Valve versus Sierra [Sep 20, 2004, 11:34 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Valve vs.
Vivendi Universal dogfight heats up in US District Court on GameSpot (thanks
Democritus) reveals some details of a behind-the-scenes legal battle between
Valve and Sierra (now part of VU Games) over Half-Life and Half-Life 2 that's
been brewing for several years now. The article picks through details of a
recent court filing by Valve that reveals the current state of the litigation,
which has its next court date on October 8, though an actual trial is not
scheduled until March 21, 2005. Included are disputes over what
role Steam is to take in the game's distribution and who actually holds rights
to the Half-Life intellectual property. Here's a segment that summarizes some of
this:
In court filings, Sierra/VUG says that the current distribution of Half-Life 2 via Steam exceeds the scope of the current software publishing agreement between the two parties. It is apparently seeking the court's assistance in compelling Valve not to use Steam as an avenue of distribution.
On Friday, when asked if Valve was remained intent on making Half-Life 2 available to gamers via Steam, regardless of what was determined on October 8, Lombardi replied, "Yes."
Interestingly, and in spite of the ongoing legal dispute, Sierra/VUG still wants to work with Valve in the future and is asking the court via filings to force Valve to work with it on whatever is next in the development pipeline. It asks the court, in filings, "for a declaration that Sierra and VUG have the right to a fourth engine license pursuant to the terms of...the 2001 Agreement."
According to Lombardi, "We're going to meet the obligations of our current agreement."
When the record industry has to start suing 11 year old girls and publishers want to litigate to force devs into an agreement on their next game it should be a sign that they've become obsolete.
I would say they are still important. Many people here have posted thoughts along the lines of "I want an actual box, CD/DVD, etc" and will buy the game via the regular old brick and mortar retail channel. Just like the recording industry, the publishers have to rethink their gameplan. They are not the only fish in the sea now.
I don't recall Valve ever saying what the initial price point would be for HL2 via Steam but I'm guessing it will be the same amount as the retail boxed version.
Sierra is trying to avoid being known as the company that let the golden goose get away.
After reading the article it seems that some of Sierra's arguements are weak. Isn't there a thing called due dilligence? Was Valve supposed to lay all their cards on the negotiating table? Hell, many of the people around here saw the writing on the wall when Steam was first rolled out. Why didn't Sierra?
On top of their other mis-steps, re-negotiating their deal with Valve seems like a dumb idea as well.
What is really interesting to me is the IP issue. Wonder where that will go?
October is not that far away...
-TPFKAS2S
http://www.braglio.com
http://www.shamings.com
-TPFKAS2S
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