by IvanTSR » 24 Apr 12, 1:50 pm
PalZer0 wrote:IvanTSR wrote:So you're saying they developed Origin for reasons other than the fact that it allows them to make more money? Please do elaborate and provide some substance to whatever conspiracy theory is likely to follow...
Not saying that at all. They can sell their games on their own DD service if they like. The point I made is that
they'd be making more money by selling their games and DLC on Steam as well instead of withholding and pulling those games and DLC from Steam and forcing us onto Origin for them (which flies directly in the face of what you think EA developed Origin for).
EDIT: The way they're marketing Origin (making Valve look like the bad guys in DD with Steam's "restrictive terms of service") is also deplorable and was never going to win them any fans either.
You are saying that. You actually think they would have decided to deploy only through Origin knowing it would be a hit financially. I'm pretty sure they are bound by responsibility to their shareholders which, in a litigous environment such as the United States, is generally not taken lightly.
EA are a multi-national corporation. Huge. They deliver product to quite a few people. If they want to take control of the way they distribute their product within the market instead of having it dictated to them by a third party,
good on them.
In business terms Steams' terms of service are actually pretty restrictive. Usually as a distributor you take a fair bit of direction from the company you depend on to have a business in the first place. However, through virtue of the fact that Steam got (successfully) into the digital delivery space before anyone else and doing it better than anyone else, Steam has managed to turn the traditional model of a distribution business on its head - where the publisher actually needs to be able to list it's product on Steam in order to get the most out of the PC market. So rather than the publisher trying to get exlusive selling rights to maximise profit, Steam has really strict (and lucrative) terms of service as publishers need to be able to list on Steam to have access to their market.
Enter EA. Huge business, looking at delivering some of the biggest titles it has in almost a decade and Steam are like sorry mate you have to do it our way. EA are not about to be told what to do in a business deal by a company they could likely buy and sell a few times for fun.
So Steam aren't 'bad guys', they just tried to push a business deal to hard and the other party skipped out and decided they could do it themselves (they've succeeded too btw).
All of this sounds really reasonable to me. I dont get your problem with it.