Bohemia Interactive has revealed that its upcoming military simulation game
Arma 3 will launch exclusively on Valve's Steam platform. Project Lead Joris-Jan van 't Land cites the primary reasons that the team wasn't happy with how development was proceeding and recent detainment of two developers in Greece over alleged espionage charges as two driving forces behind the decision to launch the game exclusively on Steam, as otherwise it wouldn't be possible for it to be released this year.
The benefits outlined for the exclusive PC launch on Steam include the platform's proven distribution method, fewer distributed versions of the game, ready-made functionality of Steamworks, protection against piracy, and increased focus on development. In addition, the benefits outlined for players include a smoother experience in regards to installation and patching as well as Steamworks support for user generated content and multiplayer matchmaking services. Most importantly, Arma 3 releasing in 2013 is described as impossible without using Steam.
It's also noted that Arma 3 will not include any sort of always-online DRM and instead support offline play through Steam. At the moment, the only release window is 2013. View the
development blog entry for further details.
