EA Games is returning to Steam.
The gaming juggernaut surprised gamers by stating that they will once again begin releasing games on Steam, as well as dipping into their back catalog a bit. The news was revealed on EA’s website.
“Electronic Arts and Valve have partnered to put EA games into the hands of the players on Steam. Starting next spring, EA Access, our ever-growing subscription service powered by great games and member benefits, will be making its way to Steam,” the publisher said in a statement. “EA Access is the first and only gaming subscription service available on Steam, and the fourth platform featuring an EA subscription.”
EA will return to Steam with the release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which launches on November 15. It was also noted that other titles, specifically Apex Legends, FIFA 20, and Battlefield V, will be added to Steam “next year.” Players from Steam and Origin will be playing on the same servers.
It is unclear how many other titles will make the jump onto Steam.
Are Valve and EA Games working together against the Epic Games Store?
From 2007 to 2012, EA Games had a working relationship with Valve that saw many of its titles released on Steam. Though its iconic sports games didn’t make the jump, big releases like Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, and Command and Conquer 3 were all made available on Steam.
Signs of tension between Valve and EA started to show in 2011 following the release of the Origin digital distribution service. Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2 were pulled from Steam, which was followed by the announcement in 2012 that Mass Effect 3 would not launch on the Valve-owned platform. This marked the end of the relationship between the two companies, though official releases of DLC for The Sims 3 continued.
Though EA is set to add other recent releases, it’s not yet known if games like Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, or Titanfall might find their way onto Steam.
Though this was likely an attempt by EA to try and transform Origin into a competitor to Steam, that never came to fruition. Meanwhile, Epic Games is coming much closer to realizing that goal with the Epic Games Store.
While nobody’s sure how these two sides came together, the news comes at a time when Epic Games has been securing the exclusive PC distribution rights to a slew of titles. This began with Metro: Exodus, and has since seen other prominent releases such as Borderlands 3 and The Walking Dead: The Final Season.
There is a strong chance that these two companies found their way back to one another as a result of this.
