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."
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.
I'm one of those brick-n-mortar guys not so much because I like the idea of having an actual CD--though admittedly it is a big reason--but because I don't want to have to install Steam for all the typical reasons listed. However, given this latest news, if Steam were to provide some way to burn HL2 (and all their other games) to CD after downloading it would go a long way in convincing me (and potentially many others) to purchase Valve products over Steam. I've been following the threads on HL2 and Steam for a bit now so if the ability to burn a game to CD is available in Steam please let me know. Having a CD and knowing you don't have to spend the time downloading the game again after your HD crashes is worth the peace of mind, in my opinion.
"Worry is only anxiety over something that may never happen." -V2
I'm one of those brick-n-mortar guys not so much because I like the idea of having an actual CD--though admittedly it is a big reason--but because I don't want to have to install Steam for all the typical reasons listed. However, given this latest news, if Steam were to provide some way to burn HL2 (and all their other games) to CD after downloading it would go a long way in convincing me (and potentially many others) to purchase Valve products over Steam. I've been following the threads on HL2 and Steam for a bit now so if the ability to burn a game to CD is available in Steam please let me know. Having a CD and knowing you don't have to spend the time downloading the game again after your HD crashes is worth the peace of mind, in my opinion.
"Worry is only anxiety over something that may never happen." -V2
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