Crytek's sci- fi shooter sequel Crysis 2 has been removed from sale on Valve's popular PC game download service Steam while still being made available for purchase and download from other rival download sites such as Direct2Drive and Impulse. This move comes as Crysis 2's publisher Electronic Arts recently relaunched its own PC game download site and set itself up as another rival for Steam.
So far the move to remove Crysis 2 from Steam's online store has not been explained by either Valve or EA (Neowin has sent emails to both parties for comment). A representative from the game's developer Crytek did make a post on Steam's Crysis message board this week but didn't address the reasons behind the removal of Crysis 2 via Steam. He did state, "Crytek love and support Steam. We will remain on these forums and continue to answer questions and share information as much as possible."
Just before E3 2011, EA relaunched its online download store with the new Origin service. The service has a client software program, just like Steam, that lets people purchase and download EA PC games. Plans are for Origin to add social networking features such as friends lists and profile pages that will show the scores of all EA games played by the user.
Ironically, EA has been Valve's publishing partner for the past few years. EA has published The Orange Box in retail stores in 2007, both Left 4 Dead games in 2008 and 2009 and most recently Portal 2 in April of this year.
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