Firefly Studios has announced that Valve’s online store Steam will be required to install and play Stronghold Crusader 2. Firefly Studios are planning to release the game in spring 2014.

Firefly Studios’ marketing manager Nick Tannahill explained the reason why the company are releasing only on Steam in a news article on their official website.

“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.”

The focus on releasing on Steam means the game can be released quicker, but it also means that the company can include some Steam features at launch or through a post launch update. These addition Steam features include:

• Achievements
• Voice chat
• Cloud saving
• Workshop support
• Game invites
• Gameplay stats
• Trading cards

For those who were hoping for a boxed copy of the game, don’t worry as a physical boxed version will be available at launch. You will however still need Steam to install and play the boxed version.

For more inflation on Stronghold Crusader 2, visit http://www.strongholdcrusader2.com/.