Empire: Total War to use Steamworks

[Jack Lusted]

Empire: Total War from SEGA to use Steamworks and Available for Pre-Purchase Now on Steam

October 28, 2008, 7:18 am - Alden Kroll - Product Release

SEGA Europe Ltd. today announce that Empire: Total War™ will incorporate Steamworks™, a complete suite of publishing and development tools that offers PC game developers and publishers access to the game features and services available through Steam.

Steamworks will support both the retail and electronic versions of the Empire: Total War game giving players game updates, downloadable content, friend-list support and achievements. To play single-player Empire: Total War, players need only to connect to the internet once via the Steam client after installing the game.

Steamworks will serve as Empire: Total War's multiplayer backend, providing server browsing and match-making functionality, bolstering Total War's new level of commitment to multiplayer game modes and features. Further details on multiplayer will be announced soon.

“We are delighted to be working with an infrastructure as effective as Steam” said Mike Simpson, Studio Director at the Creative Assembly. “Having their matchmaking and support systems on board for Empire; Total War makes a huge difference both for players and for the development team. It not only helps make multiplayer slick and sizzling, it also frees up a huge chunk of the team's time which helps make the whole game better.”

“Total War has become one of the most successful franchises in PC strategy gaming, one of the industry's mainstay genres,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “We're honored Sega selected Steamworks as they expand the franchise with leading-edge online services.”

Empire: Total War is set in the 18th century, a turbulent era that is the most requested by Total War's loyal fan base and a period alive with global conflict, revolutionary fervour and technological advances. With themes such as the Industrial Revolution, America's struggle for independence, the race to control Eastern trade routes and the globalisation of war on land and sea, Empire: Total War promises to be the richest and most dynamic PC RTS game of all time. Empire: Total War will be released on February 3 in North America and on February 6 in Europe and other territories worldwide.

Pre-purchasers on Steam will receive a free copy of Rome: Total War Gold for immediate play.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/1940/

[Mr Longbowman]

Great news, fantastic news, Probably the best yet

[Kinjo]

Will there be a non steam version? I hated it for HL2 it was such a pain I have never bought another steam game since.

[Carlaz]

Good news and BAD NEWS

WILL THE STEAM VERSION COST MORE THAN THE RETAIL LIKE EVERY OTHER MAJOR RELEASE ON STEAM?

[Mr Longbowman]

Good news and BAD NEWS

WILL THE STEAM VERSION COST MORE THAN THE RETAIL LIKE EVERY OTHER MAJOR RELEASE ON STEAM?

Are you kidding me? Steam got great prices

[Påsan]

I hardly ever like to play multiplayer, so for me this is a bad thing. But how will this affect the modding community?

[Carlaz]

Maybe for $ but not for the £'s. Far Cry 2 is £37 when it can be had for £22 online

[Agent Provocateur]

Steam is a pain in the backside. I want to get off mine, go to the shops and buy the physical product. That way I can sell it on, give it away or use the CDs as frisbees if the game is pants.

Isn't there a major problem with DRM?

Also, I always understood it gimped MODs?

Jack, tell me I am wrong.

[wayne0308]

At least they're not going to use that cursed securom drm! Steam is actually quite good. I only hope that I don't need a fast internet connection as I'm stuck with the slowest dial-up ever with no sign of broadband coming into my area. It shouldn't need much bandwidth for authentication.

[Guerero]

Empire will loose players because it asks money to play multi ...
I don't find that very intelligent...

[Carlaz]

I fully endorse the copyright protection of Steam as Devs deserve to avoid piracy as much as possible.

The multiplayer bit will have to be seen, Sega could charge me a MMO feee and i would probably still pay lol

[AmericanFF]

Well, there had to be some bad news sooner or later.

[Agent Provocateur]

I'm sure I read somewhere that MODs don't work for Steam bought products?

[Jack Lusted]

There seem to be several misconceptions in this thread.

- As Empire uses Steamworks yes you will need to have Steam in order to play Empire, there is no non-Steam version.

- Not sure why someone has the idea we're charging money for multiplayer, you will only have to pay once for Empire.

- Most of the problems with mods and Steam with previous TW games were due to the fact quite a few mods were not set up to properly work with Steam, as Empire only uses Steam this will not be a problem.

[Guerero]

Owwww thanks Jack !
I've almost been afraid !

So that's really a good new !

[snuggans]

- As Empire uses Steamworks yes you will need to have Steam in order to play Empire, there is no non-Steam version.

ok ok one final bit of clarification: will there be a physical retail box to purchase that you can then 'sync' with steam. (sync is the wrong word to use here but)



p.s this is the first time i've ever heard Steam being referred to as Steamworks.

[Kinjo]

That blows, when I spend 50 + USD on a game I want a physical product not something I have to download. I really hope that there is a real gold edition that is released at some point. Here is another case that hackers will be getting a better product.

[Jack Lusted]

ok ok one final bit of clarification: will there be a physical retail box to purchase that you can then 'sync' with steam. (sync is the wrong word to use here but)

Yes Empire will be on sale in shops as well as available to download.

p.s this is the first time i've ever heard Steam being referred to as Steamworks.

In simple terms Steamworks is a multiplayer system akin to Gamespy done by Valve.

[Agent Provocateur]

There seem to be several misconceptions in this thread.

- As Empire uses Steamworks yes you will need to have Steam in order to play Empire, there is no non-Steam version.

- Not sure why someone has the idea we're charging money for multiplayer, you will only have to pay once for Empire.

- Most of the problems with mods and Steam with previous TW games were due to the fact quite a few mods were not set up to properly work with Steam, as Empire only uses Steam this will not be a problem.

Ok, cheers.

In simple terms Steamworks is a multiplayer system akin to Gamespy done by Valve.

Probably being thick here. Can someone explain exactly what using Steamworks means? I bought HL2 as a download on Steam but that is it. I took Steam off as it seemed to be using resources needlessly. Do you have to download the purchase? Or can you buy it in the shops and it then just does a quick online authentication?

What is Steamworks and what does it mean in terms of usage, single player and multi player?

[roy34543]

That blows, when I spend 50 + USD on a game I want a physical product not something I have to download. I really hope that there is a real gold edition that is released at some point. Here is another case that hackers will be getting a better product, like any other game it will end up as a torrent with steam striped out of it with in a few weeks

.
I couldnt wait a few weeks for ETW... But steam is pretty much ok in my experience. A bit annoyingly slow at times but youll probably be able to download the game into your hard drive after you get it and just have to return to steam for multiplayer.
Btw, Dark messiah of might and magic used steam, and it basically meant steam validated the game and you entered some code and you got to download the multiplayer (and if i remember correctly, single player,in case you ever wanted to after you installed it from the disk.) version of the game which could then be played by entering steam and clicking on the download.