Is there an update on this? I just logged in to steam and there's a butt load of games published by EA
Crysis 2 returns to Steam, EA silent on other absences
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Publisher says Crysis 2: Maximum Edition complies with Steam's terms of service; says it has nothing to announce regarding other EA titles missing from Valve's digital store.
The Electronic Arts-published, Crytek-developed Crysis 2 has become available on Steam again after EA originally pulled the title from Valve's online storefront in June 2011.
At the time, EA's head of global e-commerce, David DeMartini, said that the reason for the removal of Crysis 2 from Steam was due to Valve not allowing EA to "establish an ongoing relationship" with customers by contacting them to inform them of new patches and available content.
"We take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content, and other services to our players," DeMartini said at the time. "Unfortunately, if we're not allowed to manage this experience directly, and establish a relationship with you, it disrupts our ability to provide the support you expect and deserve. At present, there is only one download service that will not allow this relationship. This is not our choice, and unfortunately it is their customer base that is most impacted by this decision. We are working diligently to find a mutually agreeable solution."
Crysis 2 has reappeared on Steam as Crysis 2: Maximum Edition, complete with an offer for existing Crysis 2 owners who bought the game on Steam before EA removed it. According to Steam, those eligible can now purchase the Maximum Edition for a 50 percent discount. The offer is available until June 12 at 10 a.m. PDT.
The Maximum Edition includes four limited-edition unlocks: bonus XP with access to preset classes, plus a custom class; scar assault rifle; day-one access to scar hologram decoy; and a unique platinum dog tag that allows players to display their multiplayer rank and stats.
The edition also includes Retaliation and Decimation packs with nine additional multiplayer maps supporting all game modes and two new weapons (FY71 assault rifle and M18 smoke grenade).
According to EA, the game's reappearance on Steam was due to changes made to the Maximum Edition by developer Crytek.
"Changes made by Crytek to Crysis 2: Maximum Edition have brought the game in compliance with Steam's terms of service," an EA spokesperson said in a statement to GameSpot.
When asked whether EA plans to reinstate some of its other missing titles to Steam, the publisher replied: "We have nothing to announce at this time."
Following the removal of EA titles, such as Battlefield 3, Dragon Age II, and Mass Effect 3 from Steam last year, Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell expressed disappointment at the dispute with EA, saying that it is up to Valve to prove to EA that it is worth selling its games through Steam.
GameSpot has reached out to Valve for comment and will continue to update this story.
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.
65 comments
Good, that's one game I'd like to play. I couldn't care less about Dragon Age 2 or Battlefield 3. I, on the other hand, don't blame EA for making their games Origin exclusive, I don't see Team Fortress 2 available anywhere else but Steam. Also, I don't think Mass Effect 3 ever came to Steam for it to be removed.
It's strange: I never bought Crysis 2 on Steam but it's still giving me the discount on thsi new version. I'm going to buy it now because I'm interested, but I only owned Crysis original before.
In other words, "We pulled 'Cyrsis 2 originally from steam as it stopped us from having a direct relationship with are customers wallets".
My guess is Crytek bitched at EA until they let it go out on steam... and if they want valve to prove it's worth, hows about looking back at the games they did put out through steam... How many copy's did they sell through it before trying to make everyone use Origin?
Man there are a lot of speculations in these comments! I don't think anybody can deny steam has a better service right now but I certainly hope that EA will improve Origin further so we can get some competetion instead of the whole digital market being run by steam. Yes there is Impulse/gamestop, Green man gaming and all that but man they're a lot worse.
Thus begins the final throws of Origin's death. We all saw it coming, and now it's only a matter of time before BF3, Mass Effect 3, and such come to Steam.
1 Like I agree lol. They probably are just not making enough (or as much as they'd like) from Origin sales on a lot of games.
This means when Crysis 2 is dirt cheap on some future Steam sale (you know it'll happen lol -- X-mas maybe?) I'll be getting it. PC gaming is super cheap if you just are patient to buy games. I've purchased maybe 6-7 triple a titles since x-mas for the price of one new game and have a lot of others still to play on Steam.
Nice.
4 Like face it they saw they didnt have enough sales with Origin alone after they pulled Crysis 2 back the Steam store.
I hear that Origin doesn't suck. The problem is, it has the EA tag on it and with their current relationship with consumers, marks Origin as a sucky service. Oh well...
@blue_francis14 People also like to hate on EA because they're a big corporation which is stupid. I don't know why some people get so obnoxious about video games when all the hobby is is there for us to HAVE FUN with it in the first place! I think people should stop worrying about the inner workings of the game industry and just play games and enjoy them. Boy that's a novel idea!
@Jedilink109 @blue_francis14 Nobody hates EA because they're a big corporation. They hate them because 1. They aquire your favorite developing company. 2. They slowly strangle the creative process that allowed that developing company to make it big based off metrics-based decision making, 3. They milk that developing company all the way down the toilet.
@Albelnox0 What he said made perfect sense... You can also google interviews from devs that got screwed by EA... The other reason to dislike Origin is that they try to force you to use it, even though it is in fact still very buggy... Give people the choice and see how many go for origin, then see if EA try to make origin so good that people want to use it, would be better for consumers if they did that and then people might use it.
What I said made perfect sense. You clearly don't understand how metrics based business decisions are made and how they effect what you consume.
Don't feel bad. Some people like pablum.
They just shouldn't defend the pablum factory at all costs.
@Poodlejumper @Jedilink109 @blue_francis14 Sorry poodle but that doesn't make any sense. And you only hate origin cause its not steam. Simple as that, stop trying to look cool dude. And get over the fact that Bioware made a good ending for ME3. Stop blaming it on EA. Also First day dlc has existed before, its called pre order bonuses. You know the dlc you get for pre ordering games. Stop acting like its something new. Also it was Steam who was booting out EA games first because they got scared of competition from Origin. Google it if you don't believe me.
3 Like @Jedilink109 @blue_francis14 People like to hate on EA isn't because they're a big corporation, its because they have one of the worst track records. EA is notorious for buying game studios, meddle with their IPs, abuses their employees, rush products with game breaking bugs, and then shutting studios down when they don't preform. How can we not worry about the inner workings look at what happen at Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3 when EA was in complete control over the production. Why there is no more decent Command & Conquer games, why there hasn't been a decent Sim City since Sim City 3000, why there is 17 expansion packs for the Sims 2, and why EA has been in decline with metacritic scores each year. I can't not stop worrying about inner workings because some of my favorite franchises has gone down hill after being acquired be EA.
@blue_francis14 To be honest, from what I've messed with so far it's like Steam but different. The Origin store allows for you to buy physical copies of their games unlike on Steam though. Other than that, both are platforms for downloading PC games, updating PC games and playing them through those programs. They do have differences and some Steam lovers like to complain about things Steam has that Origin lacks but who really cares. They both do the same basis overall function, just a little differently in some ways is all.
4 Like Whats the matter. Origin not the money printing machine that you thought it was going to be?
If I could transfer BF3, ME 1 and 2 and Crysis 2 to steam I would! Origin is inferior in every way, its like buying a cheap Chinese copy of something. its slow, you don't get your purchases instantly (download wont start as soon as paid) and its sheer cost compared to retail or Steam is shocking. Steam deals and free weekends are great, there client on actual Valve games also works well (CSS integrated servers means you can load directly into a match). Glad to see this title back, hope that sparks the rest to return!
2 Like @Max_MD Dude, just go to the top on Steam and hit add a non-Steam game and then add them. No problem.
@Max_MD That's weird, Origin Singapore offers Mass Effect 2 (Two) cheaper than buying it on Steam...
This comment has been deleted
@Alexanderone The fact that you are here complaining about PC gaming begs the question ... Why don't you F off to consoles and stop ranting
5 Like " and establish a relationship with you"A hint: no one wants a relationship with EA :D
3 Like And in six months they'll pull the plug on the servers. I don't trust EA anymore, they'll find a way to screw us PC gamers over and work the balls of the consolites. No thanks.
4 Like @billlabowski trust me, the balls of the consolites aren't getting wonderfully cradled by EA either. PC or console, if EA was a prostitute, they'd charge $1000 for a hi-five. And if you don't pre-order, you only get a thumbs up.
8 Like EA must have noticed that their 'millions' of origin users are all just mass effect 3, battlefield 3 and Fifa players who only registered to origin cos they had to or maybe that most evil corporation in the USA trophy reminded them that shark-like business practices only make you money until people get sick of you.
4 Like I hope EA starts releasing their future games on Steam,so I can stop boycotting them,there are a few interesting ones.I won't install Origin on my PC,but I do find Steam somewhat acceptable,and would start buying some of their games again...
While I dislike Steam too,since it's also a third-party DRM app in your games,it's more acceptable than Origin.Also,I don't want to have my PC filled with too many of these crappy clients.Steam is more than enough...
5 Like Origin failed as of now to attract costumers and they can't make money unless they put their games on steam. That until they take the players from steam which is not gonna happen anytime soon.
7 Like IIRC, when EA talks about this "direct ongoing relationship" with the customer, it refers to external DLC sales and in-game Microtransactions. The problem is that Steam does not allow this; Steam's terms of service state that any money charged for a Steam game must be charged through Steam -- you can't have the game re-direct you to an external website where you can purchase off-Steam add-ons and content for the game separately. EA, for whatever reason, wanted to do exactly this, and get around Steam in charging for their add-on content. Steam said no, and kicked them off.
With Crysis 2, it's not a problem anymore because this is the GOTY edition, bundled with all the DLC, which is only released after DLC stops making money separately. EA lets this go on Steam because there is no more "direct ongoing relationship" with the player to be had; no more patches or DLC for Crysis 2. This is the final product.
2 Like Yeah,that makes sense.Also,if they started releasing these "complete editions" on Steam,that would be nice,since I always try to wait for a DLC craze to stop,before buying my games.I like to get a full product,not 1/3 of the game on release...
6 Like EA tries to create an own image of her self...
they say a picture is worth a 1000 words........too bad in EA's case most are curse words.
2 Like After EA trying to charge me £5 to preorder the old republic via origin (on top of it already being £10 more expensive then a standard pc game)I won't try to buy from origin again
1 Like I wonder who's idea that was.
If Crytek had the idea to bring it back to Steam, I may start looking into what kinds of DRM are attached, if there are activation limits, how many more accounts I need to register and where and all that good stuff.
If EA had the idea to bring it back to Steam, then I'm already way too suspicious because who knows what evil lurks below, they may sneak in Origin that way or worse.
I'll wait a few more months, because I'm in no hurry to buy a game for almost full price 1,5 years after release.
I appreciate the effort though that they seem to stop with that Origin exclusivity crap, but with this game being the first exception so far it's absolutely no indication of EA's future plans.
I wonder if Crysis 3 will do it right or if we'll get another linear "cinematic experience" we finish in under 4 hours and then wait for the mod tools to be released.
Also if they do the same with the new Sim City (release it on Steam) it may just raise my interest in that game again too. (If there's an offline mode and we can host our own multiplayer sessions that is)
12 Like In other words, lets test just how much money we are losing because we (EA) are headstrong about Origin.
3 Like Apparently, EA is finding Origin to be less-than-stellar, as predicted. So now they have to eat some humble pie and put their games back on Steam to get the market share they want/need.
I wasn't aware that Steam actually got permission to sell BF3 and ME3...This dispute happened late last summer prior to either release.
So what I want to know is WHAT DID THEY CHANGE? That'd solve the whole EA contract excuse mystery. I wanna see if they were lying when they said they weren't competing with Steam, and didn't pull their games for that reason.
2 Like EA loves origin because it allows them to tweek the currency rates at their own leisure, spam ads, and make up terrible deals and cut the middle man out. Gamers don't like origin because its basically corporate spyware and DRM attached onto every game EA wants to publish with it being a requirement and I have avoided any game that required it. I personally dislike it as I see it a horrible step, it scares the crap out of me every company having their own terrible digital distribution progam you have to load and use to use their software a horrible pain in the ass and you know they won't be as nice about it as valve there are companies out there that with their own DD network would never drop the price would never let it go on sale and would always demand top dollar.
As I remember before this PoS Origin service the EA digital download service use to charge shipping and handling for DLing outside the U.S... so as I've said before EA online anything is usually terrible.
@Unholy123 Steam also does this, I live in Europe and the games prices are higher and in Euro. ex: Blops 2 60 euros- about 80 dollars and the list continues.
7 Like As I have said before, if you're going to come late to the party with a new product or service, you have to beat the established players on features or price. Apparently Origin has little to recommend it over Steam. I'm almost surprised that EA's developers aren't telling them to get on board and stop crimping their sales over this squabble with Valve.
3 Like @theKSMM Well their profit margin is likely a lot higher with origin, not to mention they can advertise nonstop to origin customers. If they could compete origin would be worth it for them in the long run at the cost of a bit of loss of revenue right now. They are not doing what needs to be done to compete with steam though. Steam is less buggy, less intrusive, more games, and they offer regular sales. The only thing bringing in new people is forcing their pc gamers to get origin. Though that's also the reason I haven't bought bf3 and me3, and have no plans to do so if it means origin.
4 Like EA you just keep getting more annoying all the time and its all for money money money. You essentially took the limited edition content slapped up a 50% off and you expect people to buy it. Sadly they will.... Anyway it gets old. Also EA thanks for continuing to make limited edition content more worthless at every turn. That also gets old.
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