Earlier this week, some sleuths monitoring Steam database activity noticed that a number of EA games were receiving behind-the-scenes updates, leading to speculation that EA might return to Steam after a lengthy absence. Now, more evidence has popped up to point towards this and EA is also seemingly teasing the move itself.
EA’s tease on its own is a bit of a stretch, so we’ll get that out of the way first. A few days ago after the initial rumours began doing the rounds, EA’s official Twitter account posted a mysterious video of a steaming hot beverage in a mug. There was no context provided but it has kept the rumour mill turning over the weekend.
— Electronic Arts (@EA) October 25, 2019
The more promising evidence comes from another SteamDB changelog listing, testing a new app that links a Steam game to Origin. So EA games on Steam would work just like Ubisoft titles, where the game can be bought and launched through Steam and you can maintain access to Steam services, but the publisher’s own launcher also needs to be launched.
EA has kept all of its PC games exclusive to the Origin platform since Battlefield 3. Other publishers followed with their own launchers, although many also continue to sell games on Steam in addition to their own platform.
There is no official announcement from EA just yet but we can expect an announcement soon.
KitGuru Says: With Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order coming up, EA returning to Steam could be a pretty big deal, even if the Origin launcher is still required in the long run. How many of you would like to see EA games come back to Steam?