BF4 uses Origin, which is just the same as Steam, if you don't wanna use Steam or Origin Bazz then you may as well sell your PC or just continue playing ancient games because between these two they run just about everything nowadays, they both have their pros and cons, to be honest i don't mind Steam at all, i must have around 50+ games on Steam, it keeps all your games up to date with automatic updates, Origin does the same thing, people who don't want to use Steam or Origin may as well give up playing anything new because like it or not this is the way it is now. If you do buy BF4 make sure you get the "Premium" it will be much cheaper in the long run, you might get a bargain now that the game has been out over 6 months now.