Sony Online MMOs Come To Steam

Valve Corporation and Sony Online Entertainment are welcoming many of SOE's MMOs to Valve's Steam digital distribution service today, most notably the seminal EverQuest and EverQuest II collections. The SOE-published Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Pirates of the Burning Sea are also part of the deal, and Valve will offer EQ: Secrets of Faydwer and EQII: Rise of Kunark for a promo price during the first ten days. New SOE game accounts also get 30 days of gameplay. EverQuest was first launched in 1999, and since then, SOE's released 20 different expansions digitally for the enduring MMO. This deal includes new EQ expansions Seeds of Destruction and The Shadow Odyssey also available on Steam. "Sony Online Entertainment propelled the MMO genre and PC gaming into new era with the launch of EverQuest," says Valve business development director Jason Holtman. "SOE continues to evolve the genre and PC gaming with new universes such as Vanguard and Pirates of the Burning Sea." Adds SOE president John Smedley, "We are always looking for additional ways to introduce our great catalog of games to new audiences. It's hard to think of a larger group of PC gamers interested in multiplayer games than those connecting to Steam," Valve's digital distribution service currently boasts 15 million users. Says Smedley, "We've long been a leader in MMOs and this agreement will help bring our exciting content to millions of additional online gamers around the world."