EA explains Steam store absences

Last month, Electronic Arts' first-person shooter Crysis 2 disappeared from Valve's online storefront Steam, sparking speculation that the publisher was pulling its titles from rival marketplaces to make them exclusive to its own such offering, Origin. Today, EA's head of global e-commerce David DeMartini released a statement about the flap, explaining exactly why some of the publisher's titles are no longer available on Steam.

DeMartini stressed that EA will allow its titles to appear on any downloadable storefront, but there is a catch. The executive said, "We take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content, and other services to our players," and so insist on being allowed to "establish an ongoing relationship" with customers and contact them to inform them of new patches and available content.

"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," DeMartini said. "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."

As of press time, Valve had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.