Why is EFE not on steam?

It very likely (I'm pretty sure this has already been announced) will be once the game is released officially.

Well, I hope we don't had to used a steam or forced to use steam even though i had a steam in my computer, for sake for some, some don't like forced to use program they don't like on computer.

Yeah, they are probably avoiding steam at this point because it means patches will take longer to deploy. They have their own service and a shitload of bandwidth so that is enough for now. As Alstein says, expect to see it on Steam at or after release.

Sins beta wasn't on steam at first. Only late betas.

Uhoh, the thought of that concerns me too, Humility. Optional on Steam? Sure, go on. But if on release the game suddenly wouldn't run anymore without Steam, it would be a shame... and kinda aggravating. I allready paid for FE, but i don't use Steam and i'm not planing to use it in the future.

Yep, I wonder... LOL.

Edit: Optional may be always good, but not everyone like optional but control freak hate optional!!!!!! LOL

No-no, I would hate to HAVE to use steam myself, much prefer Stardock central.  I was thinking of the games exposure to the masses.

No to steam only.  Yes to Stardock central + steam.

It's not going to require Steam.

Good to hear. Thanks for calming my fragile nerves, Mr. Frog.

So many good games out there are allready lost... just... too... many...

I'm happy with that.  I can understand why Rebellion went with Steam because it has a much bigger focus on MP, but making FE require Steam so soon after the Rebellion announcement would have just been a bit too much to bear, IMHO.  And maybe Elemental games will remain Steam-optional, since the only good MP for FE and such would be co-op in my opinion.

For those of us who bought War of Magic before Jan 2011 and get free copies of Fallen Enchantress, will we get Steam keys for it, or just have it on Stardock Central?  (I'm one of those OCD weirdos who prefers to have everything on Steam.)

As my question is (slightly) related to this topic and I didn't want to start a new thread for this, hopefully someone could answer my question here:

I just decided to pre-order the game. Watching those "Let's play" videos gave me the impression, that E-FE might be a decent game, when finished. I still have some issues with tactical combat (no range penalty for archers, no line of sight), but I really think, I will enjoy the game.

As I am a little bit old fashioned, I like to have a "physical copy" of the game in my hands and I'm not so much a fan of downloaded games (Steam; here is my loose relation to the topic!).

All nice and good; there is a picture of a box visible near the pre-order button. But when I click and brought to the actual purchase window, I don't get any information, whether this game is shipped in a box or has to be downloaded. All it says is:"Elemental: Fallen Enchantress (Digital) [Pre-Order]".

Now, is only the pre-order digital? Or is this a hint, that the pre-order is for a digital distributed game? 

Sorry, maybe my confusion is very noob. Probably, it is! But I really would love to know this, before I buy the game.

Cheers and thank you for an answer,

Deggial 

I believe that FE will be digital distribution only. So no box for you I am afraid. Its just too much hassle for little money (so says the frog).

Oh. Is this official, or do you just believe it?

It is not less money, than you would pay for any other expansion, too. And most of them are boxed. 

Pretty official.  Frogboy (Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock) has said that FE will be digital distribution only, pretty much.  And Stardock doesn't make very much money on every box sold when the retailers demand such a large slice of the pie.  So thus FE (and Sins Rebellion) are going to be a digital only releases (although FE will not require Steam).

Ah, OK. Thank you for the clarification. Obviously, "the frog" is somebody, I should have known...

Well, if there is no other possibility, I'll take what I can get.

Digital Release is fine, to a degree, if Stardock goes bellyup though, not having a hard copy disc is going to suck.

We are not going to be forced to online play this game all the time are we after release? I don't mind having an internet connection to do the beta work, that's fine, but after the beta, I want my game to be my own, I do not want to have to be connected to the server or something else all the time, just to play the game.

Command and Conquer IV did that, and I couldn't strip it off my computer fast enough

Diablo 3 requires you to play on Battlenet ALL THE TIME, no single player on your computer.. so, unless it hit bargain basket in the near future, I won't be playing it either.

If this game is going to require that I have a continued feed through the internet to play, then I will be asking for a refund of my purchase and walking away.

While you pretty much have to have internet these days, the option to play a game with or without internet should be up to the purchaser not the seller. Not to be a Negative Nancy here, but I will not buy and play a game where it requires the game to be connected to the internet in order to play it. That, in some respects, would be a violation of my privacy, as I don't think it's necessary for the betterment of the game for me to divulge what parts of the game I'm having problems with and what parts I find easier than the rest. What spells or weapons I choose to use on a regular basis and how long I choose to play the game. I don't think they need to know my online habits either, when I get on and when I don't. THAT is very personal and not information that will, in any way, assist the game or the gaming company, but can assist a hacker to know, when they would have access to an online computer without a user being present.

For the record, you can make an archive of the download and copy it to a DVD for your own peace of mind.

Nope, that is beta only.