ktimekiller
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ok, ive read a few of the posts, i dont understand, whats goin on? and dont flame the 13 year old kid,
dont get the lawsuite
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dream431ca
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A lawsuit is nothing but 2 companies (or people) arguing with each other that one of them (or both of them) ripped each other off. But I think this lawsuit has lasted to long.
Basically, Vivendi may or may not have given away something that wasn't theirs to give. Valve is upset and wants their share of the money they got from selling their game (Anyone else remember the warning they sent out to all the Cyber cafe's running their game?) Valve got even more ticked off when Vivendi U held back releasing their game which no one really understood at the time but many speculated it was because of steam. Turns out it was. As is pretty typical, Vivendi is countersuing for intellectual property rights to Half Life in my opinion more to murky the waters when it gets time to straighten this whole mess out.
jet jaguar
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You know it's lawyerspeak when someone explains it in layman's terms(good job btw quixote) and you're still confused.
S
scaryberry
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Ok... for a 13 year old.. (a smart one 
)
Way back when, when Valve was a small startup company with no money, Sierra gave them some money so that Valve could make a game (which turned out to be Half-life). When a big company gives a little company a lot of money up front, they make an agreement where the small company (valve) gives the big company (sierra) a percentage of all the sales that come from that game, say 70/30.
This is very similar to how record companies work. They pay for the studio time, expenses, and production costs of artists that are broke, in exchange for taking a hefty chunk of all the CDs that are sold. Its kind of like gambling. If the artist doesnt sell anything, that money is lost, but if they hit it big, the record money gets a ton of money for doing very little.
So they make Half-life, which makes a ton of money - and everyone is happy, but for a very short time. Human nature is such that we're pretty greedy people, and for some, a lot is never enough.
Both Valve and Sierra (which is eventually bought by Vivendi Universal, which I'll call VU) know that Half-life 2 will mean big bucks. But Valve doesnt want to give a big percentage of HL2 sales back to VU, which they are obligated to do under the first contract they signed way back when.
So Valve threatens VU and tells them that unless they sign a new contract that is more favorable to Valve, that they will hem and haw and stall Half-life 2 forever and ever. VU doesn't want that, so they sign a contract with a smaller percentage for them and a bigger percentage for Valve. Now - here's the important part - in that contract, valve says, we want 100% of all "online" sales. I.e., anything downloaded off the internet, not bought in the store. Four years ago, before DSL was in 60 million households, this concept was pretty wild. So VU doesnt think twice, and says "OK". Valve, knowing that broadband will explode, starts working on Steam, a way to sell HL2 "online" and not having to give any percentage of a Steam sale to VU.
Skip to 2004. Valve invests a *lot* of time and money in Steam, and makes broadband delivery of a first-rate game a real possibility. VU sees this work, and freaks out. Right now, they are suing to stop Valve from distributing HL2 via Steam. That's where we are. VU has the RC of HL2, but technically, they can sit on it as long as they want, unless forced to release it. Valve can release HL2 via Steam, but may wind up owing a chunk of the sales from that to VU.
Possible endings:
1) If both VU and Valve need money, they both release it their own way; VU through stores, Valve through Steam. They then settle legally who owes how much to whom in the courts. This is obviously the best method for us the fans, but is also the least likely to happen.
2) VU and Valve come up with a new agreement, pre-release, that they can both live with, regarding percentages. This process could take months.
3) The court blocks the release of HL2, through either Steam or retail, until a agreement can be reached. Personally, I think this is the most likely occurance. There's an argument that continued delay devalues the property, but it's hard to argue that given the 5 year development cycle. A judge won't care if it takes another 6 months to work out the details.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, hope this helps. All percentages given are wild-assed guesses and should not be taken for actual numbers.
Scary
)Way back when, when Valve was a small startup company with no money, Sierra gave them some money so that Valve could make a game (which turned out to be Half-life). When a big company gives a little company a lot of money up front, they make an agreement where the small company (valve) gives the big company (sierra) a percentage of all the sales that come from that game, say 70/30.
This is very similar to how record companies work. They pay for the studio time, expenses, and production costs of artists that are broke, in exchange for taking a hefty chunk of all the CDs that are sold. Its kind of like gambling. If the artist doesnt sell anything, that money is lost, but if they hit it big, the record money gets a ton of money for doing very little.
So they make Half-life, which makes a ton of money - and everyone is happy, but for a very short time. Human nature is such that we're pretty greedy people, and for some, a lot is never enough.
Both Valve and Sierra (which is eventually bought by Vivendi Universal, which I'll call VU) know that Half-life 2 will mean big bucks. But Valve doesnt want to give a big percentage of HL2 sales back to VU, which they are obligated to do under the first contract they signed way back when.
So Valve threatens VU and tells them that unless they sign a new contract that is more favorable to Valve, that they will hem and haw and stall Half-life 2 forever and ever. VU doesn't want that, so they sign a contract with a smaller percentage for them and a bigger percentage for Valve. Now - here's the important part - in that contract, valve says, we want 100% of all "online" sales. I.e., anything downloaded off the internet, not bought in the store. Four years ago, before DSL was in 60 million households, this concept was pretty wild. So VU doesnt think twice, and says "OK". Valve, knowing that broadband will explode, starts working on Steam, a way to sell HL2 "online" and not having to give any percentage of a Steam sale to VU.
Skip to 2004. Valve invests a *lot* of time and money in Steam, and makes broadband delivery of a first-rate game a real possibility. VU sees this work, and freaks out. Right now, they are suing to stop Valve from distributing HL2 via Steam. That's where we are. VU has the RC of HL2, but technically, they can sit on it as long as they want, unless forced to release it. Valve can release HL2 via Steam, but may wind up owing a chunk of the sales from that to VU.
Possible endings:
1) If both VU and Valve need money, they both release it their own way; VU through stores, Valve through Steam. They then settle legally who owes how much to whom in the courts. This is obviously the best method for us the fans, but is also the least likely to happen.
2) VU and Valve come up with a new agreement, pre-release, that they can both live with, regarding percentages. This process could take months.
3) The court blocks the release of HL2, through either Steam or retail, until a agreement can be reached. Personally, I think this is the most likely occurance. There's an argument that continued delay devalues the property, but it's hard to argue that given the 5 year development cycle. A judge won't care if it takes another 6 months to work out the details.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, hope this helps. All percentages given are wild-assed guesses and should not be taken for actual numbers.
Scary
MetalliMyers
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Well done, scaryberry.
I think they will both just release it as the normal flow of event goes, then settle next year and make up the monetary differences.
I think they will both just release it as the normal flow of event goes, then settle next year and make up the monetary differences.
operative x
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so thats whats happening, i am enlightend
S
scaryberry
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well, now you get into the more tangled legal aspects. If VU "sits" on the RC, Valve can claim breach of good faith, claim any delay devalues the product, and release it via steam, and let the dice fall where they may. Technically, it's possible, but you're right, Valve would need decent justification for doing so.
If VU has a history of rubber-stamping RCs, i.e., the "72 hour turnaround" rumor we've all heard, it goes to Valve's argument that VU is intentionally blocking the release. This also goes to Valve's contention that VU deliberately stalled the release of Condition Zero so that it would miss the holiday season.
If VU has a history of rubber-stamping RCs, i.e., the "72 hour turnaround" rumor we've all heard, it goes to Valve's argument that VU is intentionally blocking the release. This also goes to Valve's contention that VU deliberately stalled the release of Condition Zero so that it would miss the holiday season.
thats stupid because after hearing what some fans have post its seems that they want the game badly and are thinking about buying it thru steam but also want the CE, and what about this surprise about the CE that just spring up, maybe this lawsuit is being over exaterated
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