Gamers have been worried for some time about their ability to buy Battlefield 3 from Steam, and EA has now provided an official statement on the matter: until Valve changes its policies, the game won't be available on the most popular digital distribution service in the United States. According to EA, this isn't their call; it's due to the fact that Valve has placed restrictions on how content can be shared on the games sold via Steam.
While this may not be what you want to hear, EA has a point.
The reasoning
One key point in all this is that EA hasn't made Battlefield 3 exclusive to its own Origin service, although the company is certainly making it worth your while to buy the game from its official home. But the game will be widely available.
"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," a post to the company's official forum stated. "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."
EA has claimed that Steam has added a "set of restrictive terms of service" that limits how the company can provide patches and other content. "No other download service has adopted these practices," EA explained. Reading between the lines, it sounds like EA wants to offer patches as well as for-pay content directly to gamers through the games itself. Valve seems to have rules in place that state such content must be sent through the Steam servers.
We contacted Valve for comment on the limitations EA has complained about but have yet to receive a response.
EA has also released a statement detailing the company's own policies for digital distribution services that sell EA games. Each deal is slightly different, and EA pointed out that over 100 services will be selling Battlefield 3, but the company has a line it won't cross.
"When a download service forbids publishers from contacting players with patches, new levels, items and other services—it disrupts our ability to provide the ongoing support players expect from us," EA said. "At present, this is the case with only one download service. While EA offers its entire portfolio to this site, they have elected to not post many of our games."
EA says it hopes to find a way to reach an agreement with Steam on this point, but it's doubtful Valve will make an exception.
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