Publisher EA recently was forced to remove Crysis 2 and Dragon Age 2 due to a ongoing disagreement with Valve over its policy on downloadable content. While the terms remain confidential, EA called them restrictive.

Now, by way of a statement detailing its stance on third-party distribution, EA claims that Steam limits the way publishers can communicate with their customer base in regards to “patches, new levels, items, and other services.”

However, when a download service forbids publishers from contacting players with patches, new levels, items and other services – it disrupts our ability to provide the ongoing support players expect from us. At present, this is the case with only one download service. While EA offers its entire portfolio to this site, they have elected to not post many of our games.

It sounds like EA wants to push out notifications on Steam directly to those have purchased EA titles. While EA may have only good intentions, this is a form of advertising, and perhaps that’s where Valve wants to draw the line. If one publisher is given more freedom, others will want it too, which could create a sticky situation.

To date, no other publishers have voiced complaints over Steam’s so-called restrictive policies.

As a result of this kerfuffle, the hotly anticipated Battlefield 3 has yet to turn up on Steam for pre-order. And it may not show up on launch, either, unless EA and Valve are able to reach an agreement. EA says it “hopes to find a mutually agreeable solution to this issue soon.”

EA Policy on Selling Games on Third-Party Download Sites [EA Forums]

Follow this author on Twitter.