Dragon Age II DLC Released, Game Pulled from Steam [Jul 27, 2011, 10:05 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
A thread on the Steam Users' Forums discusses the disappearance of Dragon Age II from Steam. There is widespread speculation that this is due to the new Legacy DLC for BioWare's role-playing sequel being sold from within the game, a situation similar to the one that has lead to the removal of Battlefield 3 preorders from Steam for the same reason, as this is apparently a violation of Steam policy. Meanwhile, with the new DLC now available for 800 BioWare spacebux, here's a description of what it adds to the game:
Targeted by a vicious criminal cartel that are hunting "the blood of the Hawke," you must put an end to their relentless attacks. Leave Kirkwall, and journey to an ancient Grey Warden prison in order to find the source of the aggression and uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage. Playable from any point in the Dragon Age II campaign, face new breeds of darkspawn, forge a powerful new weapon and come face to face with an ancient horror.
• Uncover the harsh truth about the Hawke lineage
• Adventure through several new locations including a prison constructed by the Grey Wardens
• Obtain a powerful class-specific weapon to which you can apply upgrades of your choice
Isn't it floating the economy of south korea right now?
Bhruic wrote on Jul 29, 2011, 09:24:
So if every other service can make sure that the DLC you buy will work with your game regardless of where you bought it, and Steam can't, the problem is with Steam, not the company providing the DLC.
Absolutely, I agree with that, but it would only matter if the DLC was exclusive to Steam and the game had been sold elsewhere.
I do not however think that it all needs to be compatible from one service to the next as long as the game and DLC are both being offered on the same service. But if they are going to pull stunts like this one, then yes, it needs to be compatible.
However, that is kind of irrelevant here as that's not what is happening, is it?
DA2 DLC is all coming from a unified direct source...Bioware. So compatibility shouldnt be an issue. Either way, the DLC should be sold through the same avenue the main game was.
This comment was edited on Jul 29, 2011, 12:13.
I wouldn't be shocked if Diablo 2 sold well over 10 million units lifetime either. Starcraft 2 is not my favorite cup of tea but its definitely fairly mainstream in terms of gaming. Maybe not The Sims mainstream but that's more of a casual level approach. WoW bridges both those markets and I'd wager most other Blizzard games do as well to some extent.
Playing: Elden Ring, HZD: FW, Kingdom Rush series
Watching: Severance, The IT Crowd, The Batman
Watching: Severance, The IT Crowd, The Batman
Blizzard's other franchises, Starcraft and Diablo, aren't nearly as mainstream
Surely you're joking. Starcraft II sold 1.5M copies in the first 48hrs alone. The most recent sales figures I could find only went up to Dec of last year, and that pegged it at 4.5M copies. The number is almost certainly a few million higher now.
So yeah, Starcraft is pretty damn mainstream.
If EA isn't making it compatible, then what does that have to do with Valve? Nothing. You have it backwards.
No, I don't have it backwards. Every other DD service has interoperability with DLC - except Steam. So if every other service can make sure that the DLC you buy will work with your game regardless of where you bought it, and Steam can't, the problem is with Steam, not the company providing the DLC.
Furthermore, people who bought DA2 on Steam have got the DLC running just fine, so there was no compatibility problem here. So Valve is "protecting" us from nothing.
This whole debacle reminds me of the recent change Apple made in the iOS App Store policy. Companies can no longer route in-app purchases through their own services (Apple wants their 30% cut). So what happened? Amazon removed in-app purchases from their Kindle app.
To me it seems Valve is playing hardball like Apple, which just results in a big lose situation for everyone. EA loses, Steam loses and we gamers lose.
To me it seems Valve is playing hardball like Apple, which just results in a big lose situation for everyone. EA loses, Steam loses and we gamers lose.
Re: Dragon Age II DLC Released, Game Pulled from Steam
Jul 28, 2011, 15:53
Jul 28, 2011, 15:53
Krovven wrote on Jul 28, 2011, 15:31:
Sure, why wouldnt I be?
Publishers can sell their games how they want to. I just have a problem with them selling a game at dozens of vendors and then making a DLC pack exclusively sold by just 1 of those vendors. I'm sure there are other cases of this happening, but none of have effected me until Crysis 2 (not that I was going to buy the map pack anyways), but I may have in the future on sale or something...but not anymore. Not when as a paying customer, I cannot even view the games store page on Steam and have no idea if I buy that DLC elsewhere if it will even work on my game.
Makes sense. I just asked because obviously a lot of people do dislike the idea of TOR only being on Origin, or BF3 being on Origin no matter where you buy it, etc. etc..
StingingVelvet wrote on Jul 28, 2011, 15:15:
So you're a-okay with TOR being Origin exclusive?
Sure, why wouldnt I be?
Publishers can sell their games how they want to. I just have a problem with them selling a game at dozens of vendors and then making a DLC pack exclusively sold by just 1 of those vendors. I'm sure there are other cases of this happening, but none of have effected me until Crysis 2 (not that I was going to buy the map pack anyways), but I may have in the future on sale or something...but not anymore. Not when as a paying customer, I cannot even view the games store page on Steam and have no idea if I buy that DLC elsewhere if it will even work on my game.
Re: Dragon Age II DLC Released, Game Pulled from Steam
Jul 28, 2011, 15:15
Jul 28, 2011, 15:15
Krovven wrote on Jul 28, 2011, 13:30:
If something is to be exclusive, make it exclusive from the outset. Don't make DLC exclusive to 1 vendor, it's a stupid move.
So you're a-okay with TOR being Origin exclusive?
Not really. Bioware's rep took a big hit after Dragon Age 2 and while they're very successful in the enthusiast market(2-3mil copies of most titles) they haven't really crossed over to the kinds of mainstream appeal that WoW has.
DA2 may have hurt Bioware's reputation amongst hardcore gamers but the game still sold over 2 million units. As for WoW, it's pretty unique in how mainstream it is. Blizzard's other franchises, Starcraft and Diablo, aren't nearly as mainstream. Blizzard is also a PC-centric developer, while Bioware makes both PC and console games.
Bhruic wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 17:53:
If Steam isn't going to allow you to purchase your DLC from a third party and enable it with your Steam game (or vice versa), why should EA cooperate with them?
If EA isn't making it compatible, then what does that have to do with Valve? Nothing. You have it backwards.
This is the exact point I made earlier, that I view Valve as protecting it's customers with this. EA selling DLC on other services and not under the service the end user purchased the game from, there is no way for people to know if that DLC will be compatible, let alone have access to it in the future.
If something is to be exclusive, make it exclusive from the outset. Don't make DLC exclusive to 1 vendor, it's a stupid move.
Warskull wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 15:11:
The only reason I bought BC2 was due to a steam sale.
Ditto. I hadn't purchased a Battlefield game at release since Battlefield Vietnam. I eventually picked up Battlefield 2 and Bad Company 2 on Steam for like $5 each. I was very pleasantly surprised with BC2, single player and multiplayer, that I'm willing to get BF3 on day one. If it wasnt for BC2, I probably would still be avoiding BF3.
Jerykk wrote on Jul 28, 2011, 00:40:EA doesn't have the history or brand appeal of Blizzard franchises on the PC and one failed Star Wars MMO probably has sullied the waters a bit.
EA may not have the brand appeal of Blizzard but Bioware comes pretty close.
Not really. Bioware's rep took a big hit after Dragon Age 2 and while they're very successful in the enthusiast market(2-3mil copies of most titles) they haven't really crossed over to the kinds of mainstream appeal that WoW has.
Playing: Elden Ring, HZD: FW, Kingdom Rush series
Watching: Severance, The IT Crowd, The Batman
Watching: Severance, The IT Crowd, The Batman
EA doesn't have the history or brand appeal of Blizzard franchises on the PC and one failed Star Wars MMO probably has sullied the waters a bit.
EA may not have the brand appeal of Blizzard but Bioware comes pretty close. It's also fairly likely that most of the people who will be playing TOR will have never played SWG, considering how old it is.
I do agree that making it an Origin exclusive is pretty stupid, though.
Verno wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 13:15:
It's a situation a bit like the App Store with Apple, though I cringe to compare either party to Apple. Apple wants a cut from stuff on the store which is reasonable but some companies want to cut out the middleman so they tried giving away or making the apps themselves cheap while directing customers to make actual purchases from them directly. Apple said no way. Who's right, who's wrong? I don't really care for Apple but I think they have a reasonable point.
Actually from what I've heard Apple's argument was "If you're going to sell DLC inside the application it *must* be through our store so we get 30%". Which is why the Kindle & Nook readers just tell you to go to your web browser and type in a URL. If you hit a button to redirect there, Apple wants 30%. If you type the URL in, then you're okay.
nin wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 18:52:EA is valve's retail boxed copies publisher for titles such as portal 2. EA even mentioned portal 2 bringing them a chunk of money in their latest quarterly earnings report.xXBatmanXx wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 17:17:
Was poking around in the Origin service, and found it funny they sell Valve exclusive games.
I looked up Portal 2, and it looks like it's just boxed copies?
But yeah, I'd not noticed that before, and it does seem odd, given the current stance between the two.
If you buy a game from Direct 2 Drive or retail, Valve doesn't see a penny. They would then be providing their services to you for free. That's why you can only register steamworks games on steam if you buy them elsewhere. Valve is already part of that deal. Valve is still a business.
Allowing you to buy games elsewhere and register them on steam just would just let other digital services freeload.
Sure, but if they are going to refuse to do that, they can't them get their panties in a bunch if companies don't want to offer their DLC through Steam.
Assuming what's reported is true, Valve is basically saying "If you don't sell your DLC through us, you can't have your game here". EA is saying "Ok, we won't have our game there". The fault lies with Valve. No one is asking them to handle the bandwidth for the DLC, they are willing to handle that themselves. But if they are going to handle it themselves, why should Valve get any of the pie? They shouldn't.
Bhruic wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 17:53:Valve is simply asking that both the game and all DLC be available for purchase through steam. That is a reasonable request. No one would have a problem with valve refusing to carry EA games if EA made the DLC only available through Direct2Drive.
Sure, but Valve isn't living up to the other side. If I buy BF:BC2 retail, and try and buy the Vietnam expansion via Steam, I can't use it. If I buy BF:BC2 on Steam, and buy the Vietnam expansion from Direct2Drive, I can't use it. If Steam isn't going to allow you to purchase your DLC from a third party and enable it with your Steam game (or vice versa), why should EA cooperate with them?
If you buy a game from Direct 2 Drive or retail, Valve doesn't see a penny. They would then be providing their services to you for free. That's why you can only register steamworks games on steam if you buy them elsewhere. Valve is already part of that deal. Valve is still a business.
Allowing you to buy games elsewhere and register them on steam just would just let other digital services freeload.
xXBatmanXx wrote on Jul 27, 2011, 17:17:
Was poking around in the Origin service, and found it funny they sell Valve exclusive games.
I looked up Portal 2, and it looks like it's just boxed copies?
But yeah, I'd not noticed that before, and it does seem odd, given the current stance between the two.
Valve is simply asking that both the game and all DLC be available for purchase through steam. That is a reasonable request. No one would have a problem with valve refusing to carry EA games if EA made the DLC only available through Direct2Drive.
Sure, but Valve isn't living up to the other side. If I buy BF:BC2 retail, and try and buy the Vietnam expansion via Steam, I can't use it. If I buy BF:BC2 on Steam, and buy the Vietnam expansion from Direct2Drive, I can't use it. If Steam isn't going to allow you to purchase your DLC from a third party and enable it with your Steam game (or vice versa), why should EA cooperate with them?
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