14 DAY TRIAL // To the surprise of almost no one, given recent events, Electronic Arts’ upcoming Mass Effect 3 role playing shooter won’t be made available on Valve’s Steam service, being instead exclusively activated through Origin, the company’s own digital distribution service.
Mass Effect 3 is one of the biggest games EA will release this year, so the company, together with the title’s developer, BioWare, want to clear everything up concerning its upcoming launch.
Speaking on the game’s website, BioWare Community Coordinator Chris Priestly now talked about Mass Effect 3 on the PC, confirming that the game won’t appear on Valve’s Steam, relying instead just on EA’s Origin and a number of third party retailers.
“During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other 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.”
Those that buy the game in retail stores won’t be able to escape Origin, as the Mass Effect 3 requires a one-time activation, not to mention an online connection to Origin servers for the cooperative Galaxy at War multiplayer mode.
“Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital,” Priestly said. “Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs. Playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer will require a constant connection.”
Last but not least, the BioWare coordinator tried to reassure fans that Origin was a safe program and didn’t use various spyware tactics to examine the user’s computer.
“Origin is not spyware, and does not use or install spyware on user's machines. In order to allow Origin to install games and their patches for everyone to use, Origin implements a permission change that results in Windows, not Origin, reviewing the filenames in the Program Data/Origin folder. This is an ordinary Windows function, not an information-gathering process.”
Mass Effect 3 is out on March 6, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.