Whether EA’s Origin is just a show of strength to open up a new
revenue stream by prying DLC from Steam’s clutches or an earnest attempt
at chipping away a few flakes off Valve’s granite foothold in the PC
digital delivery market, the relationship between the two companies is
growing… tense. Valve bossman Gabe Newell,
however, seems to believe there’s still hope for a reconciliation,
despite Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 not putting in a Steam appearance.
"I think with any developer, the onus is on us to show them we have
value, that we’re creating a set of services and capabilities and
bringing an audience to them,” he said. "We want to do a good job
showing EA that we have value on Steam. We’ll try to work hard with
them.” Oh, there’s no doubt in our minds Valve and EA will be working
each other hard.
