CJ_Parker wrote on Feb 18, 2012, 12:18:
Factually wrong on all kinds of levels, Mr. Valve Fanboi No. 1 . It was Valve who kicked EA from Steam and not EA leaving or let alone "boycotting" Steam. "Boycotting"... -> LULZ. What a bunch of bullshit!
Fact is EA wanted to sell some extra stuff for their games outside of Steam. Steam said "no you can't" and showed EA the door. If Valve wouldn't be such tight assholes with control freak mania who want to control what exactly happens with any and every game they are offering on Steam then EA would still be on Steam.
Valve simply stipulated that DLC also had to be sold on Steam, which was necessary to a) allow free-2-play games, and b) to prevent publishers using Steam to distribute content without any financial compensation. Every publisher agreed to that, except for EA which released its own digital distribution client. However, EA stills releases games on Steam when it suits them - take Shank 2.
CJ_Parker wrote on Feb 18, 2012, 12:18:
It's also beyond schizophrenic that you don't want anyone to compete with Steam but yet seem to be of the opinion that more competition is good.
My point was very clear - EA should compete fairly, not simply pull their games from the most popular digital distribution service. If EA wants to compete then they need to offer better value and/or better features, yet currently it offers neither - all their games are overpriced and the functionality of the Origin client is woefully lacking. I've already stated that I don't believe retail games should require Steam; instead you should be able to buy them wherever you want and if that's on Steam or Origin then they should be fully integrated (achievements, friends scoreboards, etc). If EA truly wanted to compete then they'd offer cheaper games, no DRM / no online requirement, better features (video chat, etc) and offer better community support - they don't give a shit about anything but money, which is why they're trying to bully their way into the marketplace.
Bhruic wrote on Feb 18, 2012, 12:06:
So you'd buy it on Steam if you still had to use Origin to activate it?
It's not unreasonable. GFWL already coexists with Steam. The advantage is that all games are maintained in one familiar client, so I can search for games, maintain the Steam-overlay for talking for friends, I don't need to maintain bank card details on multiple systems, etc. I'd prefer it if all games were platform neutral but even Valve doesn't allow you to buy its games on other services without Steam, so we're not there yet.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."