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.
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.
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Shacknews
replySteve 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.-
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Shackers please to be posting 15% off D2D coupons below. Thank you.
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yeah I'll probably do d2d
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My thoughts exactly.
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they aren't your games :p
good , i don't like steam anyways , it's only good for mainstream titles which lacked development time for multiplayer and other features, good for indie games , and that's it.
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puts popcorn in microwave
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plants corn seed
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Buys Orville Redenbacher stock.
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Sues farmer for unintentionally growing trademarked Monsanto corn.
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Farmer wakes from dream after being gagged, bagged, and dragged to torture chamber by Monsanto agents.
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...only to be swiftly impaled by a rusty cutlass.
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now that's i've RTFA, this is sensationalist BS. No one believes Gamestop. Throws popcorn out.
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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.
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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....)-
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exactly.
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That's how Steam started out. Only Valve games, right?
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Do we know for a fact that EA isn't looking to branch out?
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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. -
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Aren't they already doing that with steam?
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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)-
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.
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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.
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the thing is they aren't even trying to offer anything steam already has like patching
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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?
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Valve takes a cut when a game is bought on Steam; EA gets it all if you buy on Origin.
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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."-
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.
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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.-
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.
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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? -
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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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I'd say that Valve earned the title sleazebag during the release of HL2.
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Good stuff aside from the occasional launch of an mp game with only 4 maps (DoDS).
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hello to the year 2005. welcome to 2011. you have a lot of catching up to do...
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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.
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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.
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lol
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Prices are same or better than most places, auto patching, ease of use.
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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.
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i'm lazy, want everything in one place
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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. -
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.
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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!-
Sounds more like Steam is refusing to carry it. In which case I'd say Steam can go fuck themselves.
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lol
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That makes no sense. No reason for Steam to do that...
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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."-
People buying EA's side of anything. Priceless.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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. -
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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
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yep
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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.
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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.
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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?
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I know. Forcing you to install a proprietary distribution program that has to be always connected, just to play their gam is total bullshit.
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I just launched AssCreed 2, Dead Space 2, and BIT TRIP RUNNER. Three non-Valve games. Yeah. He's full of shit.
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Those assholes better not do it!!!
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People screamed about it 8 years ago when Valve was doing it. What's your point?
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BUT WHY
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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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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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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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Why wont the square peg fit trough the round hole ?!
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But they have no competitive multiplayer...different games entirely.
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I reckon I'm going to go for a disc as I did with BC2, then launch it through Steam.
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That completely defeats the purpose of Steam.
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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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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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"In related news, you can preorder BF3 at Gamestop!"
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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. -
Not buying the game then. Their loss.
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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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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. -
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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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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"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. -
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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