Full Steam Ahead for Empire: Total War

[DoctorFinger]

Sega and Valve have announced that Empire: Total War will now incorporate the Steamworks suite. This means the game will be available for download via the Steam service, and retail copies will use Steam for a one-time activation. Empire will also use Steam for it's multiplayer functionality, the details of which are still unannounced.

Empire is the continuation of the popular real time tactics/turn based strategy Total War series.

Empire: Total War will be available on the PC February 6th.

[IIntrude]

It is great to see more and more games going to Steam. Whenever a new game comes out, I first look to see if it will be distributed digitally.

[GigaFuzz]

Have any other full retail games used Steamworks? Is this going to be the first of many or a rare occurrence?

[Cit Phil Cit]

Have any other full retail games used Steamworks? Is this going to be the first of many or a rare occurrence?

I would like to see more of the former. I know there have been a few instances where Valve has been unable to say they are carrying a title after a retail release, however: I hope they continue to gain momentum and clout in this regard.

Of course, Valve has reserved the right to eventually become money-grubbing assholes like anyone else - but for now, I truly enjoy their service.

[itchyeyes]

FYI, STEAM is also currently offering Rome: Total War and its expansion The Barbarian Invasions as a pre-order bonus for Empire.

[opsin]

The bastards... I can't tell this far ahead whether I actually desire Empire: TW, and can't really justify spending the cash at the moment. But it comes just days after I got caught by a hankering to play Rome: TW, and couldn't find my discs anywhere...

Sigh. Steam keeps trying to bankrupt me... I was all holding off on Fallout 3 'cause Fable 2 was coming first, and since my mate got it, figured we could co-op. Of course, wound up not even attempting that for now. But then Fallout3 shows up on Steam, where it would be a but a paypal away!

[DoctorFinger]

Have any other full retail games used Steamworks? Is this going to be the first of many or a rare occurrence?
Half-Life 2 used it. In fact I believe most of the games up on Steam that have retail releases use it as well for that one-time activation.

[GigaFuzz]

Half-Life 2 used it. In fact I believe most of the games up on Steam that have retail releases use it as well for that one-time activation.

Well, all the Valve games obviously do. And I don't think 'Steamworks' was around when HL2 came out. It was something they came up with for 3rd parties to use.

[Loki]

Yay! I only hope that the multiplayer aspect of Empire is better than previous iterations.