Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Sjofn]

I'm going to just do what I have done with the Sims 3. Go to a store and buy it. Like a savage. Assuming it's a game I want to play that badly.

[Rasix]

I haven't been in a Game Stop for months.  Can't say I miss it.  The Tucson Game Stop experience in particular is something that is akin to torture.

[Ingmar]

I do all my analog purchasing at Fry's for the most part. Gamestops and their ilk almost never have any PC games to speak of in the first place.

[Sjofn]

Yeah, I haven't gone to a GameStop or EB in a million years. I actually buy my Sims 3 stuff from Target.    Anything else I'd go to Fry's, though.

[caladein]

There's probably been some brinkmanship involved on EA's part (as the capacity and long-term incentives seem to be there) but this is Valve putting its foot down.  Valve wants their cut, a lot like Apple does of e-reader app sales, be it from the "box", the DLC, or the in-game purchases (Steam Wallet).

As for buying games in a store, I can't really remember the last time but I think the words "PlayStation" and "2" were involved.

[eldaec]

If it is valve driving the decision, then valve are idiots for throwing away their universality and EA are idiots for not doing this themselves.

Both companies are too smart and too evil for this to be likely.

[Lantyssa]

This particular case, though? It does look to me like Valve trying to get their hands on a bit more revenue and EA calling their bluff. This is kind of annoying, and doesn't leave me real happy with either company. I think I'm more annoyed at Valve, though, as losing EA titles entirely will surely lose them more money than not getting a % of the DLC sales would have gained them. So they're inconveniencing me *and* being dumb.

If it's losing them money, then I think they were aware of it from the start.  Maybe it's just a principled stand that if they sell you a game, they'd also like those people to be able to get the DLC from the same place.

Yes it sucks for us in the interim while things shake out, but I do think it's a valid position.

[UnSub]

Both companies are too smart and too evil for this to be likely.

EA wants greater control of the distribution channel and can't have that as Steam currently stands.

Valve wants to keep control of the distribution channel and can't do that if other companies take EA's lead, perhaps sell something cheap through Steam and then make a lot of money through direct DLC sales.

Some will see this as EA being greedy, but this is EA planning for its own survival.

[Tebonas]

I strongly suspect that the share Steam takes for using its distribution channel isn't "Live or die" for a game company, let alone EA. They just want to keep that share for themself. Maybe it isn't greed, but it isn't a question of survival either.

All of this is just plainly annoying, especially if games vanish from Steam because of this. With Steam I can be sure I get my games in English, other companies tend to think as a non-native speaker you want your own language and don't give you the option to play the game in English instead. Any official word on that from EA?

[eldaec]

The issue for EA isn't the distributor's share for their own games, it's the distributor's share of everyone else's games, which they get if Origin takes off, and don't get if the platform fizzles because it lacks exclusive content.

[Tebonas]

If that is their new business model they really are aiming for bankruptcy.

[UnSub]

I strongly suspect that the share Steam takes for using its distribution channel isn't "Live or die" for a game company, let alone EA. They just want to keep that share for themself. Maybe it isn't greed, but it isn't a question of survival either.

All of this is just plainly annoying, especially if games vanish from Steam because of this. With Steam I can be sure I get my games in English, other companies tend to think as a non-native speaker you want your own language and don't give you the option to play the game in English instead. Any official word on that from EA?

The annoying part is for you as a player, but from EA's point of view Steam is the middleman that they can probably cut out and go straight to the customer, thus keeping all of the money. But Steam is also the dominant DD for PCs, so the survival part kicks in if Valve decides to alter the deal (or requires their cut of every DLC), or it becomes harder for EA title to stand out in the Steam market.

EA needs Origin to work or else pretty much its entire PC games success is in the hands of Valve. To date that hasn't been an issue, and lots of small developers and players are happy to see publisher channel control taken on, but it can easily become a case of today's hero being tomorrow's villain if Valve decides it wants to play hardball.

[Amaron]

Does Origin even offer the DLC?  I bet you they'll refuse to list the DLC for real cash on Origin because they'd rather use the Bioware points thing. 

[tmp]

Does Origin even offer the DLC?

Could hardly care less, as long as they insist on restricting visitors to localized version of both their Origin page and their products based on the IP, they have nothing to offer me

[rk47]

Does Origin even offer the DLC?  I bet you they'll refuse to list the DLC for real cash on Origin because they'd rather use the Bioware points thing. 

Another reason why I hate EA pulling this bullshit. Sell me DLC if you want, but I refuse to purchase your virtual currencies and you having some random denominations that made exact change purchase so difficult over digital channels when THAT is supposed to be the main draw.

[calapine]

Maybe Steam should be de-coupled from Valve the the way electricity companies had to sell the grids, creating separate producers and distribution companies.
It's hard to feel sorry for EA and the Origin downloader/moneygrab but what stops Valve from 'being evil' and using their distribution monopoly to stamp out a rival game company?

'First they came for the Electronic Arts and I didn't speak out because I was playing WoW...'

Cala

[Reg]

EA is evil and everything. I certainly don't dispute that.  But what they're doing with Origin isn't evil it's just good business.  It's inconvenient for people who would prefer to buy all of their games via Steam but really guys - having another userid/password to remember isn't exactly the end of the world.

[caladein]

Does Origin even offer the DLC?  I bet you they'll refuse to list the DLC for real cash on Origin because they'd rather use the Bioware points thing. 

Another reason why I hate EA pulling this bullshit. Sell me DLC if you want, but I refuse to purchase your virtual currencies and you having some random denominations that made exact change purchase so difficult over digital channels when THAT is supposed to be the main draw.

They're scaled like Microsoft Points but you can buy them in useful denominations.  All the non-item DLC for ME2/DAO/DA2 except that save generator comic are $7, $10, or $15 and you can buy exactly those amounts.

[Tebonas]

If every company starts its own download manager this will be ridiculous to handle, though.

So, since they won't starve if it happens, for my own convenience I hope Origin dies a slowfast, painful death. I'm selfish like that.

[Reg]

And when there's no competition for Steam. We're all totally confident that the sales will continue to be just as good as they are now right? Because Steam doesn't exist to make money. They're just providing a service because they love games!

[Tebonas]

I'm all for competition for Steam. Competition keeps them honest. Every company making its own retarded online store for their own games, thats what I'm against.

[calapine]

If every company starts its own download manager this will be ridiculous to handle, though.

That's why Steam [download-services in general] should be separate entities, open to all game producers.

Even if Valve doesn't go all power-hungry, being the only top dog around leads to complacency. I.E. the time of Internet Explorer 4 - 6, years of drought until Firefox gained ground and MS was forced to react.

Cala

[Reg]

That would certainly be nice but since we can't get that kind of regulation even for essential industries I hardly see it happening for online game purchases.

[eldaec]

I'm all for competition for Steam. Competition keeps them honest. Every company making its own retarded online store for their own games, thats what I'm against.

This.

[Reg]

All this idealism is just intoxicating!

[Tebonas]

What are you babbling about?

You don't buy games from their own download portal, only in retail or on the portal you want to support because it offers the most convenience for you. No idealism involved, just capitalism at work.

[Reg]

Aren't you one of the people yipping about how companies shouldn't be allowed to decide who sells their products digitally? You aren't coming off as any kind of capitalist.

[Tebonas]

I'm coming off as the only kind of capitalist that makes sense. Its my money, so I decide how to spend it. I don't want to spend it by supporting a myriad of different download services.  I think about what would be best for me, its nice of you to think about what is best for EA, but don't expect a thank-you letter from them.

[Velorath]

I'm all for competition for Steam. Competition keeps them honest. Every company making its own retarded online store for their own games, thats what I'm against.

This.

So who gets to decide which companies are allowed to try to compete with Steam, and which ones are just evil when they attempt it?  Furthermore, who else other than a big publisher like EA or Activision would even be able to attempt to create a competing service at this point?

[Tebonas]

You people pretend like there isn't already competition for Steam. Am I imagining Direct2Drive, Gamersgate and Impulse? Most people prefer Steam because its superior, not because its the only option.

To answer your question, the customers get to decide.

[Reg]

If you'd just said that in the first place I wouldn't have bothered to argue. Instead you chose to fantasize about some utopia where game companies are forced to sell their product through neutral third parties.

Fake edit: Why then, given all the other supposed competition Steam has isn't Origin allowed to play?

[Tebonas]

Can it be that you have mistaken me for somebody else in this thread? Because I never fantasized about such things.

I only said that seperate Download Managers for every company would be annoying, and that I don't think EA will work as distribution platform for other companies as well.
( I didn't say why, though. Because while Steam is somewhat of a neutral territory, the big companies won't subject themselves to each others distribution system for various reasons)

And that I hope it dies so that I can buy all my EA games on Steam again. Really, I just checked the thread.

[Velorath]

You can still buy most EA games on all those other digital distributors you listed.  Again, Steam is the one that booted Crysis 2 and Dragon Age 2 off the store because they conflict with a rule about DLC that they just came up with.

[Tebonas]

Which I also don't approve of. I hope they reverse that decision because otherwise I'll have to buy all EA games before the first DLC comes out.

[FieryBalrog]

Why would you want all your games on Steam anyway? It's a single point of failure. Valve bans your account, Valve gets bought out by a public company, Gabe Newell leaves- yea, not so hot. And this is a very Apple-like move from Valve with the DLC, so there are already signs of throwing around the muscle that comes with market dominance.

I own most of my PC games on Steam too so who's talking, but I do make an effort to buy stuff on Impulse or GoG if I see a good deal.

BTW Valve doesn't offer its first party games on anyone else's platform. It won't be much of a surprise when other companies start doing the same with flagship titles, like EA and SWTOR.