Gaming giant Electronic Arts has announced a very unexpected partnership with PC gaming titan Steam. Starting with the launch of the highly-anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on November 15, more and more EA published titles will make their way onto Steam.
The age of publisher-specific game stores and launchers has quite the turn today, with EA officially declaring a new partnership with Valve. The big publisher behind lots of blockbuster franchises like FIFA, Madden, Battlefield and more, parted ways with Steam early in the decade to offer their games exclusively through their own launcher Origin. It’s hard to say why Electronic Arts is changing their policy. An obvious thought would be that Origin is simply not generating enough profit for EA and the massive user base of Steam is too enticing. Another cause could be Valve themselves. Their most direct competitor Epic has been aggressively pushing to dissuade publishers and developers of releasing their games on Steam. Could it be that Valve has made EA an offer by slashing their own revenue cut? It’s all speculations and rumors and frankly, don’t matter.
A library of titles awaits you in The Vault, but beyond the games themselves, EA Access enhances your gaming experience with a medley of rewards. Get the red-carpet treatment with exclusive catalog-wide discounts, and in-game member benefits for some of our biggest franchises.
It’s ultimately great news for gamers and consumer choice. Going forward customers will have the choice to buy Electronic Art’s games wherever they decide, and not a company. And it’s not just games that are making their ways onto Steam. In an even bigger twist, Electronic Arts will also bring their gaming subscription EA Access to Steam. This will mark the first time a gaming subscription will be available on Steam. Does this mean other publishers will bring their own subscription services – Uplay+, Xbox Game Pass for PC – to Valve’s storefront in the future? Time will tell.
Look forward to next month, when Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order kicks off EA’s and Steam’s new partnership. You can pre-order it on Steam right now.