Electronic Arts and Valve Announce Partnership to Bring EA Access Subscription and EA Games to Steam

Armenius

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After leaks earlier last week, EA has officially confirmed via press release that they will be releasing games on Steam once again. Not only that, but EA Access will also be available through Steam starting in Spring next year. The first new EA game to be released on Steam will be Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on release day, November 15.

https://news.ea.com/press-release/c...nounce-partnership-bring-ea-access-subscripti

Subscription Arrives for Steam Players this Spring, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Will Be the First Game Available at Launch

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and Valve announced a partnership to put EA games into the hands of players on Steam. EA Access will launch on Steam next spring, giving players another place to subscribe to a great collection of EA games and member benefits on PC. The first new EA game launching on Steam will arrive on November 15, when the eagerly anticipated title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ™, debuts worldwide. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available to pre-order on Steam beginning today.

“This is the start of an exciting partnership with Valve that will see us innovating for PC players around the world,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “Through our subscription, great games and more, we’re excited to bring players in the Steam and Origin communities together with access to the best games, whenever and wherever they want to play.”

“This is a good day for gamers,” said Valve’s Gabe Newell. “We’re excited to partner with EA to not only bring their great games and subscription service to Steam, but also to open up our communities to each other in an unprecedented way that will benefit players and developers around the world.”
 
I assume it'll work just like Uplay and such. Steam will just launch Origin with the game and Steam is mainly just the front end.
Fine be me. Of all of the stores and launchers over the years, I've probably had the most issues with Origin. It seems fine at the moment, but it has been a long and winding road to get to this point.
 
Great for them I guess, although it makes no sense to me why’d you’d buy a game on steam that uses another launcher anyways.
 
Remind me,

What has EA done this side of the 90's that I should care about again?

I'm trying to remember, but all that is coming to mind are those dumb EA Sports titles.

That being said, implementation is key here. Just selling on Steam is not enough. They need to also remove any need for a third party client or account. My only Steam refund ever was when I bought a Far Cry game on Steam from Ubisoft, and it required that I install and sign up for Uplay in order to run it.

Fuck that noise. I requested my refund immediately. I neither want nor will put up with having to install this other spyware on my machine in order to play, especially when ilthe game in question is a single player title.

If EA does the same, they are dead to me as well.
 
Origin probably spies on you less than Steam, but yeah, buying a game on one launcher that uses its own launcher is stupid.
 
Like the last EA games to be on Steam were Dead Space and like Dragon Age Origins.
 
From the Steam store page:

Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and Origin client software installation and background use required.

Requires 3rd-Party Account: EA Account (Supports Linking to Steam Account)


So they aren't really doing anything but allowing you to purchase on Steam then launching their launcher. It seems like that's what half the games on Steam do now.
 
Remind me,

What has EA done this side of the 90's that I should care about again?

I'm trying to remember, but all that is coming to mind are those dumb EA Sports titles.

That being said, implementation is key here. Just selling on Steam is not enough. They need to also remove any need for a third party client or account. My only Steam refund ever was when I bought a Far Cry game on Steam from Ubisoft, and it required that I install and sign up for Uplay in order to run it.

Fuck that noise. I requested my refund immediately. I neither want nor will put up with having to install this other spyware on my machine in order to play, especially when ilthe game in question is a single player title.

If EA does the same, they are dead to me as well.
This side of the '90s? Well, you're talking about a 20-year timespan including the start of the Battlefield series in 2002. But opinions are like assholes, as they say. Releases I care about (most already on Steam):

1999 - Sports Car GT
2000 - F1 2000
2000 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed
2001 - Clive Barker's Undying
2001 - F1 2001
2002 - F1 2002
2003 - F1 Career Challenge
2003 - Need for Speed: Underground
2004 - Need for Speed: Underground 2
2005 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
2006 - Need for Speed: Carbon
2007 - Crysis
2008 - Crysis Warhead
2008 - Dead Space
2008 - Mass Effect
2009 - Dragon Age: Origins
2009 - Mirror's Edge
2009 - Need for Speed: Shift
2010 - Mass Effect 2
2011 - Crysis 2
2011 - Dead Space 2
2011 - Shift 2 Unleashed
2012 - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
2012 - Mass Effect 3
2013 - Crysis 3
2013 - Dead Space 3
2014 - Titanfall
2016 - Titanfall 2

First Far Cry to sideload Uplay was Far Cry 3.
Like the last EA games to be on Steam were Dead Space and like Dragon Age Origins.
The last game I know of to release on Steam was Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in 2012.
 
It still good news because when Epic started buying out games Steam I was hard pressed to buy anything on Steam.
 
Great for them I guess, although it makes no sense to me why’d you’d buy a game on steam that uses another launcher anyways.

I live in Asia, and Steam is the only PC game store that offers localized prices that makes more sense to us than a direct conversion from USD.
Gears 5 for example, on Steam it cost less than half of what it is in Microsoft Store.

I don't see the harm in having options. Not like EA will stop selling their games on their own store. Its good to have options, as people may have different reasons to purchase on different stores.
 
It still good news because when Epic started buying out games Steam I was hard pressed to buy anything on Steam.

Yeah I wonder what kind of monetary deal Steam and EA made. There is no way EA agreed to the normal 30% rate.
 
Here's hoping EA brings all the free games (like Dead Space 1) to Steam. I mean, I would even buy it but they did made the game free a few years back. Wasn't enough to bring me back on Origin but EA does have quite a few old games that I would gladly buy during a 90% off weekend. Undying and old NFS games would fit nicely in my library.
 
This side of the '90s? Well, you're talking about a 20-year timespan including the start of the Battlefield series in 2002. But opinions are like assholes, as they say. Releases I care about (most already on Steam):

1999 - Sports Car GT
2000 - F1 2000
2000 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed
2001 - Clive Barker's Undying
2001 - F1 2001
2002 - F1 2002
2003 - F1 Career Challenge
2003 - Need for Speed: Underground
2004 - Need for Speed: Underground 2
2005 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
2006 - Need for Speed: Carbon
2007 - Crysis
2008 - Crysis Warhead
2008 - Dead Space
2008 - Mass Effect
2009 - Dragon Age: Origins
2009 - Mirror's Edge
2009 - Need for Speed: Shift
2010 - Mass Effect 2
2011 - Crysis 2
2011 - Dead Space 2
2011 - Shift 2 Unleashed
2012 - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
2012 - Mass Effect 3
2013 - Crysis 3
2013 - Dead Space 3
2014 - Titanfall
2016 - Titanfall 2

Yeah, I never played any of those. Some I intended to (Crysis, for instance) but most I had absolutely no interest in.

I've always been a bit of an FOS purist, so anything 3rd person doesn't even get a second look from me, and driving games bore me ever since I gained the ability to drive an actual car :p


First Far Cry to sideload Uplay was Far Cry 3.

Yep. I was a latecomer to the franchise. Bought FC1 in late 2018. Didn't really like it, but finished it anyway and gave FC2 a try anyway. It was a completely different game and I enjoyed it. Was very disappointed with the Uplay side-load in FC3
 
As other have said I see no point in having a launcher for my launcher but more options are still a good thing.

Origin probably spies on you less than Steam, but yeah, buying a game on one launcher that uses its own launcher is stupid.

I wouldn't count on that considering that EA data mines individual gameplay sessions. After all you can't rig "surprise mechanics" based on a hunch, you need hard data to more effectively milk customers.

Besides games will still require Origin so if anything they'll just both be data mining.

Yeah I wonder what kind of monetary deal Steam and EA made. There is no way EA agreed to the normal 30% rate.

30% isn't the normal rate, it's the worst case scenario rate for games with very little distribution.

So do you work for Epic or what's your deal? I see you in all these threads pushing FUD.
 
As other have said I see no point in having a launcher for my launcher but more options are still a good thing.



I wouldn't count on that considering that EA data mines individual gameplay sessions. After all you can't rig "surprise mechanics" based on a hunch, you need hard data to more effectively milk customers.

Besides games will still require Origin so if anything they'll just both be data mining.



30% isn't the normal rate, it's the worst case scenario rate for games with very little distribution.

So do you work for Epic or what's your deal? I see you in all these threads pushing FUD.


I'm sorry for ruining your Epic hate boner. That's exactly what Valve's normal agreement was until recently when they added tiers for higher sales. And there is no way EA agreed to that.
 
I'm sorry for ruining your Epic hate boner. That's exactly what Valve's normal agreement was until recently when they added tiers for higher sales. And there is no way EA agreed to that.

That wasn't the normal agreement when I discussed it with a small dev several years ago, you're misrepresenting things and clearly have an agenda.

Don't think I didn't notice that you dodged the question with an insult.
 
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That wasn't the normal agreement when I discussed it with a small dev several years ago, you're misrepresenting things and clearly have an agenda.

Don't think I didn't notice that you dodged the question with an insult.

My uncle owns tencent
 
Quite frankly I don't care if they or anyone else sell on Steam.

I won't install any game that requires a 3rd party service outside of steam. Uplay, whatever EA uses, Epic, you name it.

If it forces me to install a client I don't want, it sign up for an account I don't want, I'll simply pass.

I'm fed up with all of the corporate spyware these days. I can't do anything about the accounts I had before I found religion in this regard, but I can decline to sign up for anything new.

For the last couple of years I've been observing a strict "no new client/app/online account, and never any IoT of any kind" policy, and I am much happier.

I will buy a game outright on Steam, but if I have to install any other client or create an account, or if that game won't work when firewalled off from the outside network, I'll pass.

I don't care what it is. There is no game series important enough to me that it could change my mind.
 
I dont do subscriptions. fk that.

I mean you can play this star wars game for 15$.. And cancel your sub. I'm sorry but 15$ for a new game that probably takes 2 weeks to beat is a steal.
 
Yeah I wonder what kind of monetary deal Steam and EA made. There is no way EA agreed to the normal 30% rate.
Some people are "it's on Steam or no sale" types. Losing 30%, or whatever it actually is, of what would not have been a sale otherwise, may still be considered a win by EA. Revenue is revenue. Still requiring Origin kills it for me anyway. So whether they sell on Steam or not, I am out, but that is just me. Other do what others do.
 
That wasn't the normal agreement when I discussed it with a small dev several years ago, you're misrepresenting things and clearly have an agenda.

Don't think I didn't notice that you dodged the question with an insult.

It was 30%, now it is goes down to 20% but most sales fall into the 30% & 25% category. Unless you're going to move 2 million copies on PC, but typically by then the price is reduced anyways because the initial sales window is long gone.

More than likely Valve cut them a good deal, probably close to Epic's levels. After all, EA games do sell well even if people hate the company Valve will make more money at lower rate than they will with 20 asset flips at a higher rate. EA could use press that isn't "our new game sucks" or "our micro transaction model is being reviewed by lawmakers", Valve can use the games.

EA clearly isn't giving up Origin, but they'll net some sales from the Steam fanboy crowd. Even though it still requires Origin.
 
Quite frankly I don't care if they or anyone else sell on Steam.

I won't install any game that requires a 3rd party service outside of steam. Uplay, whatever EA uses, Epic, you name it.

If it forces me to install a client I don't want, it sign up for an account I don't want, I'll simply pass.

I'm fed up with all of the corporate spyware these days. I can't do anything about the accounts I had before I found religion in this regard, but I can decline to sign up for anything new.

For the last couple of years I've been observing a strict "no new client/app/online account, and never any IoT of any kind" policy, and I am much happier.

I will buy a game outright on Steam, but if I have to install any other client or create an account, or if that game won't work when firewalled off from the outside network, I'll pass.

I don't care what it is. There is no game series important enough to me that it could change my mind.

The shear number of launchers and stores required just to play games on PC is quickly becoming outright ridiculous. I by far preferred when we had 'Steam' and that was it.
 
This side of the '90s? Well, you're talking about a 20-year timespan including the start of the Battlefield series in 2002. But opinions are like assholes, as they say. Releases I care about (most already on Steam):

1999 - Sports Car GT - no one likes racing games outside of mario kart
2000 - F1 2000 - even more obscure kind of racing
2000 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed - worse version of hot pursuit
2001 - Clive Barker's Undying - this is acceptable
2001 - F1 2001 - more racing lol
2002 - F1 2002 - padding the list now
2003 - F1 Career Challenge- padding the list now
2003 - Need for Speed: Underground - worse version of midnight club
2004 - Need for Speed: Underground 2 - worse version of midnight club
2005 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted - this is okay
2006 - Need for Speed: Carbon - lol no. have you played this?
2007 - Crysis - not developed by EA
2008 - Crysis Warhead - expansion pack, padding list
2008 - Dead Space - this is okay
2008 - Mass Effect - not developed by EA
2009 - Dragon Age: Origins - not developed by EA
2009 - Mirror's Edge - haha
2009 - Need for Speed: Shift - did you make this one up?
2010 - Mass Effect 2 - ill let you count this 5 times for miranda, not not developed by EA though
2010 - Mass Effect 2 - ill let you count this 5 times for miranda, not not developed by EA though
2010 - Mass Effect 2 - ill let you count this 5 times for miranda, not not developed by EA though
2010 - Mass Effect 2 - ill let you count this 5 times for miranda, not not developed by EA though
2010 - Mass Effect 2 - ill let you count this 5 times for miranda, not not developed by EA though
2011 - Crysis 2 - not developed by EA
2011 - Dead Space 2 - this is okay
2011 - Shift 2 Unleashed- not developed by EA
2012 - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - literally who?
2012 - Mass Effect 3 - not developed by EA
2013 - Crysis 3 - not developed by EA
2013 - Dead Space 3 - this is okay
2014 - Titanfall - NOT EA
2016 - Titanfall 2 - NOT EA

First Far Cry to sideload Uplay was Far Cry 3.

The last game I know of to release on Steam was Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in 2012.

are you like... confused how EA became a huge evil publisher? a company only hated more by comcast? did you get paid to write this list?
 
It was 30%, now it is goes down to 20% but most sales fall into the 30% & 25% category. Unless you're going to move 2 million copies on PC, but typically by then the price is reduced anyways because the initial sales window is long gone.

More than likely Valve cut them a good deal, probably close to Epic's levels. After all, EA games do sell well even if people hate the company Valve will make more money at lower rate than they will with 20 asset flips at a higher rate. EA could use press that isn't "our new game sucks" or "our micro transaction model is being reviewed by lawmakers", Valve can use the games.

EA clearly isn't giving up Origin, but they'll net some sales from the Steam fanboy crowd. Even though it still requires Origin.

I dont think valve would be able to cut them any special deals, my guess is EA would have to pay the same 30,25 or 20% just like everyone else for games sold on steam. This could be more about getting larger user base for EA's subscription service. I could be wrong but we may never know for sure as they probably wont disclose the exact details of the deal.
 
Apex Legends developer says Origin will not launch when the game is played through Steam. It will launch directly through Steam, but you will be prompted to login to your Origin account the first time to link your Steam account. Whether or not that is true of other EA games is unknown at this point.

 
Apex Legends developer says Origin will not launch when the game is played through Steam. It will launch directly through Steam, but you will be prompted to login to your Origin account the first time to link your Steam account. Whether or not that is true of other EA games is unknown at this point.


Not gonna lie, that made me smile and I don't even play Apex Legends.
 
Apex Legends developer says Origin will not launch when the game is played through Steam. It will launch directly through Steam, but you will be prompted to login to your Origin account the first time to link your Steam account. Whether or not that is true of other EA games is unknown at this point.


I'm assuming this means you don't even need Origin installed, you just need an account. That'll be nice.
 
Apex Legends developer says Origin will not launch when the game is played through Steam. It will launch directly through Steam, but you will be prompted to login to your Origin account the first time to link your Steam account. Whether or not that is true of other EA games is unknown at this point.

I would hope the applies to all their games, and if thats the case that would be fantastic. I was never a really a big fan of Origin. I have had some stupid issues with that launcher in the past and the fact that you have to jump through hoops to get it to use a file path for the storage drive is a giant pain in the ass, thats why i prefer Steam.
 
I dont think valve would be able to cut them any special deals, my guess is EA would have to pay the same 30,25 or 20% just like everyone else for games sold on steam. This could be more about getting larger user base for EA's subscription service. I could be wrong but we may never know for sure as they probably wont disclose the exact details of the deal.

I almost guarantee this is what it is. Origin has probably peaked on revenue generation for the most part and EA is trying to increase the number of places to sell their games again in an attempt to increase sales. I know I seriously dislike Origin and pretty much refuse to buy anything there. I still don't own a copy of Mass Effect 3 simply because I couldn't buy it on Steam. It also doesn't help that Steam tends to have better sales and more often. I think I've only once seen a decent sale on Origin for something I'd want.
 
The Jedi game explicitly states you need Origin installed. My guess is because of some issue with selling in game stuff (the original reason EA was kicked from Steam because you have to go elsewhere to buy DLC) Apex Legends is going pure Steam. It is free to play and will probably sell all the stuff in game/on Steam directly, so selling on Origin or whatever wouldn't work.
 
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I almost guarantee this is what it is. Origin has probably peaked on revenue generation for the most part and EA is trying to increase the number of places to sell their games again in an attempt to increase sales. I know I seriously dislike Origin and pretty much refuse to buy anything there. I still don't own a copy of Mass Effect 3 simply because I couldn't buy it on Steam. It also doesn't help that Steam tends to have better sales and more often. I think I've only once seen a decent sale on Origin for something I'd want.
Origin often has great sales that rival the best put on offer on Steam, especially with their first-party games. The issue is that the DLC never goes on sale, and in older games like Mass Effect 2 you still have to deal with the "Bioware Points" bullshit, as far as I know.
The Jedi game explicitly states you need Origin installed. My guess is because of some issue with selling in game stuff (the original reason EA was kicked from Steam because you have to go elsewhere to buy DLC) Apex Legends is going pure Steam. It is free to play and will probably sell all the stuff in game/on Steam directly, so selling on Origin or whatever wouldn't work.
EA wasn't "kicked" from Steam, EA voluntarily left Steam because they couldn't sell their DLC their own way and avoid Steam's take. I would bet that a major part of this deal going through involved EA's monetization schemes and whether or not Steam would get a cut of it.
 
Pipe dream: let me move my origin only games over to steam so they can all sit nicely on my digital shelf (manually adding games to steam requires me installing them and adding manually: yuck).
 
This is the start of an exciting partnership with Valve that will see us innovating for PC players around the world

------------------

ROFL

if you really really wanted to be there for the "gamers and consumers" you all would have worked something out years ago instead of forcing partners to use Origin in first place...given how many folks lost their library due to not playing/using Origin in a while...myself, the main reason I DESPISE origin, every damn time (seems like) launch / try to launch it, it just has to update, many many time slower than other similar gaming services

it also does NOT play nicely with other things doing downloads, vs Steam which bar none is superior in this regard...I can watch movies etc while download via Steam and it shares my overall cap more "gracefully" where Origin, have to set much much higher MB limit and pretty much have to be ONLY using Origin otherwise system(s) slow way down (among other problems)

.........

IMO they should have said along lines of "If it is EA specific title due to laws and regulations, must still be purchased from us HOWEVER you can link via Steam and play it the way you want / where you want on your devices, we want to keep it SIMPLE for the average user, that is out end goal"

much like Rockstar did their own launcher to coincide with PC launch of Red Dead 2, worked flawless on my system and direct links to Steam ^.^
 
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