaming-digital-distribution-David-DeMartini,13054.html

            "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."

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:33 PM

              People buying EA's side of anything. Priceless.

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 5:02 PM

                EA's side is more self-consistent than the conspiracy theories people are spouting.

                If the whole thing was just to increase Origin's share of the digital distribution market, then why would it be available on Direct2Drive and Impulse as well? Wouldn't it be an Origin-exclusive?

                • reply
                  July 18, 2011 5:11 PM

                  But if it's about having a separate storefront and updater, why is The Sims 3 sold on Steam? It has its own DLC storefront, launcher, and updater. I can launch it directly without launching Steam. I bought it on Steam. I don't think either of the explanations really make any sense.

                  • reply
                    July 18, 2011 5:14 PM

                    IIRC, EA mentioned a policy change on Valve's side, combined with the ability to contact people who purchase their games directly.

                    It would make sense that EA doesn't particularly care about 2-3+ year old games, but would for more recent titles.

                    • reply
                      July 18, 2011 5:21 PM

                      DA2 DLC is purchased and downloaded through a separate storefront. Is that recent enough?

                    • reply
                      July 18, 2011 7:07 PM

                      I'd guess the new Sims games (like The Sims Medieval which came out in May) also have their own DLC storefront and updater like TS3 does, but I only have TS3 (and TSM is $50 so fuck that) so I can't verify this. The Sims Medieval is available on Steam.

                    • reply
                      July 19, 2011 3:30 AM

                      I have NO DOUBT that Sims 3 (and any/all of the expansion packs) has made significantly more money than Crysis 2 (including any projected earnings for the map packs, had they made it to Steam).

                      Sims 3 is a financial Juggernaut, so there goes that theory.

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 11:50 PM

                People buying Valve's side of everything. Priceless.

                • reply
                  July 18, 2011 11:52 PM

                  The fact is that right now there's just no confirmation of whatever the heck will happen. STEAM is great in many ways but it's hardly the end of the world if they don't carry BF3. I'll still cheerfully buy it wherever I can find it out here (middle east) or probably online from EA. I don't care either way.

                • reply
                  July 19, 2011 5:23 AM

                  [deleted]

                  • reply
                    July 19, 2011 11:09 AM

                    Ah, I was just sarcastically copying the earlier remark which made little sense to me.

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:33 PM

              Bioshock 2
              Mass Effect 2
              Dragon Age 1 and 2
              Batman Arkham Asylum

              There are more, but that was in 7 seconds off the top of my head that all sell DLC NOT on steam through different store fronts.

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 4:39 PM

                [deleted]

                • reply
                  July 18, 2011 7:01 PM

                  While I won't say steam can go fuck themselves, I believe that this is a direct result of steam's new policy. I can't really blame steam, but EA seems to be using the new policy as fodder for origin and probably other things that will crop up int he near future.

                  As for some of you with your head in the sand when it comes to steam... wow...

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:48 PM

              Like ajvitaly mentioned, other games already sell DLC not directly through steam. Why were those not removed? (including Mass Effect 2 published by EA).
              Besides, it makes sense for Steam to do that. It only makes it easier for their customers to be able to purchase DLC from the same store they bought the game.

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:52 PM

              The Sims 3 has its own launcher, storefront, and updater. It's an EA game, even.

              • reply
                July 18, 2011 4:53 PM

                (and is sold on Steam)

              • reply
                July 19, 2011 9:11 AM

                You can still get DLC for the Sims through Steam as well though. Maybe EA decided to only offer DLC via in-game (to which Valve said "uhhhhh no").

                • reply
                  July 19, 2011 11:34 AM

                  the expansion packs are on Steam, but that's only a tiny fraction of the only DLC available for TS3. all of the in-game items are only available through EA's storefront: www.thesims3.com/Store

                  • reply
                    July 19, 2011 1:18 PM

                    They still offer something through steam though, which may be enough to comply with whatever new business terms Valve has?

            • reply
              July 18, 2011 4:53 PM

              Yet EA is happy to sell games on iOS devices with even more restrictive in app purchasing rules. Yea, Steam's fault.

            • reply
              July 19, 2011 5:20 AM

              [deleted]

            • reply
              July 19, 2011 7:36 AM

              A week later they opened their hypocritical mouths and said that their policies changed too.

              GG, EA, GG.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:24 PM

          Nice trolling, bros.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:24 PM

          I swear EA wants you to buy a console so that you don't have to play it on their lousy system!1!1

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:25 PM

          getting in on this dumbass pileon

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 4:27 PM

          What makes you think that?

        • reply
          July 19, 2011 9:04 AM

          ĥahahahhaha

        • reply
          July 19, 2011 10:39 AM

          [deleted]

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 4:28 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 4:29 PM

      Guess I wont be buying BF3. I have no desire to be forced to download a secondary DD applicaiton to access my game, and I have no desire to have to pay to access my game again 12 months later for reinstall, or to store an installer somewhere permanently.

    • reply
      July 18, 2011 4:35 PM

      I'll still be getting a physical copy as long as I don't have to log in with that Origin horseshit to be able to play it.

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 4:38 PM

        I imagine they'll be enforcing online authentication somehow; so if it's EA.com, you'll get it, but if it's Origin, you won't?

      • reply
        July 18, 2011 5:25 PM

        I know. Forcing you to install a proprietary distribution program that has to be always connected, just to play their gam is total bullshit.

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 5:51 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          July 18, 2011 7:14 PM

          The same shit that happened to me years ago, happened to me today. My internet went out while I was restarting steam, only to be shown an updating dialog box that never went anywhere.

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        July 18, 2011 5:27 PM

        man can you imagine what would happen if valve started requiring that for their games?

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          July 18, 2011 5:32 PM

          Those assholes better not do it!!!

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          July 18, 2011 5:45 PM

          That and someone suffering a spontaneous combustion have the same chances of happening xD.

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          July 18, 2011 5:59 PM

          People screamed about it 8 years ago when Valve was doing it. What's your point?

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          July 18, 2011 7:19 PM

          BUT WHY

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          July 19, 2011 11:54 AM

          When I first encountered Steam I hated the shit out of it. I was just trying to install the Half-Life 2 demo, and I couldn't figure out what the hell this thing they were making me install was. I figured it out, played my demo, and promptly deleted it. Hated it.

          Orange Box was my first Steam game. Steam improved a lot and now it's a great service. (And I understand what the hell it is a little better now.)

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        July 18, 2011 11:53 PM

        Like you do with several newer STEAM games?

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          July 19, 2011 2:05 PM

          Steam has had several years to build up a reputation and cement itself as the primary digital distributor on PC. Furthermore, Valve has always had a solid reputation with the community. EA on the other hand has had a sketchy money grubbing history. I don't consider myself a Steam fanboi and I respect the fact that there should be competition in the market. That said, Origin would be fine if it weren't for the fact that they're using very aggressive business tactics to promote it. For example, instead of offering competitive price cuts for pre-ordering through Origin, they'd rather hold games hostage through their service and charge full price. They have every right to do that, but I'm going to avoid using their "service" if that's how they want to play ball.

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            July 19, 2011 2:23 PM

            They're not holding their games hostage through their service, as BF3 is available on a plethora of other distributors. There are also likely agreements in place that prevent EA from steeply discounting pre-orders on their own service, not to mention the ruckus it would cause with brick and mortar retailers.

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      July 18, 2011 4:51 PM

      I know there are shackers that are working on this and I wish them personally the best but I can't be bothered to buy this now.

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      July 18, 2011 5:31 PM

      Why wont the square peg fit trough the round hole ?!

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      July 18, 2011 5:57 PM

      Rage and Deux Ex : Human revolution, are still in going to be sold in Steam, so now it will be easy to decide what game not to buy :).

      And what i said about Ubisoft now i say about EA, kicking your customers in the nuts isn't a good strategy for success. :)

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        July 19, 2011 3:34 AM

        They will both be Steamworks games too.

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        July 19, 2011 4:23 AM

        But they have no competitive multiplayer...different games entirely.

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      July 18, 2011 6:13 PM

      I reckon I'm going to go for a disc as I did with BC2, then launch it through Steam.

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        July 18, 2011 6:32 PM

        That completely defeats the purpose of Steam.

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          July 18, 2011 8:22 PM

          I have both Minecraft and Starcraft added through steam. It gives you the steam overlay as well at quick easy launching and shows youre friends what you're playing if they want to jump in. It's not entirely redundant.

          That being said I would still prefer it to actually be available in Steam.

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          July 18, 2011 9:33 PM

          No, that utilizes a feature of steam without buying it from Steam. Now imagine if Steam overlay was a feature only allowed for games bought on steam. That probably would have a lot of rage there.

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      July 18, 2011 10:06 PM

      Consumer Report: My Money not coming to EA

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      July 18, 2011 10:21 PM

      "In related news, you can preorder BF3 at Gamestop!"

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      July 18, 2011 10:31 PM

      A lot of you have made really great points. But I just want to simplify what seems to be the main consensus here, and that is this:
      WE WANT BF3 ON STEAM; EA CAN FUCK ABOUT WITH SOME OTHER GAME . DON'T HOLD THIS PARTICULAR GAME HOSTAGE PLEASE.

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        July 18, 2011 11:55 PM

        as much as i want to buy BF3, i probably won't now since it won't come to steam. There are other good games coming out that will satisfy my gaming/steam needs.

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      July 18, 2011 10:34 PM

      Not buying the game then. Their loss.

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        July 20, 2011 10:18 AM

        Same here. If they don't offer it on Steam, I'll be happy to keep my money.

        I love this part:
        The Baird report cites Steam's dominance and "insistence on users downloading the Steam client application"

        Really? What about GameStop's Impulse client? You need to download that in order to buy games from it... hmmm...

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      July 18, 2011 11:56 PM

      As always and just as humorous as always - we all know that a large percentage of people shaking their canes at EA and claiming that "I'm not buying now, so there!" will end up doing a stealth buy anyway at launch. I don't care either way as long as it's a great game, myself.

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      July 19, 2011 3:35 AM

      wtf is with all the people not buying a game because it's not on steam?
      Order it from amazon then, or use a different service.

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      July 19, 2011 4:02 AM

      soo sad. in the future, everything will be destroyed by petty business interests, over-competition, and an un-yielding desire to fuck over your competitors. it begins with bf3... this game should be at retails outlets and on every platform and instead EA and the 'industry' are having a pissing match about who and how content is published online and its going to ruin it for everyone.

      the last time i bought a game from EA, they removed my access to the game. I bought bf2142 and crysis through the ea downloader system. now, i can't download my games. now, i don't know what my cd key is. somewhere in the whole mixup, account details got lost and really EA is just a bunch of inept fucks who have little or no dedication or relation to the people who pay them.

      fuck, i repeat, FUCK EA and the Origin system. EA has the shit track-record and as there might as well be someone securing and distributing content on the PC, I pick steam. fuck you and your petty politicking EA. Grr i hate you guys. such ass-holes of the industry you are.

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      July 19, 2011 6:19 AM

      So whats the beef everyone has with Origin outside of "it's not Steam"? I know the original EA store had a re-download insurance bullshit, but it looks like they've since abandoned that madness.

      I have BC2 and ME2 on Origin (well, the "EA Download Manager" before it got re-branded) for over a year now and never had any gripes with the system.

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        July 19, 2011 7:33 AM

        It's EA trying to be like Steam, to be competitive towards Steam - esp. when they force people to use Origin for 'Exclusives'.

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      July 19, 2011 10:41 AM

      [deleted]

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      July 19, 2011 4:41 PM

      How is origin prgm supposed to know that we pre-ordered Medal of honor on STEAM, hence have extra bonus maps (Karkan) for BF3

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      July 22, 2011 9:45 AM

      "The Baird report cites Steam's dominance and "insistence on users downloading the Steam client application" as reasons that publishers might want to look into other digital distribution partners."

      Wait, isn't that why you would want to use Steam in the first place? That's like not choosing a particular airline because the planes are too fast and they have a good reputation.

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      July 24, 2011 9:09 AM

      I figure that if I can't buy it on Steam, I'll just buy it where EA will make the least money - Box Copy. I remember reading an article about how much developers get back from steam vs retail, and steam returned significantly more money per copy. I'm curious to see how this will turn out for EA.

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