In an interview with Develop, Valve boss, Gable Newell explained the tight situation they face with EA, which resulted in EA pulling off vital games like Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 from Steam. He called them a “complicated set of issues”.
“I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that,” he said.
“We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that”
“Companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers’ PCs on a regular basis. The same thing is true of Steam. We have to prove we are creating value on an ongoing basis, whether it’s to EA or Ubisoft or whoever.”
“We really want to show there’s a lot of value having EA titles on Steam. We want EA’s games on Steam and we have to show them that’s a smart thing to do”.
“I think at the end of the day we’re going to prove to Electronic Arts they have happier customers, a higher quality service, and will make more money if they have their titles on Steam. It’s our duty to demonstrate that to them. We don’t have a natural right to publish their games.”
Battlefield 3 releases on October 20th and won’t be released on Steam.