EA returns to Steam with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in November – CNET

EA has announced it will bring its games back to Steam in November. It’ll make its return to the digital platform with one of the biggest titles of the holiday season, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. 

“We want to meet players where they are,” said Mike Blank, senior vice president at EA. “Where better to offer our games and subscription service than Steam?”

EA began removing its games from Steam in 2011 starting with Crysis 2, citing issues with Valve’s rules regarding postlaunch content. The move came not long after the publisher launched its own digital storefront, EA Origin.

The publisher also offered a subscription service in its store. EA Access — the company’s monthly subscription service that lets users play games before the release date — will also make its way to Steam in spring 2020. According to Blank, EA wants to release more titles for the marketplace before it brings over its subscription service.

“We have work to do with Steam in the coming months to enable it,” Blank said. “We would anticipate that it will have the same core benefits that you have on other platforms.”

As for when classic EA games such as Battlefield V or older titles like Need for Speed: Underground will come to Steam, Blank says those details are still being worked on. 

“We can’t specify which games and when,” Blank said. “I hope we can bring as many games as we can.”

EA’s return to Steam has been a badly kept secret. Valve recently gave Steam’s interface an overhaul and in one of the preview images, Mirror’s Catalyst, an Origin title, is seen as one of the games available. Analytics site Steam Database showed another title from the publisher, The Saboteur, was played on Oct. 23. Then on Friday, EA gave a little tease of the announcement on Twitter with a short video of a coffee mug emitting a bit of steam. 

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is currently available on Steam for pre-order for its Nov. 15 release.