Electronics Arts and Valve Software have recently signed a publishing agreement according to this great press release. Electronic Arts will publish new SKUs that will replace the current Half-Life boxes available on store shelves starting late Summer/early Fall.
Valve maintains the rights to the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Day of Defeat franchises. EA is effectively another distribution channel for Valve. Valve's previous main publisher was Vivendi, but that deal ended in a public battle between the companies and a lawsuit's results that mostly favored Valve Software. Activision published the retail release of Day of Defeat based on the original Half-Life engine, and Microsoft published the original CS port to the Xbox.
"EA is the worldwide leader in bringing best of breed games, for all platforms, to market," said Gabe Newell, Valve's founder and president. "Valve games have sold over 18 million units at retail since Half-Life shipped in November 1998. By combining EA's unparalleled operation structure and distribution channel with Valve's award-winning development teams and games community, we've established an awesome combination for delivering great products to console and PC gamers around the world."Half-Life 2: Game of the Year edition will be one of three titles available this Fall via EA. The GOTY edition will include Counter-Strike: Source, HL2 DM, and Half-Life: Source. Counter-Strike: Source will also have a retail release, like the original CS, which will ship CS:S along with HL2 DM and soon-to-be-released Day of Defeat: Source. Finally, EA will be publishing Half-Life 2's Xbox port.
Valve maintains the rights to the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Day of Defeat franchises. EA is effectively another distribution channel for Valve. Valve's previous main publisher was Vivendi, but that deal ended in a public battle between the companies and a lawsuit's results that mostly favored Valve Software. Activision published the retail release of Day of Defeat based on the original Half-Life engine, and Microsoft published the original CS port to the Xbox.
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