Just like my previously mentioned issues with the Crysis 2 DLC. It is a money-grab and a fuckjob given to consumers. The truth is, EA is selling off exclusive DLC deals to the highest bidder. That way I could have all my EA DLC in one place and not have to make an account and give my CC to 8 different merchants. I wish EA offered their "exclusive" DLC through Origin.
The Retail patch was released Jan 19th, The Steam/D2D version was released Feb 1st, 13 days later. Incidentally, this patch/free DLC prevented Steam and D2D users from playing with Retail/Origin customers until the patch was released on Steam. It was demonstrated this patch was compatible with Steam and D2D versions of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit by modifying the version.txt file. They did this by not sending the patch information to the other digital stores and placing a version check (version.txt) in the Retail patcher.
Loiosh's supposition: Steam's deal is actually that DLC be Steam-version compatible, or land day-and-date on Steam and other platforms.Įvidence: EA previously released Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit free DLC which was (intentionally or not) delayed to non-Origin/Retail versions. Therefore: There is evidence that there is no 'must sell DLC in Steam.' policy. This occurred after the new 'agreement' with the most recent DLC coming this week.
It is assumed this is the result of a new 'Must sell in Steam' policy however, DIRt3, which was released post DA2, releases DLC on an exclusive store, Game For Windows Live, and not sold in Steam. EA says this is part of a new 'agreement' with Steam. History: DA2 is pulled from Steam after release of new DLC. Sorry, let me restart the issue at hand and the evidence: It is a free country and you and I are free to shop from whomever we want. Is it really such a big deal to have a different digital store to go to? Heaven forbid we have to bookmark another site. If what EA says is true, that Steam wants a piece of every sale hosted through its store, then I have no ill will toward EA for wanting to keep as much as their profits as they can. Apple requires a 30/70 profit split and they didn't like that they were missing out on the market share so they crippled the competition not with making a better reading app (the Apple version still doesn't even have a night reading mode) but hamstringing the very ease and instant gratification that the other apps offered. However the Apple iBook app still has these features. I agree with EA in that they are not confined by any "law" that says they have to have their games on Steam other than at the altar of everyone's ease and instant gratification of having everything under one digital roof.Ī great example of a similar practice is from Apple who recently required all reader apps (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc) to remove in-app purchasing as well as buttons that lead out of the app into a browser for purchasing the content online. In the meantime, fans will have to grab certain EA games elsewhere. It's all a bit muddy at the moment, and it's good to know that EA is at least attempting to work out an agreement with Valve. The word "new" is important, because games can apparently use the same DLC distribution system and be grandfathered in, as long as they don't introduce any new downloadable content. Dragon Age 2 (and Crysis 2 before it) sold new content with BioWare Points, and were yanked from the service. As reported yesterday, the new terms seem to restrict games from being sold if their associated DLC can't be sold directly through Steam. Left unsaid are the exact terms of Steam's new policy.
We hope to work out an agreement to keep our games on Steam. Consequently some of our games have been removed by Steam.
No other download service has adopted this practice. Unfortunately, Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to sell downloadable content. We suspected as much yesterday when the story broke, but EA senior VP of global e-commerce David DeMartini puts the reasoning in no uncertain terms, even calling Steam's policies "restrictive."Īt EA, we offer our games and content to all major download services including GameStop, Amazon, Direct2Drive and Steam. EA has confirmed in a statement that Dragon Age 2 was pulled from Steam due to a conflict with Valve's new policy on downloadable content.