Yup. At least for the time being, the game is being distributed through their own site at
http://www.elitedangerous.com/.
It may one day come to Steam, but it doesn't look like it will before launch. You can add it through Steam, and the Steam overlay, streaming, etc. will all work for the game (it wont for some non-Steam games launched through Steam).
However, what it doesn't do is make you install UPlay or Origin as a launcher to launch the game's launcher. Works like most MMOs, you just run the program off your harddrive.