EA goes against the grain, brings its games back to Steam

By Allison Matyus Published October 29, 2019

You’ll soon be able to play your favorite Electronic Arts (EA) games on Steam, including the new Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

EA announced the return of its games on Valve’s Steam on Tuesday, October 29. EA games will launch on Steam in the spring, but the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order game debuts on Steam on November 15, with pre-orders for the game starting Tuesday.

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“This is the start of an exciting partnership with Valve that will see us innovating for PC players around the world,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, in the press release. “Through our subscription, great games, and more, we’re excited to bring players in the Steam and Origin communities together with access to the best games, whenever and wherever they want to play.”

Currently, EA games are only available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Origin platforms, but Steam users will now be able to access tons of EA Access subscription perks like discounts on games, in-game items, expansions, and more. Origin players and Steam players will be able to play EA games together.

“This is a good day for gamers,” said Valve co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell. “We’re excited to partner with EA to not only bring their great games and subscription service to Steam, but also to open up our communities to each other in an unprecedented way that will benefit players and developers around the world.”

You can expect to find all the popular EA games on Steam, such as The Sims 4 and Unravel 2, which EA said will be available in the coming months. Other games available next year include Apex Legends, FIFA 20, and Battlefield V.

When EA launched Origin in 2011, it pulled Crysis 2 from Steam and decided against releasing Battlefield 3 on Valve’s PC games distribution platform. Ever since then, all of the games that EA published for the PC were exclusive to the Origin platform.

There was speculation that EA might return to Steam, after a caption-less tweet on October 25 of an EA mug with steam coming out of it. Players thought it might be a stretch to determine from the tweet, but Tuesday’s official announcement will make it easier for players between platforms to play their favorite games.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…

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