EA pulls Crysis 2 from Steam, now 'only on Origin' (updated)

[Jos]

Update: EA has announced that it had nothing to do with Steam's removal of Crysis 2. Instead, the mega-publisher said that Steam dropped the game because of conflicting business terms involving Crytek and another online game service. The full statement is below:

"It’s unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis 2 from their service. 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. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis 2 from Steam.

Crysis 2 continues to be available on several other download services including GameStop, Amazon, Origin.com and more."

Original: Following the launch of its Origin digital distribution platform earlier this month, EA is making bold moves to draw people into using their service and steal some of the limelight that Steam has been getting for a few years. Namely, the giant publisher has yanked Crysis 2 from Valve's platform to make it available "only on Origin."

While other digital distribution services including Impulse and Direct2Drive still carry the game, we wouldn't be surprised to see that change soon given how aggressively EA is approaching the establishment of their revamped online store.

Another title released this week, Alice: Madness Returns, is also missing from Valve's Steam and marked on EA's website as available "only on Origin" -- though, again, Impulse and Direct2Drive are also selling the game.

The company could follow a similar strategy when its highly anticipated Battlefield 3 title debuts in October. That said, many other EA published games are still available through Steam, including this year's Bulletstorm, Dragon Age II and Shift 2 Unleashed as well as several older titles like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Mass Effect 2.

Much like Valve's Steam, EA's new Origin service functions as a single store and gaming platform on the PC that lets customers purchase, download and keep track of their games. It includes several social features to interact with friends and is also available on Apple's iOS devices -- no word on when (or if) an Android version will be launched.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/44259-ea-pulls-crysis-2-from-steam-now-only-on-origin-updated.html

 

[Saturday]

Are you fricking kidding me?! Seriously...I'm going to be pissed if I can't get Battlefield 3 on Steam. Congratulations EA...you just lost a lot of money.

 

[Guest]

I agree you ^. I am not buying EA games if they aren't on Steam. I don't think EA realizes that they don't have many games that people will actually want to buy. Crysis was one of the few games that are actually worth it and considering part 2 was a failure, I cannot help, but see EA's store flunking.

 

[Muggs]

Speaking I only buy games on steam when they have those amazing sales I doubt I will ever own another EA game. Since going to the Origin store you see zero sales and only full MSRP on their games. Oh well their loss.

 

[Guest]

arrh nuts, EA you greedy sods. WHY

 

[Darkshadoe]

If you check out Origin, They are offering Left4dead 1&2 and Portal 2. Unless we hear in a couple days that Steam has done the same thing, I bet they have a deal in place.

 

[Burty117]

Same, I am not buying an EA game if its Orgin only, I only use Steam and will continue this for several reasons other an just great prices.
EA, if you seriously make Battlefield 3 Orgins only you have lost another customer.
Personally, I really wish Steam had an app for iOS devices so I can see what friends are online and chat to them but thats about the only thing Orgin has that looks of any use.

Silly EA, trying to make more money.

 

[gwailo247]

And so it begins...

 

[Sarcasm]

Oh well I'll just get a hard copy then for BF3

 

[Guest]

EA is obviously hurting its partnership with Steam in order to (artificially) promote its news platform.
Nevertheless, I'm a little bit confused by the previous comments.
Did you really ever boycott a retail store proposing the game you were expecting to buy, because one other retail store did not have it?
Is the place you buy your game more important than the gaming experience?

 

[Guest]

Welp, that's three games I intended to purchase when they went on sale on Steam, but now won't be buying at all. Good work EA.

 

[gwailo247]

Guest said:
EA is obviously hurting its partnership with Steam in order to (artificially) promote its news platform.
Nevertheless, I'm a little bit confused by the previous comments.
Did you really ever boycott a retail store proposing the game you were expecting to buy, because one other retail store did not have it?
Is the place you buy your game more important than the gaming experience?

Its called having perspective, and knowing that if you don't make your voice of dissent heard when they start this poo, they'll keep doing it and get worse. Having the game available on multiple stores will lead to the inevitable sales and offers, which probably won't come if the game is exclusive to one store.

People talk about hurting Sony or hurting EA, but the reality is that these huge corporations don't get hurt, not in any meaningful way. In the end the only person that gets hurt is the consumer.

 

[Guest]

Another Smack in the face for PC gamers, and people who actually buy games.

 

[insect]

For me it comes down to not having 230942039842 background apps running when I want to play one game.... I like to fire up steam and that's all and have all my games there. Its a performance thing.

I guess I could install Origin, let it install the game, and then shortcut it through steam, assuming that it won't auto-launch Origin.

Now, could I shut down one and only run the other when I switch games? Sure. Do I want to? No.

EA is making a lot of dumb moves recently, IMHO. I hope they change their minds quickly before going the way of the dodo.

 

[Guest]

Personally, I don't go to retail outlets to buy PC games anymore. I buy from one place: Steam. If the games are not on steam I don't buy them. I have no desire to have my games fragmented across multiple applications. I want one application, and since Steam is publisher agnostic that is the one I'm sticking with.

 

[Guest]

i'm not getting an origin account, much like how i'm not getting a uplay, or Windows LIVE account.
goodbye bad sequel

 

[Burty117]

limpangel said:

Sarcasm said:
Oh well I'll just get a hard copy then for BF3

They will make you register the copy with Origin anyway.

But EA makes less money this way, considering they are charging hard copy prices on Orgin anyway, they basically lose a small percentage that the Shop rightly takes as profit.

So yeah you'll still need orgin, but they get less money at least...

 

[Saturday]

It's not about whining because you have to used a different retail store. Keyword being retail. This is having to sign up for another service, download another program, and switch to and run said program to play 1, maybe 2 games. It's about not being able to purchase and run all of your games from one program anymore. It's a pathetic tactic: they know they can't compete with Steam (seriously, why try?) so they decided to boycott it and force customers to buy into their stupid - and second - attempt.

 

[stewi0001]

why do I have a feeling that someone is going to contact LULz about EA....

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

There loss as PC gaming has centered itself around Steam...

 

[albertjkruger]

I'm dumbfounded at (most of) the comments... EA is a business, considering the popularity of Steam it's to be expected that EA would want to challenge Valve for this/that part of the gaming market. Are EA way behind (with Origin)? Yes. Will Origin ever be on equal footing with Steam? Most probably not (even by a country mile). But as a business decision it is really not that unexpected.

For users, obviously it will be a pain to use Origin for a select few games, but that's hardly something that will convince EA to give up. One can only hope that in an attempt to market their platform they'll run specials or other incentives to convince customers to make use of Origin. Rather than just forcing them into it. (Played Orange Box much?)

 

[Guest]

Ah, well I do not care if Battlefield 3 is the best game ever made, if its not on steam im not getting it. I will not be bullied into using EAs' origin as I already have steam for my games. I dont need another game manager running in the background.

 

[Guest]

Oh well - and I was considering getting that game....
Guess they lose that sale.

 

[Relic]

Not surprised this is happening especially with the success Valve has had with Steam, just a little taken back that EA would be the one to get it rolling. I imagined Activision would try something like this first with some form of Blizzard integration. But I guess they really don't have enough relevant IP's to do this anymore. I just hope this doesn't turn into some publisher digital distribution war, requiring all of us to have unique apps and accounts for every little thing.

darkshadoe said:
If you check out Origin, They are offering Left4dead 1&2 and Portal 2. Unless we hear in a couple days that Steam has done the same thing, I bet they have a deal in place.

Those seem to be retail copies only from what I saw. Which itself is surprising since they are the exclusive partners with Valve in this front, and now seem to be trying to undermine them.

albertjkruger said:
I'm dumbfounded at (most of) the comments... EA is a business, considering the popularity of Steam it's to be expected that EA would want to challenge Valve for this/that part of the gaming market.

A widely unpopular business decision it seems, that in the end might cost them on the digital front depending on the future titles. These things aren't beneficial to the consumer and demonstrate they care more about the bottom line than "electronic art".

 

[Wendig0]

albertjkruger said:
I'm dumbfounded at (most of) the comments... EA is a business, considering the popularity of Steam it's to be expected that EA would want to challenge Valve for this/that part of the gaming market. Are EA way behind (with Origin)? Yes. Will Origin ever be on equal footing with Steam? Most probably not (even by a country mile). But as a business decision it is really not that unexpected.

For users, obviously it will be a pain to use Origin for a select few games, but that's hardly something that will convince EA to give up. One can only hope that in an attempt to market their platform they'll run specials or other incentives to convince customers to make use of Origin. Rather than just forcing them into it. (Played Orange Box much?)

I agree to a point, though ultimately it is about the customers and what they want. EA has a long tarnished history of not understanding that fully. That being said, market competition has always been a good thing, though there are already several players in this market besides Steam and Origin, and Origin is WAY late to the game. If Origin is going to succeed, EA needs to suck up their pride and start listening to what their customers want (No more DLC points or DRM for starters).