Developer Bohemia Interactive has announced that the upcoming ARMA 3 will be exclusive to Valve’s digital platform Steam.
ARMA 3 is the latest entry in Bohemia Interactive’s long-running open-world tactical shooter series, and is due to be released later this year, although no definite release date has yet been announced. In a blog post titled “Full Steam Ahead”, Project Lead Joris-Jan van ‘t Land explained the company’s decision as being a necessary one if ARMA 3 was going to meet its planned 2013 release.
“As an independent developer, we’re constantly evaluating the way we develop, distribute and publish games,” added Bohemia Interactive founder and CEO, Marek Španel. “Valve made tremendous improvements to their system, which made the installation/update process much more user-friendly – for both developers and customers.”
“We have evaluated the pros and cons,” continued Španel, “but in the end Steam enables us to release Arma 3, brings massive advantages to the game, and improves the end-user experience. Not to forget, the majority of our players already come from Steam.”
Joris-Jan van ‘t Land concluded his blog post by saying, “we would not be able to deliver Arma 3 in 2013 without this decision. Now, a few months ahead, we feel strongly that it is paying off, and soon you’ll get a chance to see why.”
In a brief questions-and-answers section below the blog post, it was stated that boxed copies of ARMA 3 will be available “in most regions”, and will take the form of “Steam Codes in a retail package” or DVD data to help speed up installation.