Not sure what you mean, I bought the THQ pack for $49.99 during the steam sales a few days ago and it came with Metro 2033,Zubinen

If you had READ my entire post you would "be sure of what I meant". I explained in that post that THQ has a deal with a retail UK games store that prevents them from releasing games in the UK on steam till some time AFTER they have been launched elsewhere. I believe Homefront wasn't released in the UK steam store till several weeks AFTER it had been released everywhere else in the UK. The same is happening with Saints Row 3 a game that even has steam works in it. If you live in the UK you cannot play this game without having Steam installed but at the same time you are not allowed to buy it from Steam till long after it has launched everywhere else.

That was an artifact of the vendor that offered the download hosting for them initially - Digital River - and it was entirely on the vendor's end. They ditched that ASAP.Makari

Well you can believe it was "entirely on the vendor's end" if you like but we are talking about a multi-billion dollar company here. Do you honestly think that EA were not aware that the vendor was going to offer those terms to paying customers ? I am sure EA were quite literally smacking their corporate lips at the thought of people having to pay "insurance" for a game download or having to re-buy their game every 3 months. I think the bigger reason that whole thing was scrapped was down to the fact PC gamers were a bit more savvy a few years ago and were not going to get suckered into a crappy scheme like that.

At the very least it shows extremely poor judegement by EA to employ a partner that offered those truly moronic terms when Steam was already "steaming" ahead and allowing people to download their games as often as they want for as long as they want.

When there is competition, everyone wins.realguitarhero5

I find it difficult to believe that competition can occur when you have companies such as EA carrying out anti-competitive practices.

Remember back in '03 or '04 when Steam was released? It was a digital distribution service that only included Valve's games. Everyone hated it.realguitarhero5

Yeah I also remember when EA launched their download service a few years ago. I remember when they only allowed you to download the game for three months and I remember them also trying to charge an extra £5 just so you would have the ability to download the game for up to 1 year. I bet if Valve had tried that in 2003 they would have been laughed out of the room.

I'll never understand what's so hard about having the same login info on all DD stores. A good deal is a good deal, why should I care where it comes from?

Baranga

I would say that is a horrible idea for security reasons alone, if one DD company gets hacked then all your accounts are at risk. I have a different password for different forums never mind sites I use my credit card on.

In all honesty, I won't be getting it due to it not being on steam... I will be getting Saints Row : The Third though, and that is on steam :DReach-The-Myth

THQ the publishers of Saints Row 3 are even worse than EA when it comes to steam. I had planned on buying Saints Row 3 even had my credit card ready when Steam announced it was "available to pre-order". Then I was greated with "not available in your region" ...... I live in the damn UK for christs sake, it is available for sale retail and other DD sites in the UK but not from steam. I mean hell the game even has steam works so you have to have steam installed to play the thing.

I have since discovered that THQ has a deal with a UK retail outlet called GAME that means they cannot release their games on steam in the UK until a certain period AFTER it has launched. So since the game is "not available" in my region I can hear my wallet saying "hey guess what my money isn't available in your region either".

Naturally I am not buying Battlefield 3, I wouldn't say that the fact it isn't on steam is the major reason why I am not buying it. However it does factor into the decision, I don't support companies that use tactics to reduce my ability to CHOOSE where I want to buy my games from.

I try to buy all my games from steam, even if companies such as THQ try their best to prevent me from doing so.

EA had the EADM prior to Origin, since EA had a store before Steam, they were first. Publishers don't have to make agreements to license their games to other resellers. A publisher can pull Steam's license anytime they want if an agreement isn't followed.topsemag55

Steam was released on the 21st September 2003 are you telling me that EA had a digital download store earlier than that ? Because I would like to see some proof of that.

Because as I said it is the publishers that decide how much DD sites should charge for a game. Now a DD site can decide to sell the game slightly cheaper if they wish but that "discount" will come out of their slice of the pie. So if a Publisher says "sell this game for £30" and Steam knocks 25% off that price that goes from Vavle's share not from the publishers.

Why could CDP give people money back well it was their own game, some would ask the question why the hell didn't they just sell it at the right price in the first place ? The 1Euro=1USD situation is NOT limited to just steam. It is practised in nearly every walk of life be it computers, washing machines or hell even food.

I can point out many games cheaper on Direct2Drive, Gamersgate, Gog, etc. than on Steam. Steam DOES play a part in the pricing. Not a major one, but they have their say.

Mischievity

Then you know what the solution is, if you find some one selling the same thing at a cheaper price vote with your wallet. The 1Euro=1USD thing you are complaining about though is NOT something to do with steam it is something to do with the software industry (hello nearly every consumer market does this kind of crap).

It is acceptable, because people don't complain about Steam which has the same exact thing in their TOS, but Steam is not EA, so of course what EA does is not acceptable and evil. Why are you contradicting yourself?DanielDust

Again it is a matter of TRUST yes I trust Valve and Steam a hell of a lot more than I trust EA or Origin. I am not saying EA is evil I am saying they don't give two craps about their customers and as such I have absolutely no faith in their Origin service. I remember an EA DD service that only let you download the game for 3 months unless you paid extra, I see an EA that has in it's TOS that is has deleted about 7% of it's content, I see an EA that makes a routine habit of closing down support for older titles (most are not even 10 yrs old).

Now you obviously like Origin and that is up to you but at least try and understand why some people do not trust this service. I would love to see an Origin service that competes with steam, why would I not want that ? I mean it gives me more options. But the problem is EA has a totally different philosophy to Valve and it is one that is detrimental to me and puts share holders interests over my interests.

You clearly didn't read what I wrote.

Mischievity

You clearly don't understand the way things work, Steam DOES NOT set the pricing on titles they do not develop or publish. The price for The Witcher on Steam is the price that CDP wants Steam to charge for it. That is it end of story, I can't image why CDP would make steam charge a higher price for the same product and then they voluntarily undercut steam with their own service though ............. oh wait yes I can :roll: