Mass Effect 3 could be a PR disaster in the making for EA

Like a lot of other folks I am waiting for the release of one of this year’s most anticipated games – Mass Effect 3; but if Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, goes ahead with their rumored distribution plans they are going to have a lot of anger consumers on their hands, myself included.

According to an EA employee post on the Bioware SocialNetwork the company will require that both the digital and physical media for the game will have to have contact with EA’s Origin distribution platform in order to be played. On top of that there will be no distribution of the game via Valve’s Steam platform. That fact alone could have some serious repercussions when it comes to sales of the game.

From the EA employee post:

Is Origin required for the retail versions of the game?
Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital.

Will ME3 be available on Steam?
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.

I know myself that if I can’t buy the game on Steam then I won’t be buying it even though it is one of my most wanted games for the year. Add in that the game will need to communicate with EA’s Origin platform in order to be playable and I would have to think twice about getting it even if it was available on Steam.

This is still fairly fresh news so I imagine that as the news spread so will the uproar and EA could have a real PR mess on their hands as more and more gamers take to the web to voice their disapproval over this move.

via Techie Buzz