Publishing giant Bethesda has revealed that it will be launching its upcoming PC titles on Steam rather than its own platform.
The company announced the news via Twitter (below), saying that Rage 2 and Doom Eternal, as well as forthcoming Wolfenstein co-op shooter Youngblood and VR title Cyberpilot would be coming to Valve's store. That's on top of Fallout 76 rolling onto Steam later this year.
We’re pleased to announce that RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal will be released on Steam as well as https://t.co/p0BARqmTBp. We will also be bringing Fallout 76 to Steam later this year.
— Bethesda (@bethesda) March 25, 2019
That last title debuted on Bethesda's own Bethesda.net at the end of last year. At the time, this was part of a trend of publishers who already operated their own platforms opting to launch there as opposed to Steam. Activision brought Call of Duty to Blizzard's Battle.net, while CD Projekt RED's Witcher card game Gwent was released on GOG.com.
Admittedly, that latter title also ultimately was released on Steam due to the Poland-based DRM-free digital marketplace's relatively small audience.
It's likely that Bethesda is opting to come back to Steam for one main reason; the company ran into myriad difficulties in launching Fallout 76. We wouldn't be surprised if the firm realised just how much hard work goes in to operating an online game on your own platform. People like to slag Steam off, but Valve's storefront has an awful lot of features built in that make life easier for publishers and developers.