Gaming company Electronic Arts (EA) continues its streak of releasing its long-awaited titles on Steam, the most prominent digital PC game storefront. Short of a decade ago, EA pulled all of their games out and launched them on their own platform, Origin. This move might have been prompted by Steam’s large revenue cut of 30% from total sales and lax in content curation and moderation. Hosting their own games will mean better control in revenue and store features for EA.
Fans of EA game franchises had no choice but to keep separate libraries on two platforms. That is until late October 2019, when EA announced its renewed partnership with Valve, Steam’s parent company. EA’s comeback is part of its strategy to widen the reach of its game subscription service, EA Access, to PC gamers. Steam’s massive user base is still too large to ignore even for the second-largest gaming company in America and Europe. The platform is like the premier power sports dealer of adventure gear where users come for quality service.
Initial titles like Dragon Age Inquisition and Need for Speed were already released early June, with more to come as promised by EA. For the second wave, here’s the list of notable franchises now available on Steam.
Command & Conquer Remastered
The Command & Conquer franchise is one of the earliest real-time strategy games, redefining the genre for almost 25 years ago. Its games have consistently received high scores from video game review websites GameRankings and Metacritic. Guinness World Records have also awarded the series with six world records in their gamer’s edition, which included “Biggest Selling RTS Series,” “First Scientific Study of a Chemical Compound in a Video Game,” and “Longest Running Actor in Video Game Role.”
The gameplay has players construct a base and acquire resources to produce various types of infantry, vehicles, and artillery that can attack and conquer the opponent’s base. The 4K remastered version released on Steam includes three expansions, rebuilt multiplayer, modernized user interface, and other added features and content.
Battlefield
Steam users can now buy five titles of the first-person shooter Battlefield. The whole Battlefield series, which includes 11 games and 12 expansion packs, is widely popular with more than 50 million players worldwide in 2012. The games focus on massive online multiplayer battles where users can receive rank promotions and weapon unlocks based on their performance. Players can also choose their class and role depending on their playing style and team strategy.
Battlefield V, the latest in the series, is based on World War II following an episodic format for the single-player campaign. Fans preferring multiplayer modes can expect more party-based features and mechanics, scarcity of resources, and added doses of realism.
Mass Effect
The Mass Effect series has been lauded as one of the defining video game franchises of all time, receiving numerous game of the year awards for its games. This military science fiction role-playing shooter follows the story of Commander Shepard, a soldier tasked to save the galaxy from powerful mechanical beings called Reapers. Player choice and their consequences are highlighted in the series, which can affect what kind of ending gamers will get.
The latest game in the franchise, Mass Effect: Andromeda, starts the series anew with a new cast of characters in an open world environment. It has a lighter tone than its predecessors with more focus on exploration and taking in gorgeous surroundings.
EA’s move of bringing their games back to Steam has sparked a renewed interest in their titles. For the past weeks, they have dominated the top seller’s list on the platform.