EA has accepted the warm embrace of
Steam and will begin using the digital distribution service. Following reports that
Spore was
crawling out of the primordial ooze to Steam, Valve
announced today that several of the latest EA titles are available now, with many more coming over the next couple weeks.
Available now:
- Spore
- Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
- Mass Effect
- Need for Speed Undercover
- EA Sports' FIFA Manager 2009
Coming Soon:
- Mirror's Edge
- Red Alert 3
- Dead Space
Sister site
Big Download contacted EA to find out if older PC games would become available, but the publisher wouldn't comment. Also, in case you're wondering, EA games on Steam apparently don't install or use third-party DRM set-ups.
According to Valve "the only DRM it uses is Steam itself."
[Via
Big Download]
{ Dec 19th 2008 at 6:30PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
zoharps2 @ Dec 19th 2008 6:34PM
Finally!
United States of Generica @ Dec 20th 2008 9:05AM
Fantastic! EA thank you for listening to your customers.
But darn it, I've already bought MASS EFFECT and last week bought DEAD SPACE as I was skeptical that they would ever appear on Steam; I will definitely buy
Here's an idea, I would actually pay a couple of bucks to convert non-Steam versions to Steam versions.
Thanatos @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:09PM
@United States of Generica, You might be able to activate their keys on Steam? I know Valve games will let you do this dont know if it works for 3rd party games on steam though.
Jose @ Dec 19th 2008 6:36PM
Holy Fucking Yes!
Does this mean I'll be getting Brutal Legend through Steam as well. Psychonauts is there, so at least Double Fine and Valve have history.
Einhanderkiller @ Dec 19th 2008 6:55PM
Brutal Legend hasn't been announced for the PC yet, sadly. But it'll probably release for the PC eventually.
Deck @ Dec 19th 2008 6:36PM
Oh this is epic.
Awesome, I will probably be picking up Mass Effect then as I want to try it on the PC.
This is good news for sure!
Phillip @ Dec 19th 2008 7:26PM
Epic? THIS IS VALVE!
Strategy_Panda (The Sandwich Poisoning Crew) @ Dec 19th 2008 6:44PM
Thats what I'm talkin' about!
Good job EA, you just earned more of my money!
Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Dec 19th 2008 6:44PM
Not that Steam's DRM was something significantly better, but I can deal with it...
Bowser Rogozhin @ Dec 20th 2008 6:04AM
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Joystiq readers don't seem too bright, or maybe their fanboysim is so great that they can no longer see the hypocrisy of their joy.
Bakkster @ Dec 20th 2008 11:14PM
Of course, Steam doesn't (to my knowledge) install new drivers over your disk drive drivers. That's generally the problem with disk-based DRMs.
I've never had a problem with Steam's DRM, but stuff like SecuROM and Starforce have been nothing but. Of course, not having to deal with disk swapping, scratched disks, etc is reason enough for me to use Steam for most of my gaming now.
ebola @ Dec 19th 2008 7:00PM
Steam's DRM solution is great. It isn't obtrusive, it isn't convoluted, it doesn't stick unwanted malware in my system, its just what it needs to be and nothing else. It helps that they wrap it in a slick simple UI and give customers the added bonus of signing in and playing wherever they want.
I wish every publisher and studio that put their games up on Steam would strip their Starforce crap out first, I hope EA is setting a trend in that regard.
Marty @ Dec 19th 2008 7:11PM
No DRM? I guess it was worth the wait!
WorMzy @ Dec 19th 2008 7:12PM
Whoa.. did.. did EA just do something right..?
o_o;
Purple Haze @ Dec 19th 2008 7:21PM
How can you say that when they just announced that they were publishing Brutal Legend a week ago?
WorMzy @ Dec 19th 2008 7:39PM
Brutal what?
CubeGuy @ Dec 19th 2008 8:37PM
"Brutal what?"
...
*smack*
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 8:42PM
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=brutal+legend
Eleniel @ Dec 19th 2008 7:12PM
omg, they listened to Chris!
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 10:34PM
Livingston?
Still, I think it's more that they listened to EVERYONE.
ANTCEP @ Dec 19th 2008 7:20PM
any idea when or if this will happen on steam in the uk, still haven't got ubisoft here.
Phillip @ Dec 19th 2008 7:28PM
Now I wish I had waited for Mass Effect. I waited for it to come to PC, then the stupid DRM stuff happened and I rejected EA and got it for 360. Ah, well. Such is life.
ChemicalPainter @ Dec 19th 2008 7:33PM
Huh, surprising. It seems EA is beginning to learn.
DangerMouse @ Dec 19th 2008 7:35PM
Nice. Now bring on the back catalog.
Psycho300x @ Dec 19th 2008 7:50PM
Some of these games say on the right side there is 3rd party DRM or Securom limited Machine activations like Crysis Warhead, so dont let your guard all the way down .
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 7:52PM
D= But I already bought Mass Effect and Dead Space retail damnit!
Oh well, whenever this is available for Australia I'll probably pick up Mirrors Edge (Dragon Age better become available B|.)
Foetoid @ Dec 19th 2008 7:58PM
Hey i've always wondered something about Steam in Australia you can probably answer. Is the price listing for games in US dollars and if so, when we buy it, does it automatically convert Aussie dollars, making Steam-purchased games far below the Aussie RRP?
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 8:33PM
Yes the prices are displayed in USD. When you buy games whatever service you use to pay for it automatically pays whatever the conversion is. Paypal(havn't used anything else) tells you how much it is in Australian before you choose to pay for it.
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 8:36PM
Oh and to your bit about it being cheaper on Steam, not anymore. When our dollar was at around 98c (before the bailouts etc.) buying games off Steam was a very cheap option, now everything on there is as expensive as RRP or more so.
I can't bring myself to buy indie games from it anymore because they're just not worth the amount of money we have to pay for them now.
Ihavepants @ Dec 19th 2008 8:40PM
But even though the games can be slightly more expensive at the moment I'm still willing to buy good games through Steam as I love the unified service and not ever having to worry about losing them or even keep useless physical versions sitting around for me to cart from place to place. I play retail games through Steam anyway.
Sorry about this triple post!
Foetoid @ Dec 20th 2008 3:03AM
There are a few indie games worth getting. They recently had Audiosurf for $2.50 lol.
Einhanderkiller @ Dec 19th 2008 8:14PM
Steam's servers are exploding!
Ionis @ Dec 19th 2008 8:24PM
Shame how it isn't noted in this post how it is North America only. :(
Haggard @ Dec 20th 2008 1:28PM
Yeah, but with the new European currency option in the store, games on Steam are still more expensive than getting them off amazon (and you don't get a box).
Bring them down to £20, and we'll talk.
Blooper62 @ Dec 19th 2008 8:27PM
I hate EA! No original games, just poor ports and rehashes! Wait a minute nice EA talk? What is this?! You people need to pick sides. Either you like them or hate them. You cant have both.
DiL @ Dec 21st 2008 10:54AM
i dont think they're that bad. yeah they make a lot of bad games but they make some good ones as well. could be worse, monster cables could try their hand at video games
mundox @ Dec 19th 2008 8:54PM
Best news ever! now they just need to remove the crap drm that crysis warhead has and we're set to go.
Can't wait to see their back catalog in there, and I really hope that they give the option to add games that you had already bought from their crap download service into your steam account.
mundox @ Dec 19th 2008 9:02PM
Oh and they also need to drop that gay country restriction crap, if I can buy a game in their stupid site why the heck I can't on steam?
eldee @ Dec 19th 2008 9:00PM
EA is making a lot of good decisions lately. kudos to them, hopefully they make some money from this and don't have to lay anybody else off.
Ottozero @ Dec 19th 2008 9:18PM
EA Got its head out of its a$$. Now I will Support them on PC's again. Welcome back EA!!
Slaziman @ Dec 19th 2008 9:53PM
I like my retail copies... so it's either bend over to SecuROM or bend over to digital distribution.
FUCK
why not the LS2LS7? @ Dec 19th 2008 10:08PM
Steam is laden with DRM. I don't support DRM.
If Valve decides you violated your Steam terms of service they can yank your account and you lose all your games you "bought".
I'd rather know I own a game than buy it with a DRM that can have its string yanked at any time.
Ionis @ Dec 19th 2008 10:40PM
Valve are a very understanding company, but if you end up being a dick then that's the risk you take.
Limezor @ Dec 20th 2008 3:03AM
Banned for hacking? NO WAY!
United States of Generica @ Dec 20th 2008 2:13PM
"you lose all your games you "bought""
What a load of old rubbish, the worst they do if you violate terms of service -- i.e. you get caught cheating -- is ban you from playing online VAC servers.
Although if you violate terms of service by using a stolen credit card or attempt to use a credit number generator, then you are a criminal who is attempting fraud.
Were you thinking or cheating of criminal activity?
spmbx @ Dec 20th 2008 3:07PM
You are right, they already did this once with legally bought Orange Box copies for example. Who knows what they'll think of next:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/drm/valve-deactivating-customers-who-bought-orange-box-internationally-314690.php
United States of Generica @ Dec 21st 2008 9:39PM
Completely forgot about the serial numbers bought in Russia being deactivated matter.
Although from a European perspective it's quite ironic, it's usually non-US people who have to deal with the likes of "wrong region" when buying stuff from the USA. :(
t_m @ Dec 19th 2008 10:32PM
Let me guess, its US only right?
ALL the games i want to buy on steam aren't available in my region... thats a few hundred bucks that they aren't getting.
Still, i guess it saves me money...
Guido @ Dec 21st 2008 2:24PM
Yep, US only, apparently. Can't buy anything either.
Taco_Hell @ Dec 19th 2008 10:40PM
So wait...I could've bought Spore from Steam, and happily play it rather than buying it from the stupid EA Store and be forced to download that crappy EA Manager? ...God damn it.