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."
This whole situation just doesn't feel right. I'm as anxious for HL2 as anyone, but the only reason I can think that Vivendi waited for the Release Candidate to be delivered was so they could ensure that the game was done before they dropped this suit.
It's been said before (depending on how many conspiracy theories you believe) that one of the main reasons HL2 was delayed so much was because when Steam dropped last September it was a huge mess and they needed the realease of Condition Zero to test how Steam would perform with a significant drop.
Now, if I were Vivendi and saw this happen I`d be a little pissed.
So, it seems like they've waited till HL2 was done, then dropped this lawsuit - which kind of seems like cutting your nose to spite your face.
I mean, Vivendi aren't having the best year so far, and need HL2 to keep the shareholders happy. Valve aren't having the best year either, and really have to release it before all their PR staff quit in a blaze of mismanaged carnage (which is not to say they haven't already).
All of this wrangling though just seems to be the worst sort of business - albeit at an epic scale - lots of "this is mine and that's yours."
I really, really hope this doesn't get stuck in litigation for months and months, especially when I, like so many others, have 2.5 GB of HL2 on my machine - poised; promising so much...
It's been said before (depending on how many conspiracy theories you believe) that one of the main reasons HL2 was delayed so much was because when Steam dropped last September it was a huge mess and they needed the realease of Condition Zero to test how Steam would perform with a significant drop.
Now, if I were Vivendi and saw this happen I`d be a little pissed.
So, it seems like they've waited till HL2 was done, then dropped this lawsuit - which kind of seems like cutting your nose to spite your face.
I mean, Vivendi aren't having the best year so far, and need HL2 to keep the shareholders happy. Valve aren't having the best year either, and really have to release it before all their PR staff quit in a blaze of mismanaged carnage (which is not to say they haven't already).
All of this wrangling though just seems to be the worst sort of business - albeit at an epic scale - lots of "this is mine and that's yours."
I really, really hope this doesn't get stuck in litigation for months and months, especially when I, like so many others, have 2.5 GB of HL2 on my machine - poised; promising so much...
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