A few weeks ago, a list of retailers from which you'd be able to pre-order Battlefield 3, surely the biggest PC game of the year, was released. Popular online shopfront Steam wasn't among them.
At the time, that didn't seem too big a deal. Other recent EA games, like Alice: Madness Returns, had not been available for pre-order on Steam either, but had shown up for purchase once released.
Well, things are looking a little more dire, with EA now releasing a list of retailers from which you'll be able to buy Battlefield 3. Not pre-order, buy. And Steam is not listed.
This of course all boils down to a little spat EA and Valve are having at the moment over who as the right to do whatever.
Now, it's not the final word in the matter. Like I said, there's been precedent for EA games suddenly appearing for sale on Steam recently. But given the way the pair's showdown has escalated of late, it certainly doesn't look promising.
We've contacted EA for final confirmation on the matter, and will update if we hear back.
Digital Retailers [Battlefield 3, thanks Salari!]
You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.