UPDATE: Electronic Arts has responded to my questions regarding its current relationship with Steam, claiming Crysis 2 was not removed from Steam because EA asked. Instead, EA claims Steam "imposed a set of business terms" that resulted in an existing agreement Crytek had regarding Crysis 2 that "violates the new rules," resulting in the "expulsion" of Crysis 2.

The full statement is below.

I've asked EA for better clarification on what "business terms" have changed and why games like Alice: Madness Returns are no longer on Steam. I've also requested comment from Valve.

"It’s unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis 2 from their service. This was not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA.

Steam has imposed a set of business terms for developers hoping to sell content on that service – many of which are not imposed by other online game services. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis 2 from Steam.

Crysis 2 continues to be available on several other download services including GameStop, Amazon, Origin.com and more."

ORIGINAL STORY: When Electronic Arts decided to heavily push its Origin web portal and distribution service at E3, alongside word it would be the exclusive home to Star Wars: The Old Republic, it became an open question whether EA would continue to play ball with Steam. We appear to have an answer to that question, with Crysis 2, Alice: Madness Returns and Battlefield 3 all disappearing.

So far, I've been unable to get an answer from any party involved. Valve, EA and Crytek have all, to date, remained unresponsive. Other outlets are reporting a statement's coming later today.

You can still, however, purchase other EA games on Steam. Crysis and Need for Speed are still there, as is the Need for Speed series. It mostly seems that EA's chosen to start holding back its most recent and upcoming releases, in hopes of driving consumer traffic to its own service.

As soon as I know more, I'll pass it on.