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The War between Valve and EA

If you have paid any attention to the ongoing relations between Electronic Arts and Valve lately, then today’s news might not come as much of a surprise.

Officially, Battlefield 3 won’t be coming to Steam, Valve’s digital distribution client.

This all came to be fact via EA’s twitter stating, "BF3 will not be available on Steam as the service restricts our ability to directly support players."

There is also this post on EA’s forums that goes a little further in depth,

“EA offers games, including Battlefield 3, to all major digital download sites. In doing so, our goal is to not only reach the widest possible global audience with our games, but also to provide ongoing customer support, patches and great new content. We are intent on providing Battlefield 3 players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play the game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with consumers.

Gamers can pre-order Battlefield 3 at Origin.com as well as over 100 digital retailers worldwide. EA offers games to all major download services. Unfortunately, Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. No other download service has adopted these practices.

We are intent on providing Battlefield 3 players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers. We hope to work out an agreement where Steam can carry Battlefield 3.”

Now, I’ve noticed that a lot of forum posts have complained about EA’s ambiguity, and I would have to agree. A “set of restrictive terms” doesn’t really say much. EA is still distributing the game via “more than 100 other digital retailers,” so what is it about Valve’s terms and agreements that keeps Battlefield 3 off of Steam?

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are plenty of big name publishers that distribute their games through Steam. Take Activision for instance, they publish one of the largest gaming franchises to date in Call of Duty, but they seem to have no qualms with Valve’s terms.

Interestingly, EA also writes “We are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.”

From the look of things, it would seem that there is a huge power struggle going on here. If you put a lion in a cage with tiger, then you’re bound to have some conflict. A further look into EA’s policy on selling games through a third-party download site unveils some possible bad blood between EA and Valve that isn’t really outlined too much. When speaking about Valve, EA states,

“EA offers its entire portfolio to this site, they have elected to not post many of our games. We hope to find a mutually agreeable solution to this issue soon.”

From where I’m sitting, neither Valve nor EA have any reasons to back down from one another since both are such highly successful companies. Like I said it’s a bit of a legal chest puffing contest. Since EA is the only publisher who refuses to adhere to Valve’s terms, it really makes you question their ploy. Plus, if you combine their ongoing ambiguity to explain an already vague situation, it really just makes EA look shady.

I wouldn’t expect to see Battlefield 3 on Steam despite EA’s “hope to find a mutually agreeable solution to this issue soon.” The good news is you still have over a hundred options to download the game elsewhere. You will just be missing out on Steam achievements.