The future of EA games on Steam

[AstroManLuca]

I am sure that this is what they are doing: trying to prevent their games from going on sale and have better control of the price. However, as you indicated, they are playing a dangerous game. They may shoot themselves in the foot by drastically reducing their sales.

Publishers control prices on Steam. Valve can't just decide to put a game on sale without asking the publisher first. If EA wants to protect their games from going on sale on Steam, all they have to do is not put their games on sale.

This is to get more people to buy into a system where they have greater control.

They can still download it from Steam. Whatever you buy off Steam you'll be able to download whenever you want still regardless. The catch is, the publisher/dev will probably not update the game anymore for Steam though. Older games, no biggie, but with a new one like Crysis 2, that will be a problem.

I bet you could also take your CD key from Steam and enter it into Origin to get it that way.

 

[Anubis]

So what games do you miss out on by excluding Steam?

none that ive actually wanted to play so far

 

[AstroManLuca]

So what games do you miss out on by excluding Steam?

There are quite a few games that require Steam. Empire Total War, MW2, Dawn of War 2, and of course all Valve games, among others. Can't find a full, definitive list anywhere.

 

[Nebor]

none that ive actually wanted to play so far

Sounds like your system works better for you than mine does for me.

 

[paperfist]

Yay for competition

Which I hope leads to regulation.

 

[biostud]

if it's not on steam it's not a game

 

[paperfist]

So what's with the ELUA?

"The number of copies that you can download during a consecutive
period of days may be limited. You may not make a copy of the
Application available on a network where it could be used by multiple
users at the same time."

Ahhh if I need an Internet connection to use it, which I do, it's technically on a network...

"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."

WTF does it need to access my porn media to validate a license?

"You agree that the Application may automatically
download and install updates, upgrades and additional features that EA
deems reasonable, beneficial to you and/or reasonably necessary"

Great more bloatware, advertising and spyware...which you are paying for...

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and
related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol
37683v1 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."

WOW!

"EA reserves the right to monitor communications on the Application and disclose
any information EA deems necessary to (i) ensure your compliance with this
License; (ii) satisfy any applicable law, regulation or legal process; (iii) protect the
rights, property and interests of EA, its employees or the public."

Isn't that what the CIA does?

"System Interaction. The following processes may be associated with the
Application: Origin.exe, EACoreServer.exe, OriginClientService.exe . The
Application requires machine resources in order to perform and may impede the
functionality of other software on your machine. The Application may slow and/or
otherwise affect the performance of your machine and other software installed
and/or running thereon. You may experience technical issues after installation of
the Application. By installing the Application, you acknowledge and agree to the
foregoing risks of use. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO AND ACKNOWLEDGE
THESE POTENTIAL ISSUES, DO NOT INSTALL THE APPLICATION."

ROFL

"This License is effective until terminated. Your rights under this
License will terminate immediately and automatically without any notice from EA
if (i) you fail to comply with any of the terms and conditions of this License; or (ii)
EA ceases to support the Application. Promptly upon termination, you must
cease all use of the Application and destroy all copies of the Application in your
possession or control. EA’s termination will not limit any of EA’s other rights or
remedies at law or in equity. Sections 2-13 of this License shall survive
termination or expiration of this License for any reason."

That's friggin awesome. So if EA goes under (not likely) or their service tanks and they decided to pull it your SOL with everything you bought from them. Nice.

"TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE
UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE APPLICATION IS PROVIDED TO YOU “AS
IS,” WITH ALL FAULTS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WITHOUT
PERFORMANCE ASSURANCES OR GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, AND
YOUR USE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE ENTIRE RISK OF SATISFACTORY
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE RESIDES WITH YOU....EA DOES NOT WARRANT AGAINST INTERFERENCE WITH YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE APPLICATION; THAT THE APPLICATION WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; THAT OPERATION OF THE APPLICATION
WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE"

While it says, "TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE
UNDER APPLICABLE LAW" how can it be legal to offer a product that may not work, and if it doesn't work you have no recourse to get it fixed or replaced?

Well that was a great read, but I still didn't find what I was looking for, how many times I can download my game and for how long do I have it available to me. Their last service only allowed you to download it for a year and then it was gone.

 

[sigurros81]

How about releasing that DX11 patch!

 

[Wyndru]

I was actually thinking of buying it before this happened, but was on the fence of spending more money on games. Thank you EA for making my decision easy, my wallet and wife appreciate it.

 

[Golgatha]

My thoughts exactly. I just hope the physical discs don't require you to install Origin.

Oh they will. It's an almost absolute certainty.

 

[tviceman]

Hey everyone,

If you feel as passionately as I do about EA and this bad decision they are making, please let EA know and contribute to my thread I created over on EA's forums:

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/6987657.page#15274017

 

[Golgatha]

Hey everyone,

If you feel as passionately as I do about EA and this bad decision they are making, please let EA know and contribute to my thread I created over on EA's forums:

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/6987657.page#15274017

Here's what I wrote.

Greetings EA,

I'm the proud owner of Mass Effect 1&2, Dragon Age Complete, several Battlefield series games, several Need for Speed series games, and hope to purchase Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 in the near future. The overwhelming majority of my games purchases are through Steam currently. The reason for this is good customer service, the ability to redownload all my games as needed, the ability to backup my game files easily, I can easily add non-Steam games to my playlist, and that my friends use it exclusively for tracking what games we're all currently playing (independent of publisher).

I do not want another similar and arguably inferior service running specifically for EA titles. Frankly, given your history of anti-paying customer shenanigans, I don't trust you with my purchases any further than I can throw your server admins. Any Steam-like service offered by EA will be immediately and actively avoided by me. Further, if multi-platform games like Mass Effect 3 aren't offered on the PC without your Origin service, I will be forced to simply not buy them.

The ball is in your court. Either keep your library on Steam and continue to receive my money. Or try and build a walled garden for your games and loose revenue from myself and several of my like-minded friends (not to mention a large number of random gamers out there as well).

All that said, I still loathe Steam as a DRM laden piece of crap. It's just the best turd in a sea of feces so I deal with it since there is no alternative. I pretty much only buy games for $20 or less from there because I don't trust any "cloud" service any further than I can throw it.

 

[Golgatha]

Hey everyone,

If you feel as passionately as I do about EA and this bad decision they are making, please let EA know and contribute to my thread I created over on EA's forums:

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/6987657.page#15274017

It's kind of funny that I even have an EA account. I didn't know about the requirement when I purchased BF:BC2. I probably would have avoided BF:BC2 if I had known about the requirement for yet another login and password account creation. Especially so since it's EA.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

So what's with the ELUA?

"The number of copies that you can download during a consecutive
period of days may be limited. You may not make a copy of the
Application available on a network where it could be used by multiple
users at the same time."

Ahhh if I need an Internet connection to use it, which I do, it's technically on a network...

"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."

WTF does it need to access my porn media to validate a license?

"You agree that the Application may automatically
download and install updates, upgrades and additional features that EA
deems reasonable, beneficial to you and/or reasonably necessary"

Great more bloatware, advertising and spyware...which you are paying for...

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and
related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol
37683v1 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."

WOW!

"EA reserves the right to monitor communications on the Application and disclose
any information EA deems necessary to (i) ensure your compliance with this
License; (ii) satisfy any applicable law, regulation or legal process; (iii) protect the
rights, property and interests of EA, its employees or the public."

Isn't that what the CIA does?

"System Interaction. The following processes may be associated with the
Application: Origin.exe, EACoreServer.exe, OriginClientService.exe . The
Application requires machine resources in order to perform and may impede the
functionality of other software on your machine. The Application may slow and/or
otherwise affect the performance of your machine and other software installed
and/or running thereon. You may experience technical issues after installation of
the Application. By installing the Application, you acknowledge and agree to the
foregoing risks of use. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO AND ACKNOWLEDGE
THESE POTENTIAL ISSUES, DO NOT INSTALL THE APPLICATION."

ROFL

"This License is effective until terminated. Your rights under this
License will terminate immediately and automatically without any notice from EA
if (i) you fail to comply with any of the terms and conditions of this License; or (ii)
EA ceases to support the Application. Promptly upon termination, you must
cease all use of the Application and destroy all copies of the Application in your
possession or control. EA’s termination will not limit any of EA’s other rights or
remedies at law or in equity. Sections 2-13 of this License shall survive
termination or expiration of this License for any reason."

That's friggin awesome. So if EA goes under (not likely) or their service tanks and they decided to pull it your SOL with everything you bought from them. Nice.

"TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE
UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE APPLICATION IS PROVIDED TO YOU “AS
IS,” WITH ALL FAULTS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WITHOUT
PERFORMANCE ASSURANCES OR GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, AND
YOUR USE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE ENTIRE RISK OF SATISFACTORY
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE RESIDES WITH YOU....EA DOES NOT WARRANT AGAINST INTERFERENCE WITH YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE APPLICATION; THAT THE APPLICATION WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; THAT OPERATION OF THE APPLICATION
WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE"

While it says, "TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE
UNDER APPLICABLE LAW" how can it be legal to offer a product that may not work, and if it doesn't work you have no recourse to get it fixed or replaced?

Well that was a great read, but I still didn't find what I was looking for, how many times I can download my game and for how long do I have it available to me. Their last service only allowed you to download it for a year and then it was gone.

The Steam EULA says the following:
Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a limited, terminable, non-exclusive license and right to use the Software for your personal use in accordance with this Agreement and the Subscription Terms. The Software is licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Software.

B. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
NEITHER VALVE, ITS LICENSORS, NOR THEIR AFFILIATES SHALL BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE STEAM, YOUR ACCOUNT, YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS AND THE SOFTWARE INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. IN NO EVENT WILL VALVE BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH STEAM, THE SOFTWARE, MERCHANDISE THAT YOU ACQUIRE VIA STEAM, ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, OR THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE MERCHANDISE OR ANY INFORMATION, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF FAULT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF CONTRACT, OR BREACH OF VALVE'S WARRANTY AND EVEN IF VALVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THESE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS REGARDING DAMAGES APPLY EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS.
IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF A EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRY, THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
C. NO GUARANTEES.
VALVE DOES NOT GUARANTEE CONTINUOUS, ERROR-FREE, VIRUS-FREE OR SECURE OPERATION AND ACCESS TO STEAM, THE SOFTWARE, YOUR ACCOUNT AND/OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS(S).

 

[Texashiker]

if it's not on steam it's not a game

There was an age, an ancient age of games before Steam. I know its difficult to believe, but at one time, there were games before steam.

 

[Nebor]

All that said, I still loathe Steam as a DRM laden piece of crap. It's just the best turd in a sea of feces so I deal with it since there is no alternative. I pretty much only buy games for $20 or less from there because I don't trust any "cloud" service any further than I can throw it.

Steam has DRM? If so it's entirely transparent to me.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Steam has DRM? If so it's entirely transparent to me.

Steam is the DRM. You have to have it running while playing your games. I guess he's calling it bloated because it comes attached with an IM Client/Updater/Overlay

 

[Anubis]

Steam has DRM? If so it's entirely transparent to me.

steam itself is DRM which is the point i assume he was trying to make

 

[Sureshot324]

I'm not sure what Origin's restrictions are on re-downloading purchased games. They're very good at hiding that information on their website. I know it used to be one year, then they reduced it to six months, but that was before Origin.

I can't help but feel like if they offered unlimited re-downloading, they'd advertise it. And EA doesn't exactly have the best track record. Not only that, but the downloaded files are auto-installed in most cases, meaning you can't just save the downloaded setup file.

EDIT: Well this is an unexpected surprise! The information wasn't on the Origin FAQs but it is on EA's main site:

http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5291/~/origin-frequently-asked-questions



That's very good news. It sounds like they only guarantee one year but that's only the minimum.

Still not acceptable. If I'm going to buy a game from an online service I'd better be able to download it forever.

 

[Tripwir3]

One of my clanmates said that his father owns Crysis 2 and the latest update for the game contained Origin.

 

[Terzo]

Crysis 2 is still on direct2drive, but for how much longer I dont know.

I know the thread is about Steam, but d2d isn't the only alternative. Crysis 2 is currently available from Amazon, Gamestop, and Microcenter. I'm sure other's are still selling it as well.

So what games do you miss out on by excluding Steam?

I don't have a hard exclusion on Steam (for example, my friend wanted to play L4D2 when it was on the $5 sale, so I bought it...and we've only played a few times), but the biggest title that comes to mind is Shogun 2. However, it doesn't bother me. I'm sure it's fun, but there are so many other options out there (in my backlog alone there are at least 10 games) that I'm not feeling the sting of not buying Steam games.

That said, I'll probably buy Portal 2 eventually, as well as the next Half Life installment.

 

[Red Hawk]

Calm down, wipe the foam from your chin, chill out dude. Of course the desktop will be around for a long time to come still. However, tablets can also use keyboards, TVs, monitors and everything else a desktop can provide and do so wirelessly. Inevitably they will be powerful enough to reproduce just about any game possible on a 10 inch screen, surf the web, phone grandma, or whatever. It will take more then five years for them to become really cheap, but it will happen and eventually every snot nosed kid will carry one around like his favorite blanket.

Another draw of tablets is the portability. You don't need a special bag for it or accessories, just carry it around in a purse or whatever. While tablets are able to use keyboards and mice, most people won't actually use them with tablets. Desktop PCs will still be the prefered workstation. And while they will be able to play any current game, again, desktops will always be ahead of contemporary tablets, for the same reason they are currently ahead of laptops and for the same reason consoles are always ahead of contemporary handheld gaming devices. Getting the same performance on a compact, power-efficient tablet costs much more than a stationary PC or console, and that fact will never change.

That market will drive down the price of games and force console makers and PC game developers to change their strategy. People only have so much time and money to spend on entertainment and as their choices increase the competition better step up to plate with something compelling enough to spend real money on. In the meantime, the web is rapidly becoming the focus of distribution and whether you want to buy a game for your console or PC or whatever likely just a few distributors will eventually dominate the field. If you want a movie, you get Netflix or Hulu and the same will happen for games distribution and pretty much everything else from cable TV to telephone to school work.

Drive down the price of games....why? Because of increased demand? That would drive prices up, not down. Web distribution is not specific to tablets, PCs can do it just the same. And web distribution like Steam doesn't change the hardware requirements for games, unless you're using a service like OnLive, in which case the hardware requirements switches from your graphics hardware to the bandwidth available over your network.

 

[Golgatha]

Still not acceptable. If I'm going to buy a game from an online service I'd better be able to download it forever.

I don't agree. I want to be able to back it up forever and it has to have an offline failsafe. The fact that Steam can change the rules at any point though is where I don't like giving up control of my games.

 

[Attic]

Irritating, yes. But will it actually stop every one posting above from buying Crysis 2 on EA's store? Nope.

Fact is, we bitch and and complain about the actions of Ubi Soft, EA, Activation, etc, and then everyone turns around and buys their crap anyway. They have no motivation to change because the money keeps flowing in.

Good point. The decision to remove Crysis 2 from steam makes no business sense to me. Obviously to EA this move makes sense despite the obvious middle finger they are giving to a lot gamers.

Answer is to fuck EA back, don't give them any money.


Thing is, a lot of people just dont care that much and they will put up with EA slapping them in the face with a big black rubber dildo so long as they get to play a big new highly advertised shiny covered turd.

 

[Texashiker]

The fact that Steam can change the rules at any point though is where I don't like giving up control of my games.

That is just the way things are these days.

I remember the good ole days of doom and quake, where you just had to install the game and did not even have to enter a cd key; but those days are gone forever.

Then came quake II and half-life that required a cd key.

I think doom 3 had an online activation,,,, but that was so long ago I dont remember exactly.

Next was half-life 2 and steam.

Its a natural progression of companies trying to protect their property.

EA has to share the profits of a sale with Steam/Valve, so why not start their own distribution network.