Stronghold Crusader 2 exclusive to Steam

Firefly Studios has announced that Valve’s Steam platform will be required to install and play Stronghold Crusader 2 at launch. Ahead of the game’s planned release in Spring 2014, Marketing Manager Nick Tannahill revealed the news in a blog post on the game’s official website. Here he explains the developer’s reasons behind their decision:

“As an independent developer our resources are limited. For the majority of the Crusader 2 project we have had two full-time programmers and two artists working on the game… That said we still want Crusader 2 to have all the cool and convenient features players expect from a modern RTS and a true sequel to the original Stronghold Crusader. We can handle much of the game just fine on our own, so the game’s skirmish mode, AI, single-player campaigns and other core gameplay systems such as co-op have been tailor made by Firefly. However secondary features like achievements, game invites and gameplay stats will be powered through Steam, where the majority of our players come from.”

Listing the benefits of releasing on Steam, both for the development team and players, Nick goes on to confirm a list of Steam features intended for inclusion in the game either at launch or through free post-release updates:

• Achievements
• Voice Chat
• Cloud Saving
• Workshop Support
• Game Invites
• Gameplay Stats
• Trading Cards

The main motivation behind Firefly’s decision is keeping development of the game on time, which has been a priority for all Stronghold titles since the company was founded in 1999. “The time required to create our own bespoke tools and systems for such features could end up delaying the game, which is something nobody wants… It sounds clichéd but this is win-win, we get to include the features fans of the genre expect without delaying the game or taking our focus away from core gameplay.”

Despite plans to integrate Crusader 2 with Steamworks, fans hoping to purchase a physical boxed version of Crusader 2 at launch can rest easy. Boxed copies of Stronghold Crusader 2 will be available at retail in a number of different regions, although they will require Steam to install and play.