Bohemia's Arma 3 becomes a Steam exclusive
Arma 3, Bohemia Interactive has announced, is not only to be a PC exclusive but will also be exclusive to Valve's Steam digital distribution platform.
The latest entry in the company's military simulation series, Arma 3 has suffered something a schedule slip from its originally-forecast 2012 release - not helped, in all likelihood, by the arrest and subsequent bailing of some of its developers under accusations of spying on a real-world military base. Despite this and other hiccoughs, the game is getting ready for release and - as our preview of the title from Gamescom 2012 shows - is looking pretty damn impressive.
If you're looking to upgrade from the four year old Arma 2, however, you're going to need to grab yourself a copy of Valve's Steam software - or use the one bundled with Arma 3, which is to be a Steam exclusive.
'As an independent developer, we’re constantly evaluating the way we develop, distribute and publish games. Valve [has] made tremendous improvements to their system, which made the installation/update process much more user-friendly - for both developers and customers,' explained Marek Španěl, company founder and chief executive, in a statement to press. 'We realize that some people may find it difficult to migrate to a new platform, especially if they were used to purchasing and playing our games without any external third-party application. We have evaluated the pros and cons, but in the end Steam enables us to release Arma 3, brings massive advantages to the game, and improves the end-user experience. Not to forget, the majority of our players already come from Steam.'
The announcement comes as developer Joris-Jan van't Land published a blog post detailing some of the difficulties that have led to the game's schedule slip, and defending his company's decision to switch to Steam - and, at the same time, eschew consoles by making Arma 3 a PC exclusive.
'The bottom-line,' van't Land claims, is this: 'we feel that without going Steam-exclusive, we would not be able to release Arma 3 in 2013.'
As well as being made available for purchase directly through Steam, Arma 3 will receive a retail release which includes a DVD with the game and a copy of the Steam client for those who have a limited or slow internet connection. Thus far, however, the company has not provided a firm release date beyond promising that Arma 3 will be a 2013 title.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyAs BF3 required you to install EA's equivalent...
as Assassins Creed required you to install Ubisofts...
....
I'm guessing he's referring to the title which could be misleading, it's not really Steam exclusive if I can buy it from Tesco.
Meh, if it was Steam exclusive then I wouldn't be able to buy it anywhere else.
It's a Steamworks title.
why dont you contact the company - since they made this announcement:
and tell them , they are in fact grammatically wrong and thats you , as a forum user know better....
Shock!
Horror!
What is this 'Steam' that everyone is talking about?
How will it work? How much will it cost? What are the system specs?!?!?!
If anyone else has information on this 'Steam' then please post! Can I buy Steam at Tescos too?!?!?!
Will there be other games on this 'Steam' of which you speak?
Lol, calm down bro, I've got an opinion so I'm sharing it.
So what you are saying is every time a company makes an announcement, it is always 100% factually and grammatically correct? That's what it sounds like you are saying.
Don't post articles with sensationalist titles then have a pop at forum users then.
As CrazyJoe said - it's a Steamworks title. That's it.
oh the joys of the internet >.>
sorry i came across like an ass didnt i - the company said `steam exclusive` by the owner
I will pre empt that with get over it, Steam has made PC gaming what it is today and is a valuable service.
I honestly don't mind Origin either. I love BF3 and I rarely have issues with origin. It is just natural change. We all know people done like change, but we only ever see it in old people who try new stuff and hate it. Well news for you, you are now getting old if you dont like the change in digital distribution.
Doubt I will play arma3, the only reason I would be interested is because of DayZ2, but I understand they are making it standalone using the arma3 engine now.
I purchased BL2 and installed Steam to play it, but I'll never play any game again that uses Steam. Steam continually f*cked up during the three month I played BL2.
Okay, I'll bite ;) I like Steam in many ways, with two notable exceptions: firstly, the high cost of some games relative to other retailers. I get that developers want to encourage multiple retailer channels, but when a digital download is three times the price (e.g. Killing Floor), what's the point?
Secondly, it's annoying that I can't sell games that I no longer play on Steam. In the old days, selling an old game was a handy way to pay for new games, but these days I just wait until the prices come down to a reasonable level (again, Killing Floor...£4.99 if you shop around).
Other than that, Steam is great :)
All Hail the Newell Order!
And when steam has the monopoly or even becomes the only place where you can buy games from if the game makers decide it's the only outlet through which they will sell their games you can obviously kiss any competition amongst game prices goodbye and it will be a case of "Buy from steam or f**k off".
Steam might now sometimes throw some appealingly priced games at customers but if they really get the market to themselves and have no competition to worry about steam and the game makers can charge what they like as there will be no reason for them to drop their prices and that will be the end of any cheap games.
But look at other Platforms like the PS Vita (download only, no media what so ever) and the problems Sony had recently, the PS4 could fail and fail hard, Sony's executives could quite easily pull the plug or even worse, Sony could fold. They don't have the luxury of being the respected brand they were in the 80's and 90's. Yes they have their core base of fans of course, it's no guarantee that they'll stick faithfully to one manufacturer/product. Like with anything in this life, there are only 2 certainties... death and taxes.
What I guess I'm trying to say is Steam, or Sony for that matter aren't immune to problems, and if recent events haven't already demonstrated, the high streets aren't what they used to be either.
Where do you place your trust and ultimately your wallet? I have no issue with Steam at present, I have over 90 games plus other software on Steam and I love it.... Oh, and I don't mind Origin either!
TL;DR
Steam is here, if you don't embrace it you'll miss out on Steamworks titles. It's your loss.
As has steam, I've ran it solidly over the past 7 years without issue at all even after a number of system rebuilds and formats its easy enough to pull down your purchased games!
Steam backups are your friend, or just install your Steam games to a non-OS drive and when you do a rebuild, run up Steam and it should rebuild your registry files and you'll have all your games instantly.
In fact, I've done this for both Origin and Steam and it works a treat.
As for the prices on Origin, it's swings and roundabouts. They have 40% off BF3 premium right now which I'm seriously considering, pre-ordering Sim City @ £65 still gives you £15 off your next purchase too so it pitches it in at £50 for a new title, which while it isn't exactly a fair price to pay,compare that with console new releases?
Fair enough, but my concerns about Steam are not so much about it's longevity my biggest issue is with the game manufacturers as more of them use Steam to distribute and activate their games, I object to paying £50 for a game that after it's one and only activation is worthless, not everyone can afford to buy a new game as soon as it is released and I have often sold older games to help pay for new ones but that's no longer possible and it's all very well saying that you just need to wait a while for the prices to drop but why should you have to do that when you can have a pile of perfectly good games sat on the shelf that have been activated and played once but can't sell as they are worthless, I think it's a shi**y way to treat gamers >:(
Yeah fair point, you're also paying for the convenience! That's why I bought BF3 from them, I wanted it there and then on a Sunday night, suited me :)
you might object , but they way PC games have gone is exactly what you have said , look at all the digital platforms now - you pretty much buy any game and it has a serial which is tied to a uplay/origin/steam account anyway