Crysis 2 Pulled from Steam aka 'OMG EA Are pulling all their games from Steam'

It just gave me the digital deluxe version of BC2 for free... might be an accident, but I suggest taking advantage of this if you're interested. I just went to the enter key menu, plugged in my regular BC2 code, and selected digital deluxe from the results it gave me... now that's the version I own on Origin.

Keep in mind the games don't show up right away on the menu and it asks again for a serial - those are just bugs, ignore them and restart after putting in the key and getting the first confirmation.
 
BabyHeadCrab said:
Blizzard's certainly managed to circumnavigate Steam just fine. It's only a matter of time.

Also if you want to import your game keys and download from Origin you can do so now. I tossed Medal of Honor on just to see if it'd work. It registers keys just like Steam.
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Blizzard had a huge customer base on their handful of titles well before Steam ever existed. When you release a game every 5 years to your group of devoted fans you don't really need distribution channels like Steam... people wait in lines wearing costumes just to get it at midnight.
 
I'm just pointing towards the fact that Steam is certainly not a necessity to successfully market or sell an AAA digitally distributed PC game. I believe that is a misconception held by many people on communities like ours.
 
It might help if we all had a better idea of what they charge for advertising and distribution. Still, the fact remains that these days - Steam has taken over as the dominant way to deliver PC games. I mean sometimes I wonder how effective it is to have TV spots for PC games. They cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and how much to the add to the total revenue? How many people out there had never played WoW and had no idea it existed then decided to after they saw the Cataclysm commercial? How many people would base their purchasing decision on 30 seconds of bad trailers for any game? It's weird to me but somewhat unrelated.
 
Did anyone see this thread on Reddit?

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/i0k3b/by_request_i_worked_for_ea_games_ears/

ItsTheFark

Are everyone high up in EA stuck up? I feel like if I were to meet the president he would laugh in my face if I said the gameplay was important.

Ryogavee:

Um.. some are. I did hear a story about how American McGee was at a house party hosted by a guy who was not all that high up in the company.

The guy who owned the house however where the party was hosted and was talking to a big wig. American McGee walks over and pulls him (big wig) away. Guy who owned the house politely said,

"hey, we are havign a conversation." American McGee replied to the bigwig, "What are you talking to this guy for, hes nobody." House owner gets pissed, saying its his house GTFO! American McGee called him a liar.

And.. well it got ugly after that.

thatguyworks

It got ugly AFTER that!? Do go on!

Ryogavee:

I'm told the owner put his hands on American McGee and there was a small scuffle. Pretty much a lot of.

"Get the **** out of my house!"
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McGee is like a washed up celebrity. All he did was some Doom levels, and Alice, which has his name all over it. Honestly, it's not as good as many claim. There's also Alice 2 sucks, but I heard it sucks.
 
They're convinced that people will want to use their shitty EADM replacement just because it got a new coat of paint and a new name plastered on it.

Yeah, good luck with that.
 
You're forgetting that it will be the sole launchpad of what could be the two biggest PC launches in years: The Old Republic AND Battlefield 3.

They don't need your, or our luck. It'll end up being used.
 
BabyHeadCrab said:
No, rather that makes it seem the weaker product to the masses. They see the lower price tag and figure the developer made some concessions or is trying to sell off something unfinished or non-competitive.
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Yeah, I'm going to have to call you out on this claim. Do you have any proof of this?
 
Ok, so I've been pretty busy all day. I should be watching the Stanley Cup right now, but since I made the thread I'd like to ask a quick question during 2nd intermission: Did EA claim to have nothing to do with this? Is that true? The impression I'm getting right now is that details are, essentially, scarce and EA is basically making the claim as vague as can possibly be done.

EDIT: The 3rd hasn't started yet. Got a little more time.

Electronic Arts sent us this statement in regard to the removal of Crysis 2 from Steam: "It's unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis II from their service. 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. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis II from Steam."

We've asked EA for clarification regarding Alice: The Madness Returns also disappearing from Steam. We've also reached out to Valve Software for comment, and will update with any further information accordingly.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20071213-1/updated-eas-crysis-2-new-alice-game-gone-from-steam/

Looks like EA definitely influenced Crytek's decision. We need to hear more from Valve to be sure, though.

Go Bruins.
 
Well, I'm still going to get BF3, especially since the prices will likely be lower when it comes out over here (BF2 was about $10 cheaper, etc.). If it means that I have to use EA's version of Steam, then so be it. I never did like Steam, and I probably won't like EA's stuff, but if that's what I have to use, it'll be what I'll be using.
 
sixteenth said:
Ok, so I've been pretty busy all day. I should be watching the Stanley Cup right now, but since I made the thread I'd like to ask a quick question during 2nd intermission: Did EA claim to have nothing to do with this? Is that true? The impression I'm getting right now is that details are, essentially, scarce and EA is basically making the claim as vague as can possibly be done.

Looks like EA definitely influenced Crytek's decision. We need to hear more from Valve to be sure, though.
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The way EA is making it sound is that Valve changed their policy and the agreement they had for Crysis 2 violated the new policy. This seems extremely unlikely for a few reasons.

1) Why is it that only two games were removed from the store? Are we to believe that out of the thousand+ games available from the steam store, only two happened to breach this new policy?
2) The notion that Valve wouldn't uphold the terms that they agreed upon with Crytek at the time the agreement was made seems suspect. Companies like Valve don't change their terms without grandfathering in their current contracts.
3) Valve has many, many games that are also available on many, many other digital storefronts. This has never really mattered to Valve before.

While I'm surely not saying that EA is the reason for the games' removal, I have a feeling that what this representative said is not accurate. I think the more likely scenario is that Crytek signed an exclusive deal with someone else (Origin most likely) which prompted them to cut out Steam. Spicey Horse (Alice's developer) probably did the same thing. So I guess, in my scenario... EA IS the reason for the games' removal from Steam, but not directly.
 
Competition is always a good thing. Good luck, Origin, and let's hope for lower prices and better services.
 
Paulaner said:
Competition is always a good thing. Good luck, Origin, and let's hope for lower prices and better services.
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This pretty much. Although I like Steam and trust Valve more than any big company, I don't like the idea of them having a monopoly on digital distribution(would probably also make them lazier on improving steam).
For the few old games I've bought on GoG I really liked the concept: DRM-free, just download & install an exe and you're done. I hope they will be adding newer games to their catalogue.
 
Competition would be great, but this isn't competition. It'll flop. Guaranteed.
 
This is not a competition, this is bullshit. I don't want to restart downloading when I lost my connection. I don't want anyone to delete my account after a certain time of inactivity. Why do I have to pay in Euro? This is stupid. I can't believe pirates actually have a better customer service than a company like Electronic Arts.
 
I can. It comes down to simplicity.

Goal of EA: Make money. Methods: Hire idiots that don't know shit but pretend they do. Outcome: ****ed fanbase

Goal of pirates: Get shit. Methods: 1337 h@x. Outcome: Shit got.
 
The success of Origin will be measured by numbers and facts. Prejudice and feelings don't count. Only time will tell.
 
It's not competition. Competition would be if each provider were offering the same games. As EA won't be putting their newest stuff anywhere other than Origin, it's not competition.
 
Yeah, i get it. They want to cut out their middle man and reap all of the benefits.

They are not offering any third party games though and i doubt that they ever will. This is clearly just for their games. There's nothing competitive about that. It will be just another nuisance for gamers. Just like GFWL.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
It's not competition. Competition would be if each provider were offering the same games. As EA won't be putting their newest stuff anywhere other than Origin, it's not competition.
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Why the assumption that other companies won't be putting their games on Origin?
 
My thoughts....

Origin seems like an awful idea for a number of reasons. Firstly as people have stated the terms aren't particularly nice. Secondly EA are a horrible company, the closed the servers for Battle for Middle Earth 2 because it dropped a little in popularity, disabling the online community. Thirdly, it is going to be just like Games for Windows Live with it's over priced games and terrible interface, and yes I know Steam wasn't all bells and whistles when it first came out but Games for Windows Live is still awful and that's been out for some time now. Now I wouldn't mind paying full price for a digital copy if, and this is the big problem, they tested the games probably before hand. I can't even begin to list the number of times a bug as made one of their game unplayable and waiting for a patch becomes a necessity; this is simply unexcitable.

If I'm to be perfectly honest I'm almost glad EA have left Steam as their games were never compatible with their system fully anyway. I shall not be buying any of their games now unless the older ones come on a deal on Steam.

That is all.
 
I wonder if this is the future. Every publisher starting their own online distributor.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
It's not competition. Competition would be if each provider were offering the same games. As EA won't be putting their newest stuff anywhere other than Origin, it's not competition.
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This.

ríomhaire said:
Why the assumption that other companies won't be putting their games on Origin?
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Are you saying there is going to be competition between Steam and Origin on which service a game company will choose to put their game on? That really has nothing to do with our benefits, ie. sell price. That will only depend on which platform offers the most benefit to the company, not us.

So yeah, there may be competition, but not the kind that is necessarily good for us, where they're competing to offer better prices and service for their end users.
 
I wouldn't object to competition if there were several competing services, all offering the same products. That way, the consumer gets the benefit of different providers competing on price. However, it's not about the consumer, it's about EA wanting 100% of the money from their digital distribution, rather than the 75(ish)% they get when selling via Steam. Similarly, they're not exactly going to be trying to publish Activision or Ubi's titles, nor would Activision or Ubi want them to. At least Steam is somewhat agnostic.
Personally, I don't want to have 3 or 4 different digital distribution clients running, or having to switch between them to play games from different publishers.
This isn't about providing us with a better deal, it's about publishers wanting more money, nothing else.
 
Vegeta897 said:
This.
Are you saying there is going to be competition between Steam and Origin on which service a game company will choose to put their game on?
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No I'm saying companies are going to put their games on both Steam and Origin at the same time.
 
How does having their game on one digital platform make it 'less available'? Both services are available to anyone to use.

If it made less money then EA would be keeping their games on both platforms to make more money.

It becomes even more unlikely when you think there's going to be competition causing the price to be lower on one service than the other. So you're saying they want to be on both platforms to make more money, but then have one platform be cheaper... for what reason exactly? Where is the cause for competition?
 
What about the people refusing to install Origin because they already have Steam?
 
ríomhaire said:
No I'm saying companies are going to put their games on both Steam and Origin at the same time.
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This clearly isn't the case as EA has been pulling games off Steam. As for other game companies, we'll just have to wait and see, but Origin seems only to have EA's games on it from what I've heard.

Stigmata said:
What about the people refusing to install Origin because they already have Steam?
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Simply put, I don't think EA cares.
 
Vegeta897 said:
How does having their game on one digital platform make it 'less available'? Both services are available to anyone to use.
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Some people won't use multiple services, and wont purchase a game thats not on their preferred service. Thats in addition to the reduced exposure that comes from being exclusive to one service. You need only imagine GFWL exclusives to see this. Very, very few people would buy a game that was only available on the GFWL distro.

If it made less money then EA would be keeping their games on both platforms to make more money.
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Yep, companies never ever make bad decisions.

It becomes even more unlikely when you think there's going to be competition causing the price to be lower on one service than the other. So you're saying they want to be on both platforms to make more money, but then have one platform be cheaper... for what reason exactly? Where is the cause for competition?
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This I sort of agree with. Normally it WOULD result in lower prices for us, but software and video games especially seem to generally stay the same price, with everyone happy to have an unspoken agreement to charge the same price. There are however opportunities for it. For instance, Valve could ask the company to let them sell it for 10% less than the retail price, giving the developer an incentive to do so, and then Valve would receive more orders for the product than they would have otherwise, more than offsetting the reduced revenue from each individual item.
 
Vegeta897 said:
How does having their game on one digital platform make it 'less available'? Both services are available to anyone to use.
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Some people have preferred stores. There are people who only buy games on Steam and refuse to buy PC games other than from Steam. There are also some people who refuse to support Steam because they hate it. By only going on Steam or Origin (pretending for a moment that those are the only two options) you cut off either the former group or the latter. Also Vegeta, if you were trying to sell your game why would you not put it in as many stores as were available (as long as Valve or EA aren't bribing you to be exclusive). Why would, say, Introversion or Id want to limit the places their sell their games, their exposure to customers and their possible sales?

Vegeta897 said:
If it made less money then EA would be keeping their games on both platforms to make more money.
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Is that a serious question? EA own Origin. They want to promote it and have exclusive AAA titles on it so that people will sign up. It's new (sort of) and they need people to sign up for it and they're giving them a reason to. They have a vested interest in the success of Origin because they own it. Other companies have no such reasons.

Vegeta897 said:
It becomes even more unlikely when you think there's going to be competition causing the price to be lower on one service than the other. So you're saying they want to be on both platforms to make more money, but then have one platform be cheaper... for what reason exactly? Where is the cause for competition?
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I didn't say it was competition in pricing of each individual game. They'll probably be much the same in general. But their is competition of services to be done. Who can make the best program with the best features that people prefer to use. And lets not forget sales. If Origin wants to take off it'll probably have to match the sort of crazy sales Steam does.
 
If BF3 is not on steam i'm getting it on PS3. Simple as that EA
 
EvolvedPie said:
Simply put, I don't think EA cares.
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If they could be making more on Steam, I think they would.

ybMgX.jpg
 
I think we're all just victims of the popularing of gaming. When it becomes popular, it stops being about fun and starts being about how to turn a penny into a dollar. It will stay that way until people stop accepting the 10 modern warfares a year and big publishers like EA are forced to resort to the more expensive and time consuming process of quality and actually do things for the consumer. Of course idiots will keep buying your Maddens every year even though it's the same as last year with a new roster... and they'll pick up every single dumb game with a trailer full of cutscenes.
 
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