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."
Greed works both ways here. Someone has to pay these people to make these games. Vivendi/Sierra supported this studio making Half-Life and publishing it under agreement that it will share in the success of the game and any future sequels. (Assuming that is what the contract says) If Valve is getting greedy and trying to find a way to get their game out without Vivendi/Sierra getting a share of the profits I'd say shame on Valve. Whether you like it or not, contracts have to be upheld, if you signed on the dotted line you are responsible for meeting the terms of the agreement. No one forces a development studio to sign contracts, if they don't like them they look elsewhere, if their best offer still doesn't look all that great, oh well. Make a decision, sign or don't, but don't try and weasel out of the deal because you see the oppurtunity to make more money. This looks simply like Valve trying to get more money out of this deal.
Assuming that each of us were to invest in a game if that game was a hit we'd expect to have our investment paid accordingly. If at that point the game company changed the rules and said instead of us paying you $200,000 we are only going to pay you $150,000 because we did all the work, I bet you'd be a little upset too. Gotta stick to your agreements, can't change the rules because you think it's "fair".
[edit]
Hmm Something else I just realized, development of this game could have been delayed in order to make the deployment via steam possible at the same time as distrubution through traditional software stores. This whole thing is just a tremendous mess.
This comment was edited on Sep 20, 13:42.
Assuming that each of us were to invest in a game if that game was a hit we'd expect to have our investment paid accordingly. If at that point the game company changed the rules and said instead of us paying you $200,000 we are only going to pay you $150,000 because we did all the work, I bet you'd be a little upset too. Gotta stick to your agreements, can't change the rules because you think it's "fair".
[edit]
Hmm Something else I just realized, development of this game could have been delayed in order to make the deployment via steam possible at the same time as distrubution through traditional software stores. This whole thing is just a tremendous mess.
This comment was edited on Sep 20, 13:42.
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