Most of the output on the Electronic Arts/Valve controversy has been one-sided, as EA has repeatedly given the reason that their games are not on Steam, due to Valve’s DLC distribution policy. Valve boss Gabe Newell has finally spoken about the mess at Gamescom in an interview with Giant Bomb.
Newell was, however, diplomatic and didn’t really contest EA’s issue with the policy of having downloadable content go through Steam and not through the software itself, stating ”I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that. We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that.”
”It’s our duty to demonstrate (value) to them,” Newell added, “We don’t have a natural right to publish their games.”
Dragon Age II was recently pulled from Steam, while Battlefield 3 will not be on Steam in November.