Dragon Age 2 removed from Steam

By Robert Purchese Published 27 July, 2011

EA Hawkes wares on Origin.

Dragon Age 2 has been removed from sale on Steam.

Officially, no one yet knows why.

The Steam disappearance of Dragon Age 2 coincided with release of the Legacy DLC. This content is sold through an in-game Store - perhaps this violated Steam's code of conduct.

Breaking Steam's rules was the reason eventually given for Crysis 2's removal from Steam. It wasn't, as many first suspected, EA pulling the game from market leader Steam in order to promote its own, newly redesigned, digital distribution outlet Origin.

Both Crysis 2 and Dragon Age 2 are available from EA's digital distribution site Origin.

There are convincing reports that Battlefield 3 won't be sold on Steam, and we already know that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a digital exclusive for Origin.

The Dragon Age 2 Legacy DLC costs 800 BioWare Points on PC. The content offers "several new locations" to explore, including a prison made by the Grey Wardens, as well as the promise of uncovering the truth behind hero Hawke's lineage and looting a powerful class-specific, upgradeable weapon.

Legacy.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (60) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CaptainKid #1 10 months ago

    ANOTHER EA distribution program?
    First it was Store then something else and now this.

    Whatever, last time I tried to use it it was a mess. I'm done.

  • MatteG #2 10 months ago

    ''DLC costs 800 BioWare Points''

    Bioware Points

    Are you kidding me.........

  • bobfish09 #3 10 months ago

    It can't be DLC related, as both DAO and ME2 DLC is sold exclusively through EA and not through Steam, just like this.

    Unless Steam changed it's policy since the last ME2 DLC was released...

  • Shikasama #4 10 months ago

    Good, it's shit.

  • kickerconspiracy #5 10 months ago

    The game's pretty crappy anyway, so no great loss.

  • username84 #6 10 months ago

    Hopefully this will spare some fortunate people from having to spend 70 hours of soul numbing tedium.

  • Murton #7 10 months ago

    "Unless Steam changed it's policy since the last ME2 DLC was released..."

    I seem to remember when Crysis 2 disappeared it was due to a recent change in Steam policies, I think this one going at the same time as a new DLC might be coincidence.

    It'll be interesting to see if Steam backs down or continues this semi-standoff with EA. Of the big name publishers THQ seems to be the one on the best terms with Steam so by trying their luck EA are only making more space for their competition and considering THQ's lineup for the next 12 months I'm not sure if it's a good idea to be pissing off the biggest digital retailer in the already quite tight PC market.

  • abigsmurf #8 10 months ago

    Ah origin... The digial service that charges you £5 extra for pre-ordering a digital download and somehow, only has "limited stock" of their premium edition downloads.

  • SClaw #9 10 months ago

    I'm going to be hugely unpopular for saying this; but I like Origin. It looks better than Steam, it's less of a resource hog and it actually has some pretty good sales on it. There is room on my PC for both Steam and Origin, so I'm not going to make a fuss about either one (and, you should note, it's not like you actually need to run Origin to play EA games so don't pretend it's anywhere near as bossy as Steam).

  • 43n1m4 #10 10 months ago

    This is the beginning of the decentralization (de-steaming if you will) of the DL services on PC. Whether this is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen.

  • mortiz666 #11 10 months ago

    I'll probably get Origin eventually. It isn't really a competitor for STEAM since all it sells is EA games, STEAM will still be the place to go to for games made by other publishers and the indie stuff. What I hope this doesn't do is spur other publishers in making their own distribution platforms, I'm not really keen on 10 different ways to get content.

  • TheNinkyNonk #12 10 months ago

    No bad thing IMHO. Why shouldn't the producers of a game have full control over the way in which it's distributed?

  • GamesConnoisseur #13 10 months ago

    Actually I m of the opinion that despite how much loved Steam is by PC gamers, far better and healthy to have a multiple competing digital stores than under one umbrella.

    I m hoping Ubisoft will finalise their UPlay (Shop coming soon) flirtations, then big publishers all have their own, and so prices will be under pressures by each other.

    A monopoly over a period of time, is the one that will charges what it can get away with, as no one to undercuts it.

  • StooMonster #14 10 months ago

    Why shouldn't the producers of a game have full control over the way in which it's distributed?

    Because they are doing it to be anti-competitive and charge the end-user more money (if not in the short-term then certainly in the long-term)?

  • Flipper79 #15 10 months ago

    @abigsmurf - you don't pay £5 extra for preordering, it's a deposit towards the game. The standard edition of TOR is £44.99, and you're billed £5 straight away and then £39.99 on release. Although that is still dumb and I agree with you re the deluxe edition.

  • arcam #16 10 months ago

    I m hoping Ubisoft will finalise their UPlay (Shop coming soon) flirtations, then big publishers all have their own, and so prices will be under pressures by each other.

    A monopoly over a period of time, is the one that will charges what it can get away with, as no one to undercuts it

    This only works if the games are available in multiple stores. If all publishers have their own store to sell their own games, that would mean significantly less price competition than exists today.

  • HL706 #17 10 months ago

    So, I bought DA2 from Steam on release (buyers remorse is still strong!) and I'm just wondering. If I wanted to re-install the game, will I still be able to download it?

    Let's face it, I hate the game and will likely never play it again, but I'd be even more annoyed if I'd ponied up the cash for it and just lost the "right" to play it again because of the distributer I picked.

  • jon1138 #18 10 months ago

    boycott !

  • StooMonster #19 10 months ago

    GamesConnoisseur: far better and healthy to have a multiple competing digital stores than under one umbrella.

    Agree that having multiple competing muti-publisher digital stores is best, this will drive innovation, customer service, prices, functionality, DRM rules, number of downloads, management of DLC, etc. and be best for end-users.

    I m hoping Ubisoft will finalise their UPlay (Shop coming soon) flirtations, then big publishers all have their own, and so prices will be under pressures by each other.

    I disagree that big publishers all having their own exclusive stores is in anyway good, the end result will be the opposite of competing individual multi-publishers platforms because they are competing with each others games and not the platform; they will have no reason whatsoever to make the platform good or spend more than the tinniest amount on it.

    Furthermore, the idea that publisher exclusive platforms will lead to price competition is without basis, what is a more likely result is a cartel where prices are fixed at high levels.

    Higher prices is the obvious goal, otherwise why would they do it? Can you see EA etc spending millions of dollars on a platform so they can sell you games more cheaply? Where's the return on investment? Their pricing on Origin is indicative of where this is going.
    Edited by StooMonster at 27/07/11 @ 10:47

  • Murton #20 10 months ago

    "Because they are doing it to be anti-competitive and charge the end-user more money (if not in the short-term then certainly in the long-term)?"

    They're not charging more money though, they're charging the actual RRP before retail discounts, meaning more revenue from them as they're not selling at the wholesale price offered to retailers. In an ideal world DD would be cheaper than retail as there's no need for manufacture and transport, but anti-competition laws prevent them from under-cutting retail.

    Also data center maintenance and bandwidth don't come cheap, I'm not sure the cost saving from going fully digital will allow for a price drop, this idea that publishers can charge the wholesale price (or near to it) for DD and still make a profit is insane. The only reason wholesale prices lead to profit at the moment is due to the number of units sold to retailers, something that we consumers will never match so the retail price will stand regardless.

  • apoc_reg #21 10 months ago

    Anyone beleive that Crysis 2 crap now?!

    Seriously guys you neee to not use origin at all, if it fails they will give up.

    I dont mind competion but rather than offering a good service they are just playing dirty. Expensive and crap is what Origin is.... no thanks!

  • arcam #22 10 months ago

    but anti-competition laws prevent them from under-cutting retail.

    If you have a link or other evidence I'll read it, but I find that very hard to believe. I also have trouble believing your claim that removing manufacturing, distributing and a retailer's cut(!) won't make up for the bandwidth and running costs of a digital download-only future.

  • Limimi #23 10 months ago

    To ApplesAndOranges: Yeah, god damned EA! We all know they lied to the International gaming media about Steam pulling their product - not them doing it! I also think it was really great of Steam to not challenge that outright lie in any way shape or form. God EA are so EVIL!!


    idiot.

    To HL706: I don't have Dragon Age 2 on Steam, but I was able to register my steam cd keys of Mass Effect and BFBC2 on Origin, so I would think you should be able to do likewise.

    Anyway, on to the topic at hand, I really hope this whole hissy fit stops soon. I know that multiple platforms is good for competition and the consumer, but it's no good if games are only available via the publisher's product - then the publisher sets all of the pricing. If you want to see how ridiculous that can get, come and check out Steam's prices in Australia. Publishers set the pricing, but because it's digital distribution most publishers are content with letting products go for the same price (or similar prices) internationally. Then you have a publisher like Activision, who charge $90 (USD) for 007 Blood Stone.

    That will in no way get better if every publisher starts their own content delivery platform.

  • StooMonster #24 10 months ago

    Murton: They're not charging more money though, they're charging the actual RRP before retail discounts,

    Right, but RRP is only on their distribution platform. It is inevitable that prices will go up in the longer term.

    anti-competition laws prevent them from under-cutting retail

    Really? Which anti-competition law is that? Rather, it's a relationship with the retailers they don't want to harm in the short-term -- they still shift millions of console titles after all -- but there's no law against pricing more cheaply on digital platforms.

    Moreover, if your point was true then no platform for online distribution of games would ever be cheaper than RRP and undercut retail, how would you write a law for that?

    Also data center maintenance and bandwidth don't come cheap

    Exactly, so why are they doing it? They are a business, it is to generate more earning and create shareholder value (which is fine, because I love capitalism) but it's laughable that people think it's for any other reason than a profit motive.

    EA's management must believe that they will earn more profit by selling PC games via their own platform exclusively than through muti-publishers platforms, otherwise they would not be doing it. Are they going to earn more profit by cutting costs or by increasing prices, or doing both?

  • arcam #25 10 months ago

    Actually I think as the dust settles on digital downloads, publishers will find reducing prices will result in more profit.

    But you can't blame them for trying to get us used to high prices. If digital gets known as cheap they will have trouble changing that later. Better to establish expectations of higher prices now - gives them some wiggle room later.

  • Lord_BeeJee #26 10 months ago

    I bought Mass effect this weekend and tried to get the DLC, its free with the game but you still need to get a reg key for it and find where you can download it. It was hell. 15 minutes on chat with someone who can only copy-paste but does not speak decent English and than a 30 minute queue to get me a link to an obscure dysfunctional bioware site + an EA place holder registration key that I could borrow to install?? Fuck you EA, your game selling skills are shit!

  • StooMonster #27 10 months ago

    Microsoft just put the prices up on XBLM because lowering prices on digital distribution is for the win ... not.

  • Irien #28 10 months ago

    Whilst it sounds good on paper for each publisher to have control over their own products, if this means a separate "always running" manager program for every publisher, it's ridiculous. As things stand, most PCs take an age to boot, and this would be even more unwieldy. Services like GamersGate make more sense, as there are no "always-on" clients.

    However, from a consumer's perspective, having suppliers competing in a single marketplace (Steam) is generally for the best, as the suppliers will compete to offer the best deals. Think about a market hall - lots of stand holders, all wanting your business. If each stand holder had their own markethall, then sense of competition would be much lower, with less need to attract customers.

  • jumpdeveraux #29 10 months ago

    Publishers fully verticalising into only offering their games via their own portals also means it is easier for them to force new commercial models on consumers for their big titles... as it's the only place to buy them.

    I can easily see the next steps being a subscription fee for online multiplayer and a phasing out of boxed copies (no boxes in say 3 years).

  • Slamhound #30 10 months ago

    HL706 and Limimi: You can redeem the DA2 product key on Origin. If you still have the Steam edition installed, Origin will launch that rather than asking for fresh install.

    As much as I abhor Origin (If a digital distribution service doesn't update its products or its own client software automatically without prompting, then it fails.), I might just register all the EA games I've bought on Steam. I've got a funny feeling this shit is going to become depressingly common now.

  • septimus #31 10 months ago

    I have just gotten back into PC gaming in a big way again. If this shit continues I am going to stop and go back to consoles. Patch from where ever you want on my 360 EA as I won't give a fuck; unless you make me install your "dashboard" as Microsoft can't be trusted to deliver patches. Cocks.

  • marmaduke #32 10 months ago

    I find this strange since Mass Effect 2 makes you buy DLC through Bioware, and that's still on Steam. Maybe it's because it's an in-game store rather than a website?

  • Seoh #33 10 months ago

    @HL706

    Yes you should be able to re-download via steam, its all still there just you can't buy it there anymore, alternately you can take your CD key and put it into origin and download from there.

  • arcam #34 10 months ago

    It certainly will continue.

    The games industry has moved way past just selling copies of games. Pretty much every big publisher has stated that the future is games as a service, not games as a product.

    Getting your products out to the widest audience to maximise sales is no longer the biggest concern of a publisher. Much, much more important is connecting with those customers, being able to contact them and interact with them. Any publisher not building a network right now is failing in the eyes of shareholders.

    Basically building and monetising (ugh) a network is more important than just selling games. Just ask Microsoft and Xbox Live, they'll tell you the same.

  • abigsmurf #35 10 months ago

    @Flipper79

    Nope, someone got in contact with a customer support rep and confirmed that the £5 was indeed in addition to the price above it. It wasn't a deposit.

    Apparently we're supposed to believe it has an RRP of £50.

  • StooMonster #36 10 months ago

    @ApplesAndOranges: I accidentally missed out the word "muti-publisher" in the first paragraph, as I thought it was implied in the second paragraph where I specifically state publisher exclusive platforms are bad. So I added it, in bold. :)

    there will be lots of different services, but they will not be competing

    That was what the rest of my post says too, there is no incentive for publisher exclusive platforms to be competitive in any way (be it price or features such as auto-updating themselves).

    As arcam and others point out there's been plenty of announcements about the future of games being 'services' rather than 'products' and publishers launching their own platforms is the first step in that direction, the next step is exclusive distribution via those platforms.

  • Limimi #37 10 months ago

    To ApplesAndOranges: This EA = Bad, Valve = Good belief system which led to people like you and apoc_reg making flagrantly idiotic comments is getting ridiculous. I think Steam is great, but Valve are a business and unless you are a shareholder you shouldn't have the kind of loyalty to them that would lead you to ignore basic common sense.

  • doragonpawwa #38 10 months ago

    Well that's another customer lost.. loved the first Dragon Age but the second just doesn't feel right. I'm a bit glad

  • Lexx87 #39 10 months ago

    I'd have gone for it cheap on a Steam sale, now you can kiss my ass.

  • Lord_BeeJee #40 10 months ago

    @Limimi
    Valve is privately owned, they don't answer to shareholders putting pressure on short-term earnings. That's what makes them a different kind of company compared to the likes of ea and activision.

  • oerhoert #41 10 months ago

    I was waiting to get it cheap on a Steam sale, too. I'm very much NOT going to install Origin for that, and I doubt it will hit impulse purchase territory (10 euro or so) as soon on there.

  • cw- #42 10 months ago

    @abigsmurf

    you're wrong, it's £5 deposit and £39.99 for the game

    [link url=https://preorder.origin.com/?&locale=en_GB
    ]https://preorder.origin.com/?&locale=en_GB
    [/link]
    At the top it says

    Standard Edition
    Digital £44.99
    Pre-Order £5.00

    and then if you scroll down and look at the break down/ total it says


    Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ (Pre-Order) Standard Edition £39.99
    Pre-Order £5.00
    YOUR TOTAL £44.99
    Inclusive of VAT/GST where applicable

  • Slamhound #43 10 months ago

    Marmaduke: I sincerely doubt that it's due to the DLC being only available through other markets. There are plenty of games on Steam where you can only buy DLC through their channels as opposed to Steam, and I doubt they'll get pulled.

    The fault lies solely with EA. End of discussion. No matter what happens or what is said next, I'm betting that this whole sordid affair is due to EA not getting what they want from Valve and choosing to just take the ball home with them.

    I've generally been easygoing regarding all the crap that's been thrown at the PC gaming market over the years, but being denied the use of a product I've paid for on the service I want to use is dangerously close to the line.

  • cw- #44 10 months ago

    It wouldn't surprise me if EA broke the terms and conditions set by Valve on purpose, so that their game(s) would get pulled from Steam by Valve.

  • eviroboy #45 10 months ago

    Good, it's about time Steam had a rival. The days of their monopoly should be numbered. Piece of shit clings to the insides of your PC like ivy.

  • Gastrian #46 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • HL706 #47 10 months ago

    Cheers guys - I feel slightly better knowing I can re-download one day if the notion grabs me.

  • arcam #48 10 months ago

    Secondly having games on Steam does not increase competition.

    Not price competition. But competition on service, which really is just as important. If BF3 is on Steam and on Origin at the same price, competition is there - customers will make a decision based on whatever factors other than price are important to them. And if many customers are choosing Steam over Origin, maybe EA would lower the Origin price to encourage people to use it.

    Just because Tesco and Sainsbury both sell Andrex toilet paper for £2.47, or Play.com and Shopto.net both sell Gears of War 3 for £39.99, that doesn't mean they aren't providing competition for each other.
    Edited by arcam at 27/07/11 @ 13:52

  • ubergine #49 10 months ago

    I think it would be in Valve's interest to get a proper explanation out there, unless the general thread in the media is actually true. It would be the height of hypocrisy for Valve to object to other developers piggybacking a shop into their gMe even while selling it at other people's shops. I found the forced inclusion of Steam in Half Life 2 to be extremely offensive and I've never understood the general love and acceptance of their ensuing near-monopoly.

  • Irien #50 10 months ago

    Actually, I reckon it *does* increase competition in price. Steam allows/encourages products from numerous publishers to be placed before the customer (just like an ordinary retail store), with price promotions from publishers. If we start by assuming that a potential customer is running Steam (not unreasonable), then that storefront is what they'll see, with whatever daily deal(s) are running.

    If a customer is looking at the available games of a certain genre - eg. Dragon Age 2, Divinity 2, Oblivin/Fallout, Two Worlds 2 - and sees one publisher offering a title cheap, they will likely buy that product. Since many customers only buy occasional titles (say one or two a month), that means that the other publishers may lose out. This encourages them to be the ones offering the deals, and therefore getting the business. It is no surprise that Steam's "Most popular" titles are usually the ones on sale!

    With a publisher-specific application/shop/storefront, then whatever you buy when you're browsing, the publisher wins. You're essentially a captive audience, and there's less compulsion for them to reduce prices in the same way, since there's less risk you'll buy a competing product. (In real life, look at Sony Stores or Apple Centres).

    As a result, whilst offers of 50+% discount are quite common on steam (Batman is 75% off today), I suspect it'll be rare to see much more than 10-33% sales through publisher sites (with possible loss-leader exceptions to get customers there occasionally eg. GFWL offering Age of Empires for 99cents).

    Edit - one also needs to consider the perceived expense of titles bought for 30-40ukp through digital sites, when compared with the sub-10ukp of phone/mobile/console-download titles. This is where the "one or two games a month" comes into play, as they are high ticket items when sold like this. Steam have succeeded in convincing (strongarm-ing?) publishers to offer AAA PC titles in the same way through their deals, but this is rarely replicated on publisher services.
    Edited by Irien at 27/07/11 @ 14:22

  • Ternon #51 10 months ago

    Well, objectively Origin is better than Steam, you don't even have to be connected to it when playing.

    Also people forget that Valve did exactly what EA is doing now and that's how Steam got to be what it is now.

  • Caimbeul #52 10 months ago

    Petty and short sighted as they will only lose sales. Not that it is worth buying anyway...

  • cw- #53 10 months ago

    @Ternon

    Over the past couple of months, thanks to some internet problems at home ... I have been playing Steam games quite often with no internet connection...

  • StooMonster #54 10 months ago

    Get thee behind me satan!

    Anyone else get an invite to be an alpha tester for Battlefield 3 this lunchtime? I'm all sorted and can start immediately, but need to install something to make it work. You'll never guess what it is...

  • cyber_nicco #55 10 months ago

    "27/07/11 @ 09:35
    "I'll probably get Origin eventually. It isn't really a competitor for STEAM since all it sells is EA games, STEAM will still be the place to go to for games made by other publishers and the indie stuff. What I hope this doesn't do is spur other publishers in making their own distribution platforms, I'm not really keen on 10 different ways to get content. "

    They all will if Origin is successful.

  • hiddenranbir #56 10 months ago

    Bioware points are old things. Don't be all wah wah about it.

    I bought DA2 from Steam but registered it on EADownloader too. Ching!

  • Gastrian #57 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • silversun #58 10 months ago

    It still there to people (myself included) that brought game on steam though right , just checking now.

  • arcam #59 10 months ago

    @Gastrian

    I'm talking about the store, not Steamworks. There are all sorts of reasons someone might choose one store over another, price is just one of them.

  • sabbede #60 10 months ago

    Steam is better off without this pile of crap clogging its tubes anyhow.

    On a side note: the only reason Steam's policies are being violated is because EA wants to. Steam's policy hasn't changed - how come its no longer good enough for EA? Origin. That's why.