Valve head wants EA to return to Steam - gamescom 2011

Valve head Gabe Newell hopes to bring Electronic Arts and its games back to Steam.

Electronic Arts recently removed a number of its games from the Steam service, including Crysis 2 and Dragon Age II, and stated that Battlefield 3 will not be sold on Steam when it releases in October.

"I don't think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that," Gabe Newell told Develop. "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."

One suspected reason for EA's removal from Steam is Valve's policies which prevent publishers from selling DLC to users directly through the game. Instead, Valve requires DLC to be sold through Steam, from which Valve takes a cut of every purchase.

"Companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers' PCs on a regular basis," Newell said. "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."

Electronic Arts also recently launched its own distribution service, Origin, which is seen by many in the games industry as a direct competitor to Steam. Electronic Arts has not removed its games from other digital distribution services at this time.

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