9 Oct, 2011
EA’s creation of Origin, its digital distribution platform, ruffled some feathers, especially when games started disappearing from Steam. Then Valve’s founder Gabe Newell went and tried Origin. With the universe still in stable condition, it’s safe to say that things didn’t go that badly.
Well, says EA, there’s absolutely no strain between the relationship of the two companies. In fact, they hope to retain a working relationship with Valve. According to head of EA Europe Jens Uwe Intat, the relationship is remarkable well, and says that Valve is run by some truly “clever people.” “Valve is run by very clever people, and I would say that’s also true for Electronic Arts, we’re all good business people,” said Intat in an interview with GamesIndustry. “So, Valve, when they’re looking for distribution for their products, looking at which publisher could actually do that, then I think we’re the best publisher on the planet, both in Europe and North America.”
Historically, Valve has paired with EA to distrbute their software, and EA hopes that the trend will continue. “We have a long history of distributing Valve products and I think for every title they will look for who will do the best job. There’s no strain on that relationship because we’re competing in one space,” said Intat.
“We’re basically competing and working with a lot of people. Every first party manufacturer is a partner of ours when we’re distributing their product, and a competitor of ours with their own software. I think, as an industry, we’re pretty good at competing and co-operating at the same time.”
Some would say them’s fighting words, in EA’s case. Valve is ready to bury the hatchet too, acknowledging that they can’t be the best digital distributor forever. However, they think that EA would be smarter to have their games on Steam as well as Origin. “…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,” said Gabe Newell.
The gloves are still on, but the two heavyweights are still circling each other in the ring. How the two digital distribution platforms will fare is entirely at the mercy of the gaming population, as triple-A releases have already begun their release season assault on our budgeting efforts.
May the best platform win.
For the full interview with EA, read it here.
Via GamesIndustry.
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