The future of EA games on Steam

[wuliheron]

Within five years a handheld tablet will have the same power as your current desktop, some 80% of tablet owners game on their tablet, and some 90% of people polled said they wanted a tablet. Even India has plans to produce a $35.oo tablet. That's a huge market that is going to largely replace the desktop computer.

They're all just scrambling to ensure they don't cut out of that market. Whoever controls the distribution system controls the market and they know it. EA can buy all the developers they want, but if they can't distribute the product at competitive prices they're dead. Steam has effectively cut out the middlemen meaning Valve can either keep more of the profits or cut prices below that of their competitors.

 

[duragezic]

According to the FAQ it's one year but still that does suck.

Yeah that's far too little still if you ask me. Like I bought the Orange Box in 2007 and still haven't beaten HL2 Ep2. I deleted it a while back for space, so if I had bought it under the EA online store, I would have to pay to get back a game I already bought. :\

With the sales and convenience of Steam, I think I'm not the only one who picks up games on sale but don't get to them until later. One year?? That is not long enough at all. And you can't back them up?? What morons at EA thought up of having both those conditions?

 

[wuliheron]

Yeah that's far too little still if you ask me. Like I bought the Orange Box in 2007 and still haven't beaten HL2 Ep2. I deleted it a while back for space, so if I had bought it under the EA online store, I would have to pay to get back a game I already bought. :\

With the sales and convenience of Steam, I think I'm not the only one who picks up games on sale but don't get to them until later. One year?? That is not long enough at all. And you can't back them up?? What morons at EA thought up of having both those conditions?

The same ones who no doubt decided they could gouge customers and raise the price of AAA games to $60.oo.

 

[ahenkel]

I'd prefer not to use their downloader/ steam ripoff but I have 16 games I got for free through various promo's and customer service giving me a ton of free 15 dollar gift codes. So I can't really complain.

 

[Zenoth]

As much as I hate EA I have to say that is it their right to do so, especially if they want to "promote" Origin. The problem however is that obviously they want to compete with Steam, and that is going to be impossible. If they started at around the time when Steam also started then, yes, perhaps it might have been worth a try, but to do this now and think that it's going to be efficient and attractive for the gamers is beyond me.

As far as Crysis 2 is concerned, specifically, I don't care, since I've played it on the 360 and I don't like it enough to buy it on the PC, so it doesn't affect me. But if Battlefield 3 isn't on Steam I simply won't buy it at all, because I do not buy retail games anymore (since the past five years or so) and I almost always buy my digital games from Steam, D2D (only bought two from D2D anyway) and Good Old Games. I have bought Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening, Bad Company 2 and more recently Dragon Age 2 from EA's store via their Download Manager, digital copies, but those three purchases are the only exceptions.

As the mere consumer that I am it's the humble condition I impose to me and EA as far as Battlefield 3 is concerned... release it on Steam or I won't buy it, it's that simple. If I have to chose between Origin or Steam, my choice will be obvious.

 

[tviceman]

EA will lose a potential customer in me if they continue to pull games from steam.

 

[SergeC]

ea is the worst thing to ever happen to pc gaming.

This. More and more true every year. Arghhh.

 

[TraumaRN]

EA will lose a potential customer in me if they continue to pull games from steam.

This.

I have steam and GOG. No need for more at this point.

 

[StinkyPinky]

In the future we're going to have seperate programs for each publisher :thumbsdown:

Fucking idiotic.

 

[Nebor]

I don't buy games from anywhere but Steam. Sucks I won't get BF3 or Crysis 2, but that's EA's loss. I'll never get Starcraft 2 either.

 

[Sureshot324]

Sucks but this was inevitable. I expect BF3 will force you to run Origins to launch the game whether you buy retail or not, much like Valve games force you to run Steam.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

So whats the deal for people that already bought Crysis 2 from Steam? Are they going to lose access to it in a year or what?

 

[busydude]

So EA just joined Ubisoft in my do not purchase list.

 

[Red Hawk]

Within five years a handheld tablet will have the same power as your current desktop, some 80% of tablet owners game on their tablet, and some 90% of people polled said they wanted a tablet. Even India has plans to produce a $35.oo tablet. That's a huge market that is going to largely replace the desktop computer.

They're all just scrambling to ensure they don't cut out of that market. Whoever controls the distribution system controls the market and they know it. EA can buy all the developers they want, but if they can't distribute the product at competitive prices they're dead. Steam has effectively cut out the middlemen meaning Valve can either keep more of the profits or cut prices below that of their competitors.

Ok, in 5 years, there may be tablets with the same power as a mainline gaming computer now. In 5 years there may be $35.00 tablets. But in 5 years there sure as hell won't be $35.00 tablets with the same power as a standard gaming PC now. And as advanced as tablets will be by then, contemporary desktop PCs will still be more powerful, and still be the more cost-effective choice for gaming just like with laptops now.

What is driving tablet PC (and smartphone) advancements is the social connectivity aspect. The ease with which people can access their email, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and view webpages and videos. And sure, a tablet is great for some casual gaming. But more complex tasks? Typing up memos, gaming, putting together presentations, compiling research lists? The mouse and keyboard will remain the the optimal interface for such things over a touch screen. That combined with the hardware advantage will ensure that desktop PCs stay around for a while. Consoles didn't kill them, and neither will tablets.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Steam, origin, impulse, is the new drm. That's just how it's going to be.

Even with their crappy dlc promo I'll still pre-order to get the free maps.
The Wake Island map looks pretty sick. Karkand remake looks damn pretty.

 

[wuliheron]

What is driving tablet PC (and smartphone) advancements is the social connectivity aspect. The ease with which people can access their email, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and view webpages and videos. And sure, a tablet is great for some casual gaming. But more complex tasks? Typing up memos, gaming, putting together presentations, compiling research lists? The mouse and keyboard will remain the the optimal interface for such things over a touch screen. That combined with the hardware advantage will ensure that desktop PCs stay around for a while. Consoles didn't kill them, and neither will tablets.

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.

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.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

OnLive has a client coming out for tablets. Looks pretty sweet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BXGrV-SPE8&feature=related

 

[Aikouka]

I don't buy games from anywhere but Steam. Sucks I won't get BF3 or Crysis 2, but that's EA's loss. I'll never get Starcraft 2 either.

Why so picky when Blizzard doesn't make you install anything? You can also redownload stuff straight from their site. I have access to download Starcraft, Brood Wars, Diablo, Diablo II, D2 Lord of Destruction, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II all from Battle.Net.

 

[KaOTiK]

So whats the deal for people that already bought Crysis 2 from Steam? Are they going to lose access to it in a year or what?

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.

 

[Rifter]

EA will lose a potential customer in me if they continue to pull games from steam.

me too

 

[Anubis]

I don't buy games from anywhere but Steam. Sucks I won't get BF3 or Crysis 2, but that's EA's loss. I'll never get Starcraft 2 either.

i only buy games that don't require steam, so ill be playing BF3, crysis 2, Diablo 3 and all of the SC2 games

 

[frozentundra123456]

They did what?! Steam has got to be one of the biggest game retailers in existence by now. What kind of sense does this make? I was waiting for a sale. Now I'm just not going to buy it at all I suppose.

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.

Just had a terrible thought, too. The only EA game I am really looking forward to is Mass Effect 3. Does this mean it will not be on Steam?? I would buy a physical copy before using EA's download service.

Overall a very disturbing trend, sort of appropriate that it comes from EA.

 

[lupi]

There's only one thing I hate more than not being able to buy a physical copy of a game (that doesn't require net access), and that is the thought of having to keep several such online services installed and up to date to play my programs.

 

[Nebor]

i only buy games that don't require steam, so ill be playing BF3, crysis 2, Diablo 3 and all of the SC2 games

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

 

[Nebor]

Why so picky when Blizzard doesn't make you install anything? You can also redownload stuff straight from their site. I have access to download Starcraft, Brood Wars, Diablo, Diablo II, D2 Lord of Destruction, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II all from Battle.Net.

Because I don't want physical disks and I really like Steam. It's steam or bust for me.