EA seemingly hints at a return to Steam
Just over eight years ago, Electronic Arts waved goodbye to Valve's digital storefront as it launched its own digital storefront, Origin. Now it looks like EA is getting ready to return to Steam if a couple of hints mean what they seem like they do.
The most recent hint comes from a tweet posted by EA itself. This hint should be taken with a grain of salt, but it sure seems like it could only be pointing at one thing:
- Electronic Arts (@EA) October 25, 2019
In this image, there's only one thing moving, and that's the steam coming off of the cup. It doesn't directly mention Steam or Valve, but it's not a huge leap to think that this points toward a return to the service.
Second is a tweet from Twitter user @RobotBrush from last week. The user discovered a test application that appears to be for running Origin games on Steam.
looks like EA are indeed getting ready to come back to steam
- lashman (@RobotBrush) October 22, 2019
Since the release of Battlefield 3, every Electronic Arts game to hit PC has been Origin exclusive, so this would be a big shift.
They need to do it rightRight now, the consensus seems to be that you'll be able to buy games through Steam, but that they'll still use the Origin launcher. If that's true, it seems like a half-measure from the company; the frustration with Origin is as much about having to install Origin in the first place as much as it is about spending the money there.
If this is indeed happening, the timing seems just about right. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is hitting PC and console soon, and this marks the first big Star Wars release from EA since Battlefront II two years ago. Between the pile of cancelled Star Wars games and the coming release of the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker film, interest in a Star Wars game with a strong single-player campaign is at a fever pitch. A return now would likely spike PC sales for the game, improve EA's tarnished image, and maybe even push back at piracy a bit.
We'll likely know very soon whether these two items are related and whether EA is planning a return to Steam. 
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