"Battlefield 3 won't be sold on Steam"

US giant GameStop has said EA won't sell upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield 3 on Valve's Steam.

Financial research firm Baird spoke with GameStop bosses and in its report it said: "The upcoming EA title Battlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam."

"Given Steam's dominance - and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application - publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative," the Baird report read, as reported by Develop.

Last week Steam was not listed among Battlefield 3's digital retailers on EA's Battlefield 3 website.

However, Battlefield 3 was listed for EA's own Origin service, as well as Direct2Drive and GamersGate.

Earlier this month EA explained its decision not to sell a number of its games on Steam, including Crysis 2.

"Any retailer can sell our games, but we take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content and other services to our players," EA's SVP of global online David DeMartini said.

"You are connecting to our servers, and we want to establish an ongoing relationship with you, to continue to give you the best possible gaming experience. This works well for our partnership with GameStop, Amazon and other online retailers.

"Unfortunately, if we're not allowed to manage this experience directly and establish a relationship with you, it disrupts our ability to provide the support you expect and deserve.

"At present, there is only one download service that will not allow this relationship. This is not our choice, and unfortunately it is their customer base that is most impacted by this decision. We are working diligently to find a mutually agreeable solution."

EA launched Origin last month. It will be the only place you can download upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it is not necessary that you run Origin to play it.

Both EA and Valve are yet to comment on Battlefield 3's probable Steam no-show.