Well... didn't see this one coming.

[KungFuSquirrel]

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050718/185804.html?.v=1

EA to distribute HL2: GOTY, CS:S, and HL2 Xbox. Deal also includes distribution rights for future titles within the franchises.

EDIT: re-phrased to "distribution rights." As I understand it, Valve is self-publishing.

[Kosmo]

EA is eeeevillah, you must stopppah, the Electronic Artsssssah!

[Fullauto]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

[Section_Ei8ht]

Man, I was voting for Activision or THQ. wtf.

[|FRITZ|]

holy shit!

EA better not fuck up half-life 3

[Steppenwolf]

Thats a nightmare!

[Pericolos0]

well aslong as they dont interfere with valve's creative process i don't see a problem

its just the physical retailer right?

[PhilipK]

I hope so Peri...

[Mojo]

it is just distrubution of HL2 stuff, has nothing to do with development of HL 2K6

[KungFuSquirrel]

Yeah, distribution only. Lots of people are freaking out unnecessarily.

I was surprised by this, though; I don't know who else remembers but Activision and Valve had signed a multi-title deal a while back, the first release being Day of Defeat. I had just assumed that would hold up when Valve shipped new retail copies of HL2 after the Vivendi split, and I think a lot of other people did, too (I saw lots of forum posts where people just assumed ATVI distribution). Wonder if EA just offered up a metric fuckton of moneyhats or something.

Who knows, maybe that ATVI deal still stands for other projects and Valve is working with multiple publishers. Independents have that luxury.

[Mazy]

That's how it always starts. Then later theres running and screaming!

[Izuno]

Man, I was voting for Activision or THQ. wtf.

Well....it kinda makes sense for Valve to go with EA for the physical retail distribution.

1) EA probably is giving Valve more $$$ than either Activision or THQ would have

2) EA has the strongest sales force in the industry...and the widest international reach where penetration of broadband (and hence, Steam) is lowest

Both of which would result in the maximum $$$ for Valve. As for the ATVI-Valve deal on Day of Defeat, I think that was a one product deal for just that iteration of DoD.

What's interesting is that HL2 might be the first major M-rated game EA ha signed or internally developed. Anyone else remember any M-rated EA games?

[kleinluka]

:-/~~~~~~~~~~~

[InsaneSingingBlender]

oh god, now we have to see the huge ea logo on the hl2 boxes

[user]

and an annoyingly long ea logo when you start any future valve games...