EA (Electronic Arts) games on Steam apparently require you to log on to a separate EA/Origin account, Ubisoft games on Steam require you to log on to UPlay, and I believe SquareEnix and Rockstar Games both have a mandatory logins separate from Steam too? Does this affect all games from these companies, and just how widespread is it beyond them?

I don't know how others feel about this, but I really hate the idea of having to use multiple accounts to access a single game, or being required to always be online to play single player games.

8 years ago*

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EA games on Steam apparently require you to log on to Origin,

They do? If I'm not mistaken, there are no games on Steam that requires origin.

A lot of games by Kalypso Media Digital requires you to log into their servers.

8 years ago
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They don't, but some require an EA account (like Alice).

8 years ago
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Ah. That's actually worse than Origin. Origin is likely to be around for some time, those custom login services are not.

8 years ago
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It uses your EA / Origin account for the titles that use it.

8 years ago
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But does it use the same servers?

8 years ago
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Depends on the game (some stuff predated Origin and was never updated, but the later titles are safe)

8 years ago
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Oh so that's how that works. I guess I had misread.
Edited the first post to reflect that it doesn't require the actual origin client.

8 years ago
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Battlefield Bad Company 2 requires EA account for multiplayer.

8 years ago
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If you can convince (some?) Kalypso games that there is no internet connection to their servers (like by using a custom hosts file), it skips that part.

8 years ago
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I think that new Steam agreement rule about stop supporting 3rd party platforms only applies to new games, old game's won't be affected.

8 years ago
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Gremlins Inc. req online connection to play single player, but they plan to change that on 1Q 2017

8 years ago
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It's horrible. I tend to be much less interested in acquiring a game legally if it pulls this sort of crap.

8 years ago
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If I recall correctly (and it hasn't been patched afterwards, I think not), there was a game called The First Templar released on Steam something around five years ago or so which required you to log in into four separate accounts in order to play online with your friend. You needed Steam account, Kalypso account (publisher), First Templar account (for whatever reason, great idea) and Facebook account for online play. It did not sell well.

8 years ago
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EA account (not Origin) for the few remaining EA games, Uplay for Ubisoft, Kalypso Launcher, Rockstar Games Social Club, Denuvo (not DRM, but relies on a third-party server)... and the infamous Games For Windows Live.
There're quite a few third-party services on Steam games. A good, albeit possibly not complete, list is on PC Gaming Wiki

8 years ago
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It does not apply to all the games, it is on a game by game basis.

For example, I played Grow Home which is a Ubisoft game and I was able to install and play directly through Steam, but Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon required me to install Uplay and create an account. It basically just launches from Steam, but required you to log into and have Uplay running as well.

If you look at the store page for Grow home it says "Requires agreement to a 3rd-party EULA Grow Home EULA", while Far Cry says that and also "Requires 3rd-Party Account: Uplay (Supports Linking to Steam Account)".

8 years ago
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The only game that I'm happy to log on to a third party service for is Pulsar: Lost Colony, and that's only because it's in Early Access, and local co-op, single player, and their own servers are further down the roadmap. "Log on" may be the wrong word for it as well, as no account is required.

Fully released/AAA games? Not a chance.

8 years ago
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