According to an anonymous report BF3Blog received from inside Valve, the developer/publisher is currently in late-stage talks with EA in bringing Battlefield 3 to the Steam digital distribution service. The rumor says that Battlefield 3 would be available on Steam just in time for the game’s release on October 25.
According to the report, EA and Valve are very close to reaching an agreement regarding sales of DLC content, which is the main reason Battlefield 3 is not on Steam: Valve requires that all DLC is sold through Steam, while EA would prefer to sell via its own channels. This was the cause of another EA title, Crysis 2, for being pulled from Steam earlier this year.
Many PC gamers have lobbied both EA and Valve to put Battlefield 3 on Steam for a while now. It looks like it’ll finally happen soon.
We’ve reached out to EA and Valve for a comment on this story.


BF3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Hello EA chat? Yes I’d like to cancel my origin pre-purchaise.
EA Chat: No.
Why would they?
They did it when I pre-ordered Medal of Honor
You guys are dumb, who cares whether u have it on steam or origin? is really that big of an inconvenience to have to launch it thru origin? Oh and by the way, if you say its your birthday origin will give you a coupon code for 25% off any purchase. Bought my copy of BF3 for $45
@BWK
Who care’s? How about EA’s shit support, stupid price’s, EULA, non-ease of use (User=Alias change EA? EA= fuck off, we can’t do that)…
Steam has been used by some since the start. People have bought most of their game’s on it, and it is a great system. They have good deal’s, and have good customer support. They actually like to listen to their user’s, unlike EA. I for one don’t wan’t to be installing shitload’s of unneeded crap on my computer, origin is no exception. There is a reason steam is the most popular gaming platform on PC, & I could name a million more reason’s why steam is better, but unfortunately im too tired to talk any more.
Nuff’ said
BECAUSE IM NOT BUYING IT UNLESS THEY DO
so… the fact that it´s released on steam means more to you than playing the game… ? come on, where is the logic???
He says he’s not BUYING it…. Hint hint.
im not buying either until its on steam. im not going to install EA origin spyware just to play bf3
Smartest thing for EA to do would’ve been let it sell on Steam for full price, and discount it on Origin to $49.95 or $39.95. Incentivized rather than force-fed Origin and ended up with more net profit because people believe they *chose* Origin.
Because as it stands right now I refuse to buy any other games on Origin out of spite.
Did you actually read the article? It said that Valve REQUIRES all DLC to only be distributed via Steam. A digital copy is considered DLC, so using Steam would normally mean Origin could not be used. However, the guys at EA and Valve aren’t idiots (for the most part) and they’re trying to compromise, so we can only watch at the moment.
steam does require that if you want to sell dlc for your games, that you sell it via steam aswell. What steam doesn’t do is consider a digital copy of the game as DLC… if this where so, direct2drive and any other company like it wouldn’t be able to sell games like batman etc.
afaik there’s been only 2 reasons for EA to pull everything off of steam:
1) not being able to sell stuff via an in-game store without also selling it through steam(think DLC,hats and whatnot).
2) not being able to update their games in the frequency that they wanted(steam update protocol dictates that you can’t send 2000 updates in a matter of hours) without following the steam protocol(telling valve there’s a new update->sending it to valve for distribution). personally I really like that valve implemented this because it would force EA to release a good version of the game which for example they didn’t do with MOH.
So, can I cancel my preorder, or are we scewed now that we played the beta?
Nah i cancelled my preorder the other day after playing the beta they will just ask you some questions and cancel it for you
Looks like EA is trying to pull it’s battered reputation out of the publication disaster it has become.
I would also like to add that this leak might be deliberate. To ^
lol fail, that should be me. My brother must’ve come on.
I wonder what happens to the people who didn’t preorder digitally?
Could we validate it through Steam instead of Origin?
No, only origin, sorry.
It may work the other way around, though.
I purchased Battlefield: Bad Company 2 through Steam, and was able to activate the Product Key that Steam gave me through Origin.
People, just because you buy the game from Steam I doubt it means you won’t still need to have the Origin Client running in the background. I might be wrong, but who knows, that wasn’t mentioned after all….
There better not be. Otherwise it will be rage galore and majority are gonna switch to something else. The new CS being a good candidate, also RO2 and since Oblivion comes out as well I am capable of skipping. I really don’t want that crappy EULA on my PC.
PS3s fine since I don’t use it for anything but games, but having EA peak over your shoulder for everything you do sucks. I wouldn’t have minded if they were a bit more responsible with their business tactics, but they have ruined studios for money, it doesn’t mean they won’t do the same with their user-base. And I really could not be bothered having to reinstall my OS and switching my e-mail because I am being buried with spam.
My statement was just ruined because I said Oblivion instead of Skyrim………… Aw come on, everybody makes mistakes!
Red Orchestra Gameplay is fantastic, but the Visuals just make me want to cry. Its designed using one of the top Engines in the Industry, Unreal Engine 3, and yet it looks like 1998 had it’s Graphics Engines jacked… >.<
Doesn’t look that bad. I still play CS1.6 anyways and I have also played the original Deus Ex so I kinda don’t really mind graphics.
Gameplay>Graphics
Yeah but Source (CS Engine) is rather dated, and CS 1.6 itself isn’t exactly a 2011 release. CS remains an awesome game even today, but its not a fresh release, RO2 is, and the original Deus Ex was released in… Lol I forgot. 1999/2000? I played it too, it was great, but it was released like 10 years ago.
My point being Deus Ex graphics were reaaaally bad when it was released(2000). Still a great game though actually I think people have HD-ed it in order to reduce the eyesore it gives you to play it today.
It was seriously like ’95 graphics, kinda like releasing a game today that looked like Unreal Tournament 2004.
So Red Orchestra is not that aged. I’d say 2009-2010 graphics. It’s redeeming feature being insanely good animations, unlike games from that period. BF1943 doesn’t fall far from it and it is a good comparison. Except 1943 covers a lot of its ragged textures with bloom.
Well, one could argue, theoretically, that the Animations Quality hasn’t increased since the first RO Game, which was released on Unreal Engine 2.5, which is also the UT 2004 Engine, so the quality is around 2004-ish, at the most. 2010 though, no. I mean, sure, Bad Company 2 used the Frostbite 1.5 Engine, but even so, overall 2010 Games looked a lot better than RO2.
The original Deus Ex looked that bad? I don’t remember anymore. Back then couldn’t really tell the difference much personally though. Biggest jump imo has been from 240-480-720/1080p HD High-Res Textures in the last years, which really jumped things up. And yeah, heard of some sort of a Deus Ex HR Mod for the Original Game or something…
1943.. Hm. All the WW2 Games having lower Quality Animations… I get it. Its a Conspiracy! Yep. Totally. Lol.
Nah, there are some really nice little touches people normally underestimate. Kinda like TF2 it would have been unremarkable if it didn’t have them.
Also there are games that have been released in 2010 that look worse actually. There are better ones like Crysis that are older etc. but games like Dragon Age, Bioshock 2. Basically the majority of the games that year that made some sound but couldn’t afford AAA graphics.
Red Orchestra is not any different since it isn’t a big player in the market.
Good point. Splendid Graphics aren’t the focus of all Games (many times RPGs for example) but that Red Orchestra 2 couldn’t afford them? That’s just rather weird tbh. Take a look at say, Hawken. Designed with the same Unreal Engine 3 as RO2, team is brand new, and it looks infinitely better. Granted, totally different type of game, but if a team of 6 can do that with a very limited budget, I’m curious that RO2 can’t.
There is no difference between Hawken and RO2 actually. I think what gets to you is the fact that in RO2 you practically stick your face to the textures.
It certainly is not this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmWP0ZeD2tA .
Just so you know, this is just so that BF3 can be sold on steam. Origin WILL STILL be required to play BF3 as that is not changing.
I’ll buy the pc version if its on steam, otherwise just sticking to my xbox version mainly
Does it really matter where you purchase a game when you are required to have Origin to play it anyway? So cancel your order…buy it on Steam and then login to Origin to play it….lol…man….you’ll show them.
Hopefully I’ll have time to cancel my pre order on origin and get it on steam.
Soon as steam is confirmed I’m cancelling origin and get it from steam
first woohoo
Fail and last to get laid
Perhaps alternative headlines could have been: ‘EA didn’t get the pre-orders it expected through Origin, turns to Steam’ or ‘EA finally realizes it must participate in PC gaming market’.
smells like someone is trying to claw back some of those 34k cancelled preorders
Please… this very site has reported that EA has claimed to have over 1.25 million pre-orders. 34k worth of preorders is a substantial amount of money granted, but its nowhere near a ‘panic-mode’ amount.
£1,360,000 of sales?
I’d panic.
1.25 orders is 75 mil in sales US$. 34k cancels is only 2 million…no worries
FAKE:
https://twitter.com/#!/jimothy/status/121349015169286144
https://twitter.com/#!/Battlefield/status/121371012058193920
- PR-0927
you really expected them to turn round and say ” oh yeah, we screwed up on this one, were very very sorry and we are going to impliment everyone our community wants because they mean so much to us “
Public Relations Handbook 101 – Never confess your errors. Your Board will stone you.
I’ll be happy if it’s true!
Hopefully you guys here back from EA and Valve soon. I’m going to cancel my pre-order with origin if it comes to steam.
Do Want.
Sort this out and the whole in-game squad thing as well, and we nerds would possibly come over all silly! And maybe have a fit of the vapours.
Uh…Maybe you will, but most of us who are over 3 have managed to control our bodily functions
The ingame squad thing is fixed, spread the word so people get less bitchy.
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield3/comments/l0ng1/ingame_squad_menu_will_be_in_retail_version/
Hmmn, can it be? Has EA finally opened its eyes?
Yes! Yes! So long Origin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs
IF and by the sounds of it this is gonna be a big IF, IF it comes to steam AND the dlc will go through steam too, AND theres no need for origin what so ever, i mite be tempted to get it via steam, but i cant imagine EA will let it go on steam without some sort of origin involvment
Good to hear! I love steam even though I’m primarily a console player but I know people would rather have all their shit in one place than have to re-add friends and earn separate achievements on a different service
Would be nice, I was about to pre-order on origin and waiting for my money but if this is true. Haba!
Will it still use battlelog, because if so then I don’t care what it comes out on. Shit’s horrible
I canceled my preorder so fast when I got a good idea of just what kind of pos origin is. Now if you through steam dont need to install origin I will buy this game so fast I will even borrow money to get it.
I dont think they will let you get away with no origin but I’ll keep my hopes up till release.
oh god, please let this be true.
I like both, steam and origin. Not sure about you guys, but I don’t really give a shit where I launch my game from, as long as I can play and enjoy it. Which I certainly will. If EA can compromise with Gee Aye Bee Eee Ehn, good for them. It’s not like we would receive a different game in the end.
You’re not thinking longterm. I *do* give a shit where I launch my game, because I don’t want 20 different downloaders on my PC. And no its not 20 today, but if Origin makes any inroads then it’ll set a precedent and next thing you know Activision will have their “game store”, and all the other companies as well.
Good point, but then as sure as you’re born… some enterprising soul will come along and develop an application that will roll them all up into one “Master Game Launching Program” of some sort.
And then another ‘master game launcher’ will spawn, and we will have 20 master game launchers.
You know what was master launching games before?
1. Shortcuts on desktop.
2. A folder on desktop that is full of shortcuts.
Now using shortcuts takes away 30-60 MB from your RAM usage. And you can’t use the direct exe launching…
@kelleroid,
i completely agree….
I was infuriated with Steam when it started becoming a requirement to even install some games (ie Civ V)
U will probably still need origin to run game steam is just for download. Why would they kill of their own service completely by agreeing to use steam to run it?? I have no cue why ppl are bitching about origin really.
U will probably still need origin to run game steam is just for download. Why would they kill off their own service completely by agreeing to use steam to run it?? I have no clue why ppl are b*tching about origin really.
^this, its hard to believe EA will let steam version be entirely Origin free else they would be still holding out, somewhere along the line both of them probably had to make compromises.
I don’t see why people have problems with steam. Ea’s is just another pile of crap-ware they want to make you install. plus ea is just a pretty bad company with some pretty bad games.
ill stick w/ origin, and for only 2 reasons,
1. im lazy, and
2. steam would have to operate w/ origin for this to work, there will be many issues… imo, if this deal goes through, origin should shut down and move everything to steam, so as to not piss gamers off
at this point, origin is the colorful, childlike, less features, version of steam.
‘at this point, origin is the colorful, childlike, less features, version of steam’
hadn’t really thought of it that way, but yeah. Steam does have a bit too much going on for it’s own good.
plus, look at it like this: More competition usually breeds better evolution of the product.
Here’s the issue.
Steam is here for the long term, several companies have announced everything they release will be Steamworks now, Bethseda/THQ, and hell, even Activision has put out a few feelers for Steamworks games from now on out.
EA is the only group throwing a real hissy fit with Origin.
Now, if EA actually put in the effort to be competition, then I’d be all for it, if they worked with Activision, THQ, 2K and the rest, and got some of their products up, put out some good sales, and put in a bunch of nice features, the hell yes, competition means even lower price points, and other nice stuff, however this is not a competition, EA is trying to skulk in the corner with the few toys it has ( BF3, TOR, ME3 ), and is attempting to force people to play by its rules if they want to play with him.
Why buy BF3/ME3 from Origin when I can just wait a year for EA to forget about this Origin nonsense, drop it, then buy it on Steam for $5.
What is the sense of cancelling your pre order from Origin? You wouldn’t benefit from the free DLC and you still HAVE to run Origin to play the game on PC. Having it on Steam wouldn’t change this. You would only be running more crap in the background. Steam/Origin/BLog/BF3.
n00bs.
This guy is right…
Wouldn’t it be Steam/Blog/BF3 ?
I doubt Steam would be necessary, since there’s no Game Menu. Just go Battlelog – Campaign/Multi-Player, let it launch BF3 and Origin/Steam if it needs to.
No, you don’t have to run Origin to launch BF3. That was in the beta for testing. When the retail game comes out, all you have to do is go in through battlelog.
Unless you preorder on origin, in which case you’ll have to launch through Origin, iirc their FAQ.
)
But i think those who didn’t buy a digital version won’t have to use origin (at least I hope so
No, they’ve already said all versions of the Game (Digital/Physical/Limited Edition/Whatever) will require Origin.
That probably means Steam version too.
I don’t think we can forget about Origin. It might be smth like this.
You start Steam -> Start BF3 -> Which actually starts Origin -> You go to BattleLog -> You start the game from there.
But I’m afraid there is no chance for proper in-game menus for BF3. Nor really integrated BattleLog. I still think they could have done a very cool and better looking BattleLog in the game than in the browser.
But today I had problems with my browser and had to reinstall the BF3 plugin. And delete my profil fort the browser (Google Chrome) to be able to join games again. But in the end still failed. For some reason ping is <10 but servers are lag riddled. I'm not touching the full version before first major update which will probably happen when next BF title nears release. Like the latest patch for BFBC2 which fixed all the big issues I experienced in the game.
The new BC2 update made lots of players join clan [Invalid]
haha xD
Yea, it will be a pain in the ass to launch this game:
Try to open game from Steam, which open Origin, then Battlelog and finally you can browse a server and open the game. Oh wait, you have to click “Open Game” one last time…
I bet you can’t even use Steam overlay just like some MMOs from Steam or you probably have to make a bloody tricky method to make the game use Steam overlay.
You can add origin into ur steam games, and use Steam overlay on those games. Dont know if you consider that ‘bloody tricky’ tho…