Origin vs. Steam

[luckton]

I was originally going to make this post when the news hit that Crysis 2 was pulled from Steam and could be found 'only on Origin'.  Instead, I bumped the Crysis 2 thread since that was the only game that was affected.

But now, EA is pointing the finger at Valve, in a somewhat obtuse way.

[Modern Angel]

EA is being extremely douchey about this new service.

[kildorn]

I've seen plenty of things up on steam and elsewhere, as well as being cheaper elsewhere. I do not really buy this "Steam's terms caused them to drop Crysis because they made a deal with another distribution service!" bullshit. I may be wrong, but so far valve has been more than happy to take pretty much anyone's money.

[Paelos]

So steam will sell random stuff from small dev houses everywhere for $5, but their business practices can't possibly be up to standard for EA? 

You better be able to back that kind of statement up, given the bullshit EA has pulled with this new "service."

[Fordel]

Wait, does that mean people who already own it can't play it anymore? Or you just can't buy new copies on steam?

[luckton]

Wait, does that mean people who already own it can't play it anymore? Or you just can't buy new copies on steam?

The ladder.

[Malakili]

Two men enter, one Steam leaves.

[MuffinMan]

The ladder.

[Reg]

Aside from just assuming that EA lies because they're evil is there any actual evidence that what they say in their press release isn't true?

[Ingmar]

Aside from just assuming that EA lies because they're evil is there any actual evidence that what they say in their press release isn't true?

Not really, other than a vague sense of "you'd think this would have come up with any number of other games already if it were true."

[Paelos]

Aside from just assuming that EA lies because they're evil is there any actual evidence that what they say in their press release isn't true?

Other than the ridiculous timing?

[luckton]

Aside from just assuming that EA lies because they're evil is there any actual evidence that what they say in their press release isn't true?

Not really, other than a vague sense of "you'd think this would have come up with any number of other games already if it were true."

That's what I'm thinking as well...there's a ton of EA titles on Steam already...why all of sudden one game gets flagged as a violation?  And Crysis 2 of all games?

[Lantyssa]

There's nothing to say they did make a deal which violates Steam's terms, but that the deal was unreasonable or contradictory.  Given the two companies involved, my money is on EA being the bad guy until they can prove it with more than finger pointing.

[tgr]

The way I'm seeing it, D2D and whatever other service sells the game is a small-time fry, not a threat to EA's new service, and is selling the game. Steam is not a small-time fry, is a threat to EA's new service, and is not selling the game.

I'm seeing a pattern.

[Amaron]

Bunch of flat out wild ass conspiracy here:

How much was Crysis 2 selling for?   I wonder if Steam is allowed to budget price it at this point while still taking a decent cut.   I know Amazon pulls such a stunt with some things.   There's a lot of data to prove that such sales are worth it for most games.   If Steam did use such a system it's obvious a large portion of their profit would come from that.  Therefore it wouldn't be surprising if EA tried to hit them where it hurts by side stepping the process.

That's a bunch of if's strung together but the idea makes me really curious about how those deals are set up.

[tgr]

I would assume the deals are agreed upon with the publisher/developer, as it would be a major cockpunch if Valve decided to sell a game at 10% of its original value, even if it would end up selling more units as a result.

[Sparky]

If they make me run this piece of crap to play BF3 there will be hell to pay.  Hell I tell you!  I may even consider joining a boycott group then buying it anyway like everyone else so inclined.

[sinij]

This is like comparing rapist to a pedophile. Both are as despicable as it gets.

[tgr]

And I thought I was bitter.

[Modern Angel]

This is like comparing rapist to a pedophile. Both are as despicable as it gets.

LOL VIDYA GAMES ARE LIKE RAEP!

You fucking manchild.


Whether it's true or not isn't, I don't think, the real point. Valve has a lot of goodwill built up with consumers. EA is going about this in precisely the wrong way.

[Sjofn]

Yeeeah, when you're the Hated EA and trying to butt heads against Beloved Valve, the deck is already stacked waaaaaay against you.

Hell, I'M still annoyed they just so happened to not work out a deal for Steam to carry DA2 until the day after most of their pre-order bullshit would no longer be available for free. It was a coincidence! Honest!

[Amaron]

I would assume the deals are agreed upon with the publisher/developer, as it would be a major cockpunch if Valve decided to sell a game at 10% of its original value, even if it would end up selling more units as a result.

The way it works on Amazon app store is something like this:   Amazon gets % of normal selling price for every sale.   They have the right to knock the price down to whatever they want but they are required to reimburse you as if they are selling it at X% (where X is a pretty low number still).   That's total bullshit of course but I can imagine Steam doing something like "If you're game is selling like shit we have the right to put it on sale for the weekend and we'll reimburse you for X".

Thinking more about it though I'm not sure EA would really care about a single weekend sale.

[Margalis]

What is so hard to believe here?

Steam has terms that say something about the price or content you offer on their system vs. others that Crysis 2 doesn't adhere to. Not that hard to believe.

If this was false I'm sure Valve would have said so by now.

[Paelos]

Well I question that because other developers have sold their games through steam and still maintained other download services elsewhere.

[Chimpy]

And I thought I was bitter.

The doll the shrink gave sinji to show where Steam touched him exploded.

[Margalis]

Well I question that because other developers have sold their games through steam and still maintained other download services elsewhere.

Obviously the terms are not something like "Steam must be the only digital download service you use." It's probably something about price difference or versions on other services having slightly different content or bundled DLC or some sort of different timing window or something like that.

[Kail]

What is so hard to believe here?

Steam has terms that say something about the price or content you offer on their system vs. others that Crysis 2 doesn't adhere to. Not that hard to believe.

If this was false I'm sure Valve would have said so by now.

I'm skeptical of EA acting in my best interests in this dispute, not that there exist some terms in the contract that someone at EA doesn't like.  The game being removed from Steam by Valve or EA ultimately is the same thing, Valve says do X and EA says no and they can't/won't agree.

Since we're never told what the offending terms are, or anything other than "other DLC sites don't do it, whatever it is" and since no other dev has kicked up a stink or even spelled out what the problem is, I'm skeptical of this being "Valve is trampling our rights".  The article claims that there was some change in the rules regarding what Crytek was allowed to do with "another download service" and since D2D doesn't appear to be offering free naked pics of Gabe Newell with their download or anything, I suspect it was either because of some minor behind the scenes issue (e.g. something dealing with patching or hosting or something) or something to do with competing with Origin, neither of which herald pitchfork-and-torches time for me.

Given that Crysis is 29.95 on D2D and 29.99 on Steam, I'm skeptical of this being pricing related.

[Ingmar]

The only thing I can think of is that maybe there's something along the lines of "Valve wants to decide when things can go on sale"?

[Musashi]

Is Crysis an actual game?  Or is it just a benchmark for video cards?

Either way.  Guffaw.

[eldaec]

Origin still only guarantees that games can be downloaded for up to a year.

So fuck that tbh.

[tgr]

Origin still only guarantees that games can be downloaded for up to a year.

So fuck that tbh.

I thought you had to be kidding, so I looked around a bit...

Performance of the Contract:

The products and services that we make available on the Websites may be downloaded or accessed for at least one year after you have completed your purchase.

Reassuring.

[Tebonas]

Yeah right, I don't even look at most games I buy prior to a year after I bought them.

[Velorath]

Origin still only guarantees that games can be downloaded for up to a year.

So fuck that tbh.

As ashamed as I am to admit this, I bought Hellgate: London through the EA Store at launch and it still lets me download it over 3 1/2 years later.

[UnSub]

Well I question that because other developers have sold their games through steam and still maintained other download services elsewhere.

Things change over time.

I'm interested to see how this plays out.

[tgr]

A quick look around seems to hint that maybe the culprit is the DLCs. Were there DLCs available for crysis 2 on steam prior to it being taken down? If not, then maybe EA is insisting on the DLCs being downloaded from their servers instead of steam.

God knows, it's the only thing I can realistically think of offhand, I would've thought it would be in Valve's interest to have as many games as possible in its repetoir. vOv