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[BobsRevenge]

If Diablo 3 was on Impulse, GamersGate, D2D, GFWL, Origin AND battle.net I can imagine people getting annoyed. Your comparison is poor.

For most this isn't a philosophical issue, its a convenience one. They just don't want to get caught looking like hypocrites. :lol

 

[scorpscarx]

edit: Stop editing your post after I already quoted it! lol

Its weird to see it changing. I feel like I've been outdated.

Hehe sorry I had to clarify that first part though.

It has a lot to do with Steam due to soo many facts, do I really need to go on. One of the main four tabs is called LIBRARY.

 

[coopolon]

They are still gonna get trounced by MW3.

Yah, I don't even think EA believes BF3 will even get close to outselling MW3. It'll probably fare better on PC than on consoles, but CoD is crazy popular even on PC.

In fact, I recall hearing on a podcast that they're really thinking success in terms of how much less MW3 sells compared to BLOPS rather than how much more MW3 sells than BF3 since we already know that # is going to be astronomical. But that may have just been the podcasters bullshitting.

 

[szaromir]

Which works fine for you speaking about the Polish experience, but not for you asserting that other people have no idea what they are talking about because their experience differs.

First you argue that EA provides competition to Steam because the price of a game is lower on their service. Okay. I'm not sure I understand how this works. EA can control their price on Steam. EA can control their price on Origin. There's no reason why the prices can't be the same, except that EA can sell at a lower price and keep the same margin on Origin. If you accept this as being a good motivation for a company, then there's no reason why the prices of Valve games would be lower on D2D or GG and so the argument about price and service availability is wrong.

Second, you argue that PC retail is "almost" always "half" the price of DD in Poland. (...)

So, which is it?
- PC retail always beats DD
- Service competition is good because publishers will lower their prices and you will pay less
- Valve would charge less / you'd get a better deal on Valve games if they were on D2D or GG.

Any one of these points invalidates the other two and yet you're making all three.

Well, people made the argument that EA should offer their games everywhere, just offer the better price and features on their service to maintain the "good" competition. Yet when EA are doing it and Valve are obviously not, people not only don't bash Valve, they praise Valve for being awesome even they continue to do the same practices the hate Valve's competition for.

I'm saying that it'd be awesome if I could play Valve games without having to enter store.steam.com or install Steam (or any other client), yet people praise Valve when they force the user to install Steam and bash the competition when it forces them to install their client.

Ok well most of us do not enjoy throwing our money down the toilet.

Assuming that the owner of 450+ games spends 15-20 hours with every game he plays, I'm willing to bet he is not going to play significant part of that library, ever, so he effectively threw money down the toilet.

 

[Forkball]

How stupid. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is consistently one of the most purchased games on Steam. If they were dumb enough to put BF3 only on Origin, they're going to lose a lot of customers, especially if they want to take a bite out of Call of Duty's audience. And it's not like there aren't a ton of other games to play this winter, EA should be doing everything to ensure BF3 stands out.

 

[WEGGLES]

This seems needless.

Is Steams slice of the pie THAT big to make it worth rattling your fans cages?

 

[Fredescu]

If EA games became Origin exclusive I'd be fine with it if they didn't charge $80 a pop in my region. I don't mind paying ~$10 extra over retail to have certain games day 1, but not $40.

I'm not convinced it's happening though. This thread is premature.

Battlefield 3 will be massive this year, probably their biggest title of 2011(FIFA maybe?)

Platforms combined, BF3 will beat Diablo 3. PC only it will be a lot closer.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Well, people made the argument that EA should offer their games everywhere, just offer the better price and features on their service to maintain the "good" competition. Yet when EA are doing it and Valve are obviously not, people not only don't bash Valve, they praise Valve for being awesome even they continue to do the same practices the hate Valve's competition for.

I'm saying that it'd be awesome if I could play Valve games without having to enter store.steam.com or install Steam (or any other client), yet people praise Valve when they force the user to install Steam and bash the competition when it forces them to install their client.


Assuming that the owner of 450+ games spends 15-20 hours with every game he plays, I'm willing to bet he is not going to play significant part of that library, ever, so he effectively threw money down the toilet.

Lol. Your posts have provided tons of lol for me. Ty.

 

[plc268]

Admittedly this sucks. But, let's keep in mind: "Steam>Games>Add a Non-Steam Game To My Library"... You can still use the overlay, still have your friends see what you're playing. This is unfortunate but a box copy is fine with me.

When will people realize that adding a non-steam game to steam isn't the same as a native steam game?

If I want an overlay, there's a couple of programs that'll do that... and some go beyond just steam friends as well (for instance, if you use raptr and its overlay, you can access your friends from just about any IM service and XBL/PSN). It's the whole package I'm interested in: No hassle downloading, steam friends, playtime tracking, screenshot library, auto patching, etc.


On a sidenote... fuck EA. It's one thing to want to sell your game on your store only (and that's fine, I don't hate Blizzard for doing that), but to single one DD distributor and not sell your game there is poor judgement. I'm really debating if I even want ME3 and BF3 anymore... and if I do, I'll just probably wait for a steep discount first.

 

[scorpscarx]

Assuming that the owner of 450+ games spends 15-20 hours with every game he plays, I'm willing to bet he is not going to play significant part of that library, ever, so he effectively threw money down the toilet.

That's where your wrong, a lot of the people on my friend's list have a lot of games, I have a lot in fact.

Almost all of my games have more than 10 hours, we're also building an account that doesn't disappear and that we can default back to in the future. Your plain wrong.

 

[szaromir]

Lol. Your posts have provided tons of lol for me. Ty.

You're welcome. Your rabid fanboyism has provided the same for me across many threads.

 

[Zzoram]

I refuse to buy from Origin because I don't trust EA when it comes to online services.

Valve and Blizzard I trust.

 

[Stallion Free]

Platforms combined, BF3 will beat Diablo 3. PC only it will be a lot closer.

BC2 only managed to hit 7 mil sales after releasing on 3 platforms and doing significant price cuts over the course of the year. I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time on one platform while maintaining the 60$ price point.

Diablo 3 is prolly gonna be on 3 platforms and will fucking destroy just about anything in terms of sales.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

You're welcome. Your rabid fanboyism has provided the same for me across many threads.

Lol rabid fanboyism eh? Yep because fanboyism = me praising Battlenet, using GoG, and calling Valve out for its craptastic customer service. You have a funny view of rabid fanboyism lol.

 

[bangai-o]

well maybe Valve can open up the moneyhatts and cut a deal. That is how Sony and Microsoft get shit done.

 

[Fredescu]

I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time while maintaining the 60$ price point.

Is it even confirmed to have hit 7 million? It was only 4.5 in February.

Diablo 3 is prolly gonna be on 3 platforms and will fucking destroy just about anything in terms of sales.

I have a feeling the console ports are not going to be day and date with the PC version, and the audience for that genre isn't as established on consoles as the shooter audience is.

 

[Blizzard]

Not really sure what you want me to say. Origin is not Steam? I'm not advocating Origin or promoting it over Steam. I also don't see why it matters if EA has sold games on Steam or other services, they probably sell them at stores as well. It's not relevant in the least. I'm just pointing out the absurdity of Steam fans. The worship is a little ridiculous at times.

I was pointing out differences between Valve games being sold on Steam, and EA removing games from other stores to start selling them only on Origin. The situations are not the same, which it sounded like you were sort of implying. Furthermore I think my points were valid and reasonable. There are things that I think Steam could/should certainly do better, and I buy from other DD stores, so I'm not "worshipping" them.

 

[Forkball]

Kotaku cited this topic in their blog post. STEAL SOME MORE.

 

[szaromir]

BC2 only managed to hit 7 mil sales after releasing on 3 platforms and doing significant price cuts over the course of the year. I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time on one platform while maintaining the 60$ price point.

Diablo 3 is prolly gonna be on 3 platforms and will fucking destroy just about anything in terms of sales.

SC2 sold 4.5M by the end of 2010, there's a lot of wishful thinking on your part.

 

[reptilescorpio]

well maybe Valve can open up the moneyhatts and cut a deal. That is how Sony and Microsoft get shit done.

Valve make enough money on Activision game to probably not care that EA might pull their titles. Steam doesn't have shareholders. They don't care about growth. As long as they cover costs and continue to add value to the Valve brand I don't think they really mind.

 

[water_wendi]

You assume that all people are blind Valve sheep and a company like EA can't reach them otherwise. You're wrong, people are willing to spend $300 to play one game on a console they otherwise wouldn't have, they'll be willing to download a game outside of Steam, too.

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space. Frankly im glad someone has stepped in that can muscle against Steam. To think that one company has such power over PC gaming is annoying. Leave fanboys devoted to corporations in the console arena, imo.

 

[gifife]

EA will probably add BF3 to steam after it releases to force everyone to buy that back to karkand map pack.

 

[LiK]

they'll probably give it back to Steam when it becomes bargain bin material.

 

[faceless007]

On a sidenote... fuck EA. It's one thing to want to sell your game on your store only (and that's fine, I don't hate Blizzard for doing that), but to single one DD distributor and not sell your game there is poor judgement. I'm really debating if I even want ME3 and BF3 anymore... and if I do, I'll just probably wait for a steep discount first.

This logic will never cease to amaze me. It's incoherent. If what you want is all your games on Steam, even to the point of foregoing any game not available on Steam, fine, that's your prerogative, but then why does it matter to you if the game is available on other stores? It's not on Steam; you're not getting it either way. So then why would you want the game to also be unavailable on other stores? You're actually advocating for fewer choices just because you don't get the choice you want.

 

[Wallach]

BC2 only managed to hit 7 mil sales after releasing on 3 platforms and doing significant price cuts over the course of the year. I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time while maintaining the 60$ price point.

As far as I know, SC2 hasn't hit those kinds of numbers at all. Wikipedia says they were at 4.5m as of December 2010 (so around 5 months). Revenue probably already favors SC2 though. Probably another year at least before they get over 7 million, though practically guaranteed since the original SC was over 11 million lifetime.

 

[coopolon]

Kotaku cited this topic in their blog post. STEAL SOME MORE.

Hopefully they'll get a response from EA. It'll be funny if it is just a key problem, although this is the obvious direction EA is going in so if it's not this game, it may well be the next.

 

[HK-47]

BC2 only managed to hit 7 mil sales after releasing on 3 platforms and doing significant price cuts over the course of the year. I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time on one platform while maintaining the 60$ price point.

Diablo 3 is prolly gonna be on 3 platforms and will fucking destroy just about anything in terms of sales.

SC1 is their best selling non MMO title at 11 million +

 

[szaromir]

As far as I know, SC2 hasn't hit those kinds of numbers at all. Wikipedia says they were at 4.5m as of December 2010 (so around 5 months). Revenue probably already favors SC2 though. Probably another year at least before they get over 7 million, though practically guaranteed since the original SC was over 11 million lifetime.

Doesn't mean SC2 will hit 11M (I know you'd say 7M), SC2 might have been a lot more frontloaded, SC offered a unique take on RTS and was (relatively) slowly taking over the MP scene, SC2 is a direct sequel to it. I'm not sure that everybody who bought SC1 back in the days is going to buy SC2 (I'm one such example).

Lol rabid fanboyism eh? Yep because fanboyism = me praising Battlenet, using GoG, and calling Valve out for its craptastic customer service. You have a funny view of rabid fanboyism lol.

I know a fanboy when I see one.

 

[Stallion Free]

SC1 is their best selling non MMO title at 11 million +

Has any Battlefield game even come close to that?

 

[reptilescorpio]

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space. Frankly im glad someone has stepped in that can muscle against Steam. To think that one company has such power over PC gaming is annoying. Leave fanboys devoted to corporations in the console arena, imo.

Why would they be likely to deliver a blow? They have had a store for years and Steam has still done well.

 

[Kintaro]

I honestly don't have a problem with this. EA wants that money and if Origin turns out okay, so be it. It's not a huge deal to download another storefront for me. Expect to see it more and more on PC. Why should a developer/publisher help another developer fund their games (which is basically what Valve uses that Steam money for)? Steam isn't just a neutral storefront.

In the end, the competition will turn out to be a good thing for us. Anyone who had an interest in BF3 saying they won't buy it now is just overreacting.

 

[HK-47]

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space. Frankly im glad someone has stepped in that can muscle against Steam. To think that one company has such power over PC gaming is annoying. Leave fanboys devoted to corporations in the console arena, imo.

What has Valve done thats bad? PC gamers didnt give them their market position on a silver platter. Steam was lambasted when it launched. Valve gets more scrutiny then any dev i know. Things like L4D2 and the evolving nature of TF2 would not be bitched about nearly as much if it wasnt Valve. Getting angry just cause you can reeks of rebellion against something thats popular and dominant just for the sake of rebelling.

 

[Forkball]

Also, comically enough, an EA game is this week's Midweek Madness on Steam.

 

[plc268]

This logic will never cease to amaze me. It's incoherent. If what you want is all your games on Steam, even to the point of foregoing any game not available on Steam, fine, that's your prerogative, but then why does it matter to you if the game is available on other stores? It's not on Steam; you're not getting it either way. So then why would you want the game to also be unavailable on other stores? You're actually advocating for fewer choices just because you don't get the choice you want.

I didn't say I want the game to be unavailable on other stores... quite the opposite actually. It appears that EA is singling out Steam, which is my preferred DD platform of choice. It's my preferred platform because I like the service, and I have an established account with a lot of games on it. I don't dislike other DD services, I just prefer Steam.

Like I said, it wouldn't bother me if they did the same thing what Valve and Blizzard do, keep their games completely exclusive to one DD. I know it promotes less choice, but what EA is doing right now is giving all the people who bought their games on Steam a big "fuck you."

It won't stop me from eventually buying EA games, I'm sure, it's just that they went from day 1 $50-60 purchases to perhaps a few months later at a $20 purchase. It's their loss, I don't care.

 

[Fredescu]

SC1 is their best selling non MMO title at 11 million +

Any idea how Broodwars factors into those numbers?

 

[HK-47]

Any idea how Broodwars factors into those numbers?

Dunno.

 

[Zzoram]

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space. Frankly im glad someone has stepped in that can muscle against Steam. To think that one company has such power over PC gaming is annoying. Leave fanboys devoted to corporations in the console arena, imo.

Why would that be annoying? Valve has done nothing but improve the PC gaming experience ever since they started Steam. EA however, has done very little to support PC gaming and often does anti-consumer things like use SecuROM and they used to charge $7 for 1 year of insurance to redownload a digital purchase from their store. Valve has never charged for redownloading a Steam game.

I would rather have Steam integrate the PC gaming experience than have publishers fragment the hell out of it again and claw back all the consumer-friendly developments of the past few years.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space. Frankly im glad someone has stepped in that can muscle against Steam. To think that one company has such power over PC gaming is annoying. Leave fanboys devoted to corporations in the console arena, imo.

Hey I thought you hated DD

I think Valve does need competition though, I just don't think EA are the people to bring it. I happily use GOG because their system is really slick for example. And as Stump always says when this comes up, competition for the sake of it, which doesn't really offer tangible benefits, is rather useless. If EA want to compete with Steam they could start by not listing all their games at $10 over the Steam price.

 

[szaromir]

I honestly don't have a problem with this. EA wants that money and if Origin turns out okay, so be it. It's not a huge deal to download another storefront for me. Expect to see it more and more on PC. Why should a developer/publisher help another developer fund their games (which is basically what Valve uses that Steam money for)? Steam isn't just a neutral storefront.

In the end, the competition will turn out to be a good thing for us. Anyone who had an interest in BF3 saying they won't buy it now is just overreacting.

Yup.

What has Valve done thats bad? PC gamers didnt give them their market position on a silver platter. Steam was lambasted when it launched. Valve gets more scrutiny then any dev i know. Things like L4D2 and the evolving nature of TF2 would not be bitched about nearly as much if it wasnt Valve. Getting angry just cause you can reeks of rebellion against something thats popular and dominant just for the sake of rebelling.

People get angry over everything COD, BF, Halo and other games. You singling out TF2 is funny.

 

[bangai-o]

What has Valve done thats bad? PC gamers didnt give them their market position on a silver platter. Steam was lambasted when it launched. Valve gets more scrutiny then any dev i know. Things like L4D2 and the evolving nature of TF2 would not be bitched about nearly as much if it wasnt Valve. Getting angry just cause you can reeks of rebellion against something thats popular and dominant just for the sake of rebelling.

there is waaaaayyyyy more valve defense force than there is valve scrutiny. As a matter of fact, you cannot try to say anything negative about Valve/Steam around these parts.

 

[Nirolak]

BC2 only managed to hit 7 mil sales after releasing on 3 platforms and doing significant price cuts over the course of the year. I bet SC2 hit that mark in far less time on one platform while maintaining the 60$ price point.

Diablo 3 is prolly gonna be on 3 platforms and will fucking destroy just about anything in terms of sales.

As of February 9th, 2011 StarCraft II was still below 4.5 million copies sold: http://news.bigdownload.com/2011/02...-approach-4-5-million-units-still-no-release/

Given that they had sold over 3 million in the first month, their sales seem to have vastly slowed down.

In comparison, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had sold over 5 million copies in two months.

 

[dwebo]

EA however, has done very little to support PC gaming and often does anti-consumer things like use SecuROM and they used to charge $7 for 1 year of insurance to redownload a digital purchase from their store.

I don't have much experience with EA's digital store, having only bought ME1 ages ago when it was exclusive on there. But as far as their games go, EA brings most of their big multiplatform games to PC day and date with consoles. That's a whole lot better than most other publishers.

 

[Stallion Free]

In comparison, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had sold over 5 million copies in two months.

On PC?

 

[Fredescu]

This is why people are upset. EA most likely will deliver a blow to Valves dominance in the DD space.

EA force every game, console and PC, to go through their infrastructure. Then they shutdown support for games as they feel like. But yeah, sure, they'll be just as good as Valve!

 

[Zzoram]

there is waaaaayyyyy more valve defense force than there is valve scrutiny. As a matter of fact, you cannot try to say anything negative about Valve/Steam around these parts.

Valve has earned their PC and community cred. EA hasn't.

 

[water_wendi]

Why would they be likely to deliver a blow? They have had a store for years and Steam has still done well.

i should have worded that better. Less a blow and more as lessening their iron grip on the DD sector.

Valve has earned their PC and community cred. EA hasn't.

EA had PC cred long before Valve even birthed into existence. This is why i think it foolish to let their near monopoly go unchallenged. Companies change.

 

[faceless007]

I didn't say I want the game to be unavailable on other stores... quite the opposite actually. It appears that EA is singling out Steam, which is my preferred DD platform of choice. It's my preferred platform because I like the service, and I have an established account with a lot of games on it. I don't dislike other DD services, I just prefer Steam.

OK, that might not have been your argument, but others seem to have been arguing that so I was really using your post as a jumping off point to address that.

Like I said, it wouldn't bother me if they did the same thing what Valve and Blizzard do, keep their games completely exclusive to one DD.

See, I think for any self-respecting gamer, that should be more bothersome. Platform exclusivity is bad. We put up with it on Steam for various reasons but in the ideal world there would be no exclusivity. If EA games are on D2D, GG, and Origin, that's worse than if they're those 3 plus Steam, but still better than if they're only available on Origin.

I know it promotes less choice, but what EA is doing right now is giving all the people who bought their games on Steam a big "fuck you."

Uh, how? Everyone who already bought an EA game on Steam still has it, right? Do you think that entitled them to be able to buy all future EA titles on Steam? How does this move affect any current EA customer at all?

 

[Nirolak]

On PC?

You said SC2 hit 7 million, which is what I was refuting.

 

[szaromir]

Valve has earned their PC and community cred. EA hasn't.

You're either interested in their games or you're not. Pretending that the storefront is more important than the game itself is what matters here.

 

[Snuggles]

Valve has earned their PC and community cred. EA hasn't.

Truth. They've earned our trust, for now at least, while EA has done the exact opposite. It's not really hard to see. And I don't think that you can't say anything critical of Valve around here, you just have to actually say something instead of bu..bu...but GAF says this and that, wahh wahh.