EA's decision to stick with Valve, rather than follow suit, is a major vote of confidence in Valve's continued role as the primary way most PC gamers still get most of their games. Publishers like Ubisoft, 2K Games, and many more have taken advantage of Epic's friendlier terms and revenue guarantees in moving exclusive titles away from Steam in recent months.

But Epic is also offering publishers a better revenue share and purchasing a wide array of exclusives that set it apart from both Origin and Steam. Much like Origin, Epic is slowly opening access to a variety of third-party publishers and using free game giveaways to attract attention, while also being criticized for a relative lack of features by many Steam fans. We have heard, we have made some changes already in terms of how we do things, and we're looking at more changes that we'll talk about over the coming months that really are gamer-focused.' Advertisementįurther Reading Borderlands 3 is the next big Epic Games Store exclusiveEA's return to Steam takes on added significance today, as Valve faces perhaps its most serious large-scale competition yet from the Epic Games Store. EA Executive Vice President Andrew Wilson acknowledged Origin's poor public reception in 2013, saying to those who had a 'less than optimal experience' with the service, 'We get it. While there was some merit to that argument, the fact that EA didn't have to pay Valve a 30% revenue cut for sales through Origin may have also played into the continuing decision to avoid Valve's popular storefront.īut Origin faced pushback from a contingent of Steam-invested gamers almost immediately, thanks in part to its lack of features and the prospect of managing a separate new friends list. Further Reading Editorial: What EA will lose if Battlefield 3 remains off SteamBack in 2011, when EA announced that Battlefield 3 would not be available on Steam, EA cited Valve's 'restrictive terms of service' that made it more difficult to distribute patches and DLC through the game client itself.

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