Valve Finally Addresses Electronic Arts' Problems With Steam

Valve has been silent as Electronic Arts has blasted alleged changes in policy on Steam, prompting a bunch of EA games to come down from the service. EA has even gone so far as to publicly state Battlefield 3 would likely not be released on Steam at launch.

I've asked Valve to comment multiple times--but nothing.

At Gamescom, Valve founder Gabe Newell has been talking to the press about the newly announced Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Develop asked Newell about EA, and while he didn't explain what's happening in much detail, Valve didn't throw EA under the bus.

"I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that," he said. "We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that."

There are some clear issues separating EA and Valve at the moment, and Valve appears hopeful to make the case to EA that the benefits of working within its system is worth it.

Crysis 2, Dragon Age II and others have been removed the past few months, as EA voiced concerns about its ability to communicate and sell content to consumers. EA had pointed towards its exclusivity deals over downloadable content with other distributors as one issue, but Newell makes it sound like there are larger philosophical debates about digital at play here.

"It’s our duty to demonstrate [value] to them," he said. "We don’t have a natural right to publish their games."

yep i see....just more jibber jabber PR talk.
 
by the way pat...still need to lrn to proofread your stuff....it's spelled "Bus" not "Buss"
maybe if you cut your beatuful hair youll be able to see what you post.
and send your locks to me for my "things to sniff" collection.

Finally

EA has to give in to Steam in the end, people don't want to go to their Origin platform no matter how good or bad it is.

Steam's where it's at.

Kill them with kindness Gabe. EA is digging themselves a shallow grave.

At Gamescom, Valve founder Gabe Newell has been talking to the press about the newly announced Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Develop asked Newell about EA, and while he didn't explain what's happening in much detail, Valve didn't throw EA under the buss.

Christ, you guys are fast. I've changed it and you still managed to catch it. I need a faster computer.

This is the first positive thing I've heard about the whole situation.   I'm am pessimistic about it getting fully resolved, but perhaps some the removed games can be added back to Steam.

Well, that doesn't let us no much... hopefully they will let us know what is really going on.

Christ, you guys are fast. I've changed it and you still managed to catch it. I need a faster computer.

Hopefully the full page ad of PRE-ORDER MODERN WARFARE 3 currently on the Steam Store page will be enough to change EAs mind about not putting BF3 on Steam.

@Vorbis said:

Hopefully the full page ad of PRE-ORDER MODERN WARFARE 3 currently on the Steam Store page will be enough to change EAs mind about not putting BF3 on Steam.

Lol, I saw that and thought the same thing.

Nothing will happen until after Battlefield 3 launches. If it does well in sales on PC then EA will keep doing this with all their games from this point on. If it tanks then they will come crawling back to Steam and say sorry for leaving. So here's to hoping people don't buy it! I know I don't plan to.

Well that's kind of informative, Gabe?

I want the future to be every major publisher having it's own download service.

@The_Nubster said:

On another note, Gabe (and the direction he has Valve going in) is ridiculously positive. I can't believe how nice this guy is. No pointing fingers, no bad names, no praise of Steam; just, "There are issues between us and I understand that EA has the right do do it's own thing. However, it would be nice if they came back and I'm gonna try and convince them to."

Because it's just business, and Gabe's a business person. The only emotional nonsense that causes internet rage comes from fanboys who confuse Steam's brand identity with their own personal identity. Or something.

I think in the long run EA should consider providing value to their customers in exchange for their cash.  Abusing customers for short term gains or to make them buy your game IN SPITE of your annoying business decisions is not good for EA or the industry.

That's a pretty reasonable response by Gabe. Dude is pretty cool.

Well that's kind of informative, Gabe? I want the future to be every major publisher having it's own download service.

Stay classy, Gabe. No really. I think he handled the question well.

Clearly Valve are just going to continue to tolerate and love the crap out of EA. :P
 
Also, that is a really old screenshot of steam, damn.

Wow, moral high ground ahoy. I'm kind of impressed.

Well that really doesn't give us any info. Not that I'd expect it. The business world isn't going to ever let the press know the whole story if they can help it.

Either way doesn't matter. I don't have a problem giving Origin a shot. Competition isn't a bad thing, but would be nice if the games came to Steam.

@Sinful said:

yep i see....just more jibber jabber PR talk. by the way pat...still need to lrn to proofread your stuff....it's spelled "Bus" not "Buss" maybe if you cut your beatuful hair youll be able to see what you post. and send your locks to me for my "things to sniff" collection.

You have an interesting fantasy life.

@Brodehouse said:

Well that's kind of informative, Gabe? I want the future to be every major publisher having it's own download service.

Why would you want something as stupid as that to happen?

I wish somebody would just come out and say what the hell happened exactly. Everybody is just like, "yeah, this thing that changed, changed, and now we can't do that thing!" This is all super generic public relations talk that tells nothing of the actual incident.

"We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam"

The amount of people who use it isn't proof enough?

EDIT: Also, holy fucking shit. The MW3 ad in Steam is taking up 1/3 of the fucking page.

To me it sounds like EA wants their digital service to be the only place to sell their games.

Holy ancient Steam window.

@Napalm said:

I wish somebody would just come out and say what the hell happened exactly. Everybody is just like, "yeah, this thing that changed, changed, and now we can't do that thing!" This is all super generic public relations talk that tells nothing of the actual incident.

EA is selling their games on Steam, but the only way to get the DLC for those games is through Origin. So basically they're using Steam to push their own competing platform.

I hope in the end we get a better service, just not more services.

@The_Nubster said:

On another note, Gabe (and the direction he has Valve going in) is ridiculously positive. I can't believe how nice this guy is. No pointing fingers, no bad names, no praise of Steam; just, "There are issues between us and I understand that EA has the right do do it's own thing. However, it would be nice if they came back and I'm gonna try and convince them to."

Because it's just business, and Gabe's a business person. The only emotional nonsense that causes internet rage comes from fanboys who confuse Steam's brand identity with their own personal identity. Or something.

@artofwar420 said:

I hope in the end we get a better service, just not more services.

This x1000.

@Vorbis said:

Hopefully the full page ad of PRE-ORDER MODERN WARFARE 3 currently on the Steam Store page will be enough to change EAs mind about not putting BF3 on Steam.

Yeah, that is great timing.

EA want people to actually use origin, but i dont think anyone will want to ever. I dont think they will back down but they will lose out if they dont play along.

i think its hilarious that i was cleaning out my inbox and found that ea origins switch in my junk mail. 
though i think they should have commented earlier on all the bullshit, thank god we get a decent response.

@Sinful said:

yep i see....just more jibber jabber PR talk.

Yep, that's Gabe Newell for you, best PR guy in the business. :)

Also, holy fucking shit. The MW3 ad in Steam is taking up 1/3 of the fucking page.

@crusader8463

@Brodehouse said:

Well that's kind of informative, Gabe? I want the future to be every major publisher having it's own download service.

Why would you want something as stupid as that to happen?

Steam and Xbox and Playststion are another step in the puzzle between game and player. Everyone likes the idea of supporting developers. Right now the steps are Developer-Publisher-Consoleholder-Retail. Digital side steps the retailer. Everyone having their own digital service makes it developer-publisher. As soon as you can find a way to sidestep the publisher, we should go for it.

It's yet more PR talk the same kind that EA has been spouting. It's not worth a damn and if anything just highlights that this is a business decision between two businesses and not some grand war between two empires. They came to an impasse and they will probably work it out.

I wonder if the huge ad for MW3 on the Steam front page is Valve saying "This is what you're missing out on EA!"

Its so weird seeing all this unfold as I remember a time when Steam was not the power house digital distribution platform it is now. There was a time when this would've been meaningless and it wasn't that long ago.

I'm glad they are staying grounded though. Always classy (for real).

@The_Nubster said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@The_Nubster said:

On another note, Gabe (and the direction he has Valve going in) is ridiculously positive. I can't believe how nice this guy is. No pointing fingers, no bad names, no praise of Steam; just, "There are issues between us and I understand that EA has the right do do it's own thing. However, it would be nice if they came back and I'm gonna try and convince them to."

Because it's just business, and Gabe's a business person. The only emotional nonsense that causes internet rage comes from fanboys who confuse Steam's brand identity with their own personal identity. Or something.

I get that it's all business, but Gabe Newell is a charming, funny guy who's done some pretty awesome stuff, like have a video conference with some high school students . He comes off as a nice, rational guy who isn't all corporate and cold. Even though his main interest is business, you have to have a passion to get places. I don't doubt that Gabe genuinely cares about the things he talks about. Of course, when it comes down to it all, it is business, but a truly talented author doesn't just write words for money. I think the same would go for anyone in any field.

No doubt, Gabe is Big League for sure. Other than his somewhat disturbing love of knives he seems very warm, sincere and legit.

But yes, business is business. There is room in the world for GameStop/Impulse, Origin, Blizzard, Steam, D2D, GG, GMG and many others. Steam has the highest share because they've done the best at creating value for us. And who knows, Origin may be the same (I enjoyed the free copy of Dead Space 2 after I preordered BF3) and their customer service is much, much better than Steam's.

I just don't get all the emotional responses and hatred for EA/Origin to what's a legit service offering. Whatever, I'm crazy.

I find it ridiculous that people in these comments are acting like EA is in the dirt for not using Steam and that somehow, if EA doesn't use Steam, that means that they won't sell millions of copies of Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3. I think it'd be a shame if they don't learn to play nice, of course, but don't act like EA isn't holding any chips here.

@crusader8463 Well I did bother to say major publishers. Origin, uPlay, battle.net, Steam, so on... I'd like publisher competition to amp up to the delivery level. Exclusivity usually mandates quality. Smaller publishers would make the same deals with these services that they do with Steam and all the others already. And maybe it's because I have one handle and password (two actually) for all my services that I don't buy the 'remember all that information!' stuff. And it's not like it's any safer to have all your games connected to a single account.

I like Steam's behavior in all this. EA was fast to slam Valve, but Valve is not doing the same. Good for them.