Steam ToS for developers?

NilarNilar Join Date: 2010-06-14 Member: 72058Members
So I'm just curious. I was reading about BF3 and why it's not coming to Steam (instead forcing me to use EA's own delivery system which I've found ... lacking, so far).

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->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.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Does anyone here happen to know what these limitations to "interaction with customers" might be?

Comments

  • MonkfishMonkfish Sonic-boom-inducing buttcheeks of terrifying speed&#33; Join Date: 2003-06-03 Member: 16972Members
    EA wanted to make people use Origin to download DLC through Steam. Steam were like "Nuh-uh, that ###### ain't cool" so EA threw a ###### fit and took all of their games off of steam. Steam convinced them to put the games that don't do this back on steam but EA is still retarded.
  • SentrySteveSentrySteve .txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
    edited July 2012
    Monkfish seems to think all companies should willingly conform to the near monopoly Valve has on digital purchases and abandon their rights to create their own digital platforms to compete with Steam. Then EA was all 'heh, don't need u neway valve. bye'

    Does it suck that Origin isn't as good as steam? Absolutely. But in the long run I like EA's move and let's not forget.... when Steam first came out it was one of the worst programs ever.
  • puzlpuzl The Old Firm Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14029Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    edited July 2012
    Well, I for one am glad it was Valve who got there first because they understand openness and they embrace indie development, and always have done.

    For example, the whole joke with EA and BF and requiring official servers to prevent achievement hacking.. and then valve come along with TF2 and do both achievements and open public server support. One of many examples of why I am, and will for the foreseeable future be a valve fanboy even though I'm not a huge fan of all their games.

    Imagine a world in which EA controlled the first digital content distribution system for games.. yikes..

    but yeah, I agree, competition can only be a good thing in the long run and will improve all platforms and result in benefits for us gamers.
  • NilarNilar Join Date: 2010-06-14 Member: 72058Members
    I have to say, the overall quality of Origin is... less than impressive. Quite a few broken links here and there. No way to switch the Store's language, so have to suffer the headache inducing word-by-word translations to Swedish. But now that the guys at EA rebooted their license servers, the game I bought actually <b>works</b>, so that's a good thing.

    I do remember Steam being a pile of doo doo as well back in the days, I just find it interesting that EA - after two failed attempts at creating a "Steam Killer" - decides to make a fuzz over how DLCs are distributed. Steam seems to work well enough for a lot of other people, I find it hard to believe they would take such a big financial risk over something like that.
  • MonkfishMonkfish Sonic-boom-inducing buttcheeks of terrifying speed&#33; Join Date: 2003-06-03 Member: 16972Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1954319:date=Jul 27 2012, 02:51 PM:name=SentrySteve)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SentrySteve @ Jul 27 2012, 02:51 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1954319"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Monkfish seems to think all companies should willingly conform to the near monopoly Valve has on digital purchases and abandon their rights to create their own digital platforms to compete with Steam. Then EA was all 'heh, don't need u neway valve. bye'

    Does it suck that Origin isn't as good as steam? Absolutely. But in the long run I like EA's move and let's not forget.... when Steam first came out it was one of the worst programs ever.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    It's got nothing to do with the 'digital monopoly'

    EA wanted to take control of DLC away from the steam platform and make people use a 3rd party (origin) to download and manage it. That means Valve can't guarantee the integrity of the game files or patches if something goes wrong. EA refused to compromise and blamed Valve's "restrictive terms of service" as to why they were removed.

    Valve is considered the best because they worked at making Steam the best way to download and play your games. If EA even gave 1 millionth of a ###### more about that instead of their shareholders then maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.
  • NeonSpyderNeonSpyder &quot;Das est NTLDR?&quot; Join Date: 2003-07-03 Member: 17913Members
    It is an interesting situation. I'm sure it's a case of Valve offering a fair deal and EA wanting an unfair deal basically.
  • InsaneInsane Anomaly Join Date: 2002-05-13 Member: 605Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
    <!--quoteo(post=1954331:date=Jul 27 2012, 02:48 PM:name=Monkfish)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Monkfish @ Jul 27 2012, 02:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1954331"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's got nothing to do with the 'digital monopoly'

    EA wanted to take control of DLC away from the steam platform and make people use a 3rd party (origin) to download and manage it. That means Valve can't guarantee the integrity of the game files or patches if something goes wrong. EA refused to compromise and blamed Valve's "restrictive terms of service" as to why they were removed.

    Valve is considered the best because they worked at making Steam the best way to download and play your games. If EA even gave 1 millionth of a ###### more about that instead of their shareholders then maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yeah, if you download a game over Steam being forced to use a third-party service to manage its DLC is idiotic.

    EA have every right to build their own platform, but it's not reasonable to act all reproachful when they're not allowed to sneak it onto a competitor's platform through the back door. In fact, EA's approach actually limits consumer choice because it forces you to interact with Origin regardless of whether or not you want to use another platform to manage your games.
  • NilarNilar Join Date: 2010-06-14 Member: 72058Members
    From what I understand, Valve/Steam adds 30% to the price, is that correct? In that case, I guess EA's decision kind of makes sense - they're probably counting on the DLCs to make the "real" money, since DLCs are probably a lot cheaper to produce than the original game, yet still sells for a decent amount of money.

    Still, the financial risk of setting up a digital distribution service, with server farms spread out all over the world, support personnel in who knows how many countries...
  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    30% is the % for iTunes songs (or at least, it was, if it still is I dono).

    The share(s) that steam gets is unknown as it's hidden behind NDAs. However, I suspect that it is similar to other digital download stores, as we haven't seen any one gripe about the cost to put their games on steam, where we have seen people griping about the cost to put their games on things like the XBox/PS3 stores.
  • ComproxComprox *chortle* Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    <!--quoteo(post=1954353:date=Jul 27 2012, 08:45 AM:name=Insane)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Insane @ Jul 27 2012, 08:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1954353"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, if you download a game over Steam being forced to use a third-party service to manage its DLC is idiotic.

    EA have every right to build their own platform, but it's not reasonable to act all reproachful when they're not allowed to sneak it onto a competitor's platform through the back door. In fact, EA's approach actually limits consumer choice because it forces you to interact with Origin regardless of whether or not you want to use another platform to manage your games.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I just want to say I hate EA as much as the next guy, but I have to ask this: What about NS2 requiring Steam? Let's say NS2 gets sold elsewhere (Desura for example) which requires their client to buy and download the game. At that point, Steam will also need to be installed for the game to even run. How is this different than Origin being needed when you buy a game off Steam?

    A honest question. I am not trying to defend EA. Just looking for an answer.
  • ANeMANeM Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16267Members, Constellation
    edited July 2012
    <!--quoteo(post=1954386:date=Jul 27 2012, 10:27 AM:name=Comprox)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Comprox @ Jul 27 2012, 10:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1954386"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I just want to say I hate EA as much as the next guy, but I have to ask this: What about NS2 requiring Steam? Let's say NS2 gets sold elsewhere (Desura for example) which requires their client to buy and download the game. At that point, Steam will also need to be installed for the game to even run. How is this different than Origin being needed when you buy a game off Steam?

    A honest question. I am not trying to defend EA. Just looking for an answer.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    It is basically just a matter of policy and how they have set up their store. None of the major online marketplaces actually require you to download their program to make a purchase. It may be required to actually receive the content, but for just purchasing it isn't necessary. So, when you buy a Steamworks title from Desura you don't actually need to download anything from them. They will give you a key and then tell you to redeem it and download it on Steam.

    Greenman Gaming does the same thing with Steamworks games, you don't need to download their Capsule program (I've bought 10 games from them and still not had to download it) they just email you the Steam key and send you on your way.

    In both these cases if you're just looking to buy a Steam game, you don't actually need anything more than Steam installed. From the sounds of it what EA wanted was Valve to handle distribution of the initial release, and then EA would do everything else through Origin; alternatively Steam would just download Origin and have you download everything directly from EA. Neither of these are as clean as buying Steam games from Desura. They come off as being needlessly complex.
  • ComproxComprox *chortle* Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    <!--quoteo(post=1954474:date=Jul 27 2012, 03:40 PM:name=ANeM)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ANeM @ Jul 27 2012, 03:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1954474"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->They will give you a key and then tell you to redeem it and download it on Steam.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Ah, that makes sense then and was the kind of answer I was looking for. Thanks.
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