News - Why Battlefield 3 won't be making an appearance on Steam

Steam or no sale. Simples.

Given that valve were first to market* with Steam, they have managed to carve themselves out a good business model, as evidenced by the millions of users who play games on Steam daily.

Later-comers to this marketplace need to be innovative and clever about how they promote their own systems, offering something different/more to entice the users away from Steam and steal some of that market share.

Throwing your toys out of the pram is not a good business strategy, even if the game they choose to instigate this is likely to be their highest-grossing title to date.

I get it that many people don't give a rat's behind, or prefer DVDs, or dislike Steam, those are all valid opinions, but many of us are complaining because we DO like to use steam, we DON'T want physical media and we don't want to be unwitting pawns in an underhand/shady, if blatant, business strategy to get in on the digital distribution gaming market.

I'm all for more players in this market to keep steam on their toes, to promote innovation and keep the market moving forward technologically.
That is to say, I would support there being an Origin and there being a (insert name here) from other developers provided that the appearance of those platforms is beneficial to the market's consumers. What EA is doing here is BAD for consumers, not just in the short term for those of us whom it affects, but in the longer term for the entire gaming community.

And for those reasons, I'm out.

--

*First large-scale success to market

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hicks12

valve are most likely the lesser evil but they are still an evil :P, they wont refund on games at all.. basically customer support is as bad as ea but atleast if you dont buy it off steam you have a chance of being able to resell it, look at greenmangaming thats what steam SHOULD be doing.

Sorry valve :P

---

Very true

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2010/05/fi...ames-industry/

The above article isn't 100% right, but at the end of the day there is no big incentive for EA to release BF3 on steam - if steam didn't take such a huge cut of the sale price then maybe there would, but well, they do so thats that.

If you don't like it then don't buy it, but its a terrible reason not to buy a game..and all of you that say "I'm not buying it because its not on steam" just lost your right to ever insult anyone for being a "Fanboi"..as you are clearly all Steam "Fanboi's" :D

If you don't buy BF3 surely the real reason would be that the final becomes "BC3" instead..let that make up your mind, not the fact that its not in your favourite DD store.

Fascinating discussion all round - makes me kind of glad that I'm now a console gamer (problems using a PC - any session longer than about 20 minutes leaves me with neckache and leg cramps, although the PC itself is more than powerful enough).

What I'm failing to understand is why folks seem so passionate about BF3 - heck in some quarters it seems to be more anticipated than the coming of a deity. I've always pigeon-holed BF/BF2 (not :BC) as games only really suitable for folks that are clanned up - although I'm quite content to be told I'm wrong. Is there anything for a more casual type of player - sort of an ad hoc squad arrangement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hicks12

valve are most likely the lesser evil but they are still an evil :P, they wont refund on games at all.. basically customer support is as bad as ea but atleast if you dont buy it off steam you have a chance of being able to resell it, look at greenmangaming thats what steam SHOULD be doing.

---

I have used Steam - initially for HL2 (like most I guess) - and I came back to it a couple of months ago. To me at least the prices seemed high, way higher than I could get for real disks from Game/Gamestation. Luckily I've got a good VM connection so downloading isn't a big deal, but given the loyalty that Steam seems to invoke I'm wondering if I've been missing out on something. Meanwhile, Hicks12, I'm going to disagree - I've always found EA's support to be quite helpful. Certainly lightyears ahead of the woefully poor effort that Activision seem to think is suitable. That said, I'm also less than impressed with the eCommerce support on both Logitech and Ubisoft's websites - both have been pathetic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crossy

What I'm failing to understand is why folks seem so passionate about BF3 - heck in some quarters it seems to be more anticipated than the coming of a deity. I've always pigeon-holed BF/BF2 (not :BC) as games only really suitable for folks that are clanned up - although I'm quite content to be told I'm wrong. Is there anything for a more casual type of player - sort of an ad hoc squad arrangement.

---

I guess there is a way for the more casual gamer yeah I found it that way at any rate though these days im not so casual anymore, The trick is to find a squad that works together and then stick with them can take a bit of trial and error or join squad leave squad till you find one that is working together but when you do its very rewarding.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crossy

I have used Steam - initially for HL2 (like most I guess) - and I came back to it a couple of months ago. To me at least the prices seemed high, way higher than I could get for real disks from Game/Gamestation. Luckily I've got a good VM connection so downloading isn't a big deal, but given the loyalty that Steam seems to invoke I'm wondering if I've been missing out on something. Meanwhile, Hicks12, I'm going to disagree - I've always found EA's support to be quite helpful. Certainly lightyears ahead of the woefully poor effort that Activision seem to think is suitable. That said, I'm also less than impressed with the eCommerce support on both Logitech and Ubisoft's websites - both have been pathetic.

---

Steam do some nice sales which I guess is where the love comes from in my personal experience the only support is either 3 or 4 days too late or via the community so its certainly not steams support that wins. EA support well thats pretty crappy until you get past the initial monkeys once promoted to tier 2 or 3 the support is very good I have found the first person you speak to tier 1 usually doesnt have a clue and in my experience more often than not causes more problems than they fix.


I still think statements like no steam im not buying are a little silly and thats not aimed at you crossy I mean seriously Ill buy a game because its recommended to me or I know its good via demo or whatever not because of where I buy it from. If I want a bottle of milk and Asda have none I dont say if its not at Asda im not buying I buy it elsewhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spud1

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2010/05/fi...ames-industry/

The above article isn't 100% right, but at the end of the day there is no big incentive for EA to release BF3 on steam - if steam didn't take such a huge cut of the sale price then maybe there would, but well, they do so thats that.

---

I seriously doubt steam is taking any more a cut from what EA gets than any brick & mortar, and steam provides promotion, a market of over 30 million gamers, update delivery so the publisher doesn't have to, nor does the publisher have to manufacture and ship a craptonne of units, all of that saves the publisher a lot of money and lets them focus on studio management and QA.

EA's problem is that they're not getting 100% of the £40 they're demanding from punters.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by goldiie

Steam or no sale. Simples.

---

i doubt i will miss you on the servers :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aidanjt

I seriously doubt steam is taking any more a cut from what EA gets than any brick & mortar, and steam provides promotion, a market of over 30 million gamers, update delivery so the publisher doesn't have to, nor does the publisher have to manufacture and ship a craptonne of units, all of that saves the publisher a lot of money and lets them focus on studio management and QA.

EA's problem is that they're not getting 100% of the £40 they're demanding from punters.

---

not quite sure what your basing that fiction on as EA will be doing boxed versions and dozens of other digital vendors are selling it, its the restrictions steam put on the code and the fiddling they do to it thats really pissed EA off, BC2 patches were held back for weeks thanks to steams tinkering. it was the last straw so they refused to sign the contract, simple as.

steam have 2 options, back down a bit or lose a few million quid in sales.

EA have nothing to worry about with the volume of pre orders they have already got.

EA are still trying to work this out with steam, steam just have to stop being pricks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoNz0

not quite sure what your basing that fiction on as EA will be doing boxed versions and dozens of other digital vendors are selling it

---

How does that disagree with what I said? Steam does reduce box production requirements significantly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoNz0

its the restrictions steam put on the code and the fiddling they do to it thats really pissed EA off, BC2 patches were held back for weeks thanks to steams tinkering. it was the last straw so they refused to sign the contract, simple as.

---

Are steam restricting the code or modifying it? Make up your mind. As far as I'm concerned, this is still a bare assertion. Non-disclosures are non-issues.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoNz0

steam have 2 options, back down a bit or lose a few million quid in sales.

EA are still trying to work this out with steam, steam just have to stop being pricks.

---

That clears it up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoNz0

EA have nothing to worry about with the volume of pre orders they have already got.

---

Weren't they pissing all over themselves that PC gamers are all a bunch of thieving pirates losing them lots of money? Now they're intentionally cutting their nose to spite their face.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aidanjt

Are steam restricting the code or modifying it? Make up your mind. As far as I'm concerned, this is still a bare assertion. Non-disclosures are non-issues.

---

Steam force specific requirements upon the developers (or publishers..whoever) for the game formats (obviously!), but crucially for most developers is how patching works. For a standard boxed/retail game, you create a patch once and thats it - it works for every retail copy out there. Sure you might localise some but you only have to do it once.

With steam you have to generate a patch especially for that version of the game - this means extra development time, testing, deployment, project management and so on..and this means extra cost for the developer. If you add this on to the cut that steam already take, its a large overhead for them. This is a known, well discussed and disclosed issue with steam.

Couple this with all the other non disclosed issues that steam can create (whatever you say they ARE still issues, ignorance is no argument) and you have a heck of a big reason for not wanting the stress.

Especially with a game like BF which is likely to require lots of patches :D

Not releasing on steam won't hurt EA one bit. A couple of die hard fanbois will get upset but in reality there is going to be nex to no impact on sales.

Stop whining.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spud1

Not releasing on steam won't hurt EA one bit. A couple of die hard fanbois will get upset but in reality there is going to be nex to no impact on sales.

Stop whining.

---

I couldnt agree more I say 99% of those saying "not on steam I'm not buying" will give in and buy it via some other distributor at some point be it retail box or digital of course not Origin because then they would have to admit they gave in.
Don't forget though once you've found your dummy and climbed back into your pram register your key with origin that way you can have the digital version there too at no extra cost.

Just bring on the game ! Can't wait, I loved BF2 & played it to death...

APC song is still in my head !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYW3S0k_f8

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShavedApe

Don't forget though once you've found your dummy and climbed back into your pram register your key with origin that way you can have the digital version there too at no extra cost.

---

Cheers, I'll bear that in mind :thumbsup:

The problem with BC2 was not steam, it was that the Frostbite engine meant patches were enormous and meant rebuilding most of the code, it wasn't even simple just to add new maps to the game. Steams "tinkering" was only done to try and streamline the patching process as much as possible for the benefit of their customers and their servers.
I'm sure Frostbite 2 will be no different. It will be an enormous trainwreck of an engine with little to no forethought given to a procedure for patching later on.

And steam is not just a retailer, it is a service. Other digital distribution services just act as a download provider and games are installed using the developers installer, steam automatically downloads and installs patches for the customer, and because of this it cannot comply with EAs demands without fundamentally altering the way it works. EA knew this long before they started developing BF3 yet they still didn't bother making their game compatible.

big mistake tbh, steams so popular and would just make life easier for them and users