Crysis 2 has quietly disappeared from Steam, sparking speculation that Electronic Arts intentionally pulled the game in order to secure an additional exclusive for its newly-relaunched EA Store, now known as Origin.
We already know EA intends to sell digital copies of its upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, exclusively through Origin. It’ll still be avilable at retail as any other game would, but any chance of finding it on Steam, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse or any other digital distributor has been killed. Pulling Crysis 2 — and the lack of availability of Alice: Madness Returns on Steam — seems like a sign that EA might be making newer PC games exclusive to Origin. However, older EA titles are still available on Steam, and despite Crysis 2 being (up until a few moments ago) listed on EA’s website as “only on Origin,” both it and Alice continue to be sold on rival sites like Direct2Drive and Impulse.
In a statement sent to IGN, EA claims Crysis 2’s removal from Steam “was not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA.” It says Valve, the Half-Life and Portal developer behind Steam, is responsible for the game no longer being sold.
