It's official - EA is returning to Steam
Starting with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Just a few days after EA's steamy teaser, the publisher has made it official - EA is coming back to Steam.
EA is going all-in with the comeback too, kicking it off by opening Steam pre-orders for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order today ahead of the game's release on 15th November.
Plans have also been announced to bring EA Access to Steam in spring 2020, making it the fourth platform (after PS4, Xbox One and Origin) to feature the subscription service.
This will be the first gaming subscription service available on Steam, and will require the EA games to be on Valve's platform to be playable. As such, EA is working on bringing over some of its most popular titles in the next few months, so it shouldn't be long until games like The Sims 4, Apex Legends, FIFA 20 and Battlefield 5 show up on Steam.
You can still use Origin if that's your preference, but soon players on both platforms will be able to play together. A good deal for all invalved.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA's senior VP, Mike Blank, said: "We want to make the experience for players who want to play their games on Steam or Origin as frictionless as possible, so we're working towards connecting our accounts together as well as enabling players to play together across both Steam and Origin."
EA and Valve are still working on the technical side of integrating the services right now, so there isn't an exhaustive list of games definitely making the move to Steam just yet. It's also worth noting that the two storefronts look like they're being treated as different platforms, meaning you won't be able to transfer games you've purchased on one over to the other.
Still, cross-play between these platforms is a good start, and according to Blank, EA at least seem willing to join up with others in the future too.
"While I don't have anything to announce today, we are always open to new partnerships that make sense for our players. So we'll see what the future holds."
