BioWare has confirmed that Electronic Arts' PC platform EA Origin will be a mandatory requirement for boxed and digital versions of Mass Effect 3 on PC.
In a post on the official BioWare forums, community coordinator Chris Priestly also confirms that Mass Effect 3 will not be available from Steam at launch.
"During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other thirdparty digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time," he writes. "Steam has adopted a restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and downloadable content.
"We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers."
If that sounds familiar, it's because Priestly is repeating the EA company line which has been in place since it confirmed last August that Battlefield 3 would not be available on Valve's popular distribution platform. Later that month Valve boss Gabe Newell said he hoped to resolve the dispute, but evidently those efforts met with little success.
Mass Effect 3 will be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PC on March 6 in North America, and March 9 in Europe.
Source: BioWare
Comments
2Too bad I won't install Origin on my PC ever, EA. Forcing me to either torrent the game or give up my rights to privacy with Origin's EULA seems a bit of a strange battle that you are going to lose 100% of the time.
No problem. I don't buy EA games anymore.