Valve to pay ATI $6m if HL2 is released 2004

[RoyaleWithCheese]

Ok, I just go ahead and post this in the rumours forum because this comes from a 'not so credible' source to say the least. Maybe this has already been posted before, then blame it on my poor search skills.

Here goes, on www.counter-hack.net there is an interview with a well known guy from the *** clan who says that unless VALVe wants to pay ATI $6 million, HL2 is coming out November 27th.

What is your opinion on this ? is this guy stirring things up (as the *** clan is very good at) or is there some info on the ATI deal that supports this?

I can't post the link because the clan name is in it, but you'll find the interview on the main page: Posted by H3X Wednesday, October 15 @11:48AM

 

[The Dark Elf]

As others have stated on numberous threads, information from anyone not officially connected to Valve, ATI, Vivendi, nVidia even should be taken with a pinch of salt, and maybe poked a bit with a large stick just to make it wiggle

Saying that. There could be some clause in the contract signed between Valve and ATI that protects both parties from problems, though frankly $6mil is pocket money these days for medium to large companies and I doubt it would cover damages. It's been said that an average sized house, with an average sized family, in a plesant area of the UK can very easily spend a million a year on everything these days. You know, mortgage, two/three cars, MOT's, food, bills, credit cards, kids schooling, traveling expenses, redecorating, repairs, vacations, new purchases etc.. So when you look at it like that, a million dollars doesn't go very far really, not in the grand scheme of things. Most people can be worth over a million now, stocks, shares, assets etc.

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

True, USD 6 million maybe not that much of a deal, but what about the non-financial issues?
Obviously both ATI and VALVe wanted to launch the game and the card at the same time and apparently, this hasn't happened. Surely this will not be the best marketing technique. Someone who has spent a fair amount of money on a high end graphics card would want to see it perform in the best possible way right away (to justify their own purchase, everyone does that, cognitive dissonance I believe it's called). And what better way than a cutting edge DX 9 game to do that?
Furthermore, the ATI - VALVe relationship will undoubtedly be under pressure because of the latest events. However let's not hope that VALVe will release an unfinished game (if that's the case right now) because of these reasons ... however, SP only would be enough for me
:cheers:

 

[The Dark Elf]

I'd be pretty happy with an SP only version to begin with, and would happily buy the collectors edition with all the bells and whistles later. Maybe they could release the SP one, and make the SDK available to a few mod teams that they deam worthy, then the rest of us get the modable version + multiplayer and everything else later, by that time there should be some decent properly made mods out there, and by the time we've finished playing them they'll be more stuff out. Kinda a staggered release to give most a better chance of being seen. Some may see it as an unfair advantage to those mod teams that get an early start with the SDK, but they will also be the ones getting little to no help from others too, so they've be the ones coming up with how to do things, that would benefit the smaller mod teams later on.

I'd be cool with that

 

[Kadayi]

£6 million is peanuts to ATI (the graphic Card market is much much bigger than just games). I doubt Valve have to pay them anything, also if they were liable for anything their insurance would meet the charge.

 

[the_Leprechaun]

Who are you saying is an unreliable source? The clan, or CH? Because CH is a very respected source, who has contacts with many of the cheating clans.

 

[The Dark Elf]

right and the cheaters are well known for their professional attitude and reliable information, when their not pretending to be the ones who stole from Valve or fighting amongst themselves like little girls

/sarcasm

 

[jonbob]

Personally I think ATI will keep their mouth's shut when it comes to the 'leak', especially what happened between them and id with regards to Doom 3.

 

[Shift]

USD 6 million is pocket money to them?! Oh... I only had a dollar for my pocket money... But 6 million is still a large sum of money. I think they wouldn't want to risk losing it due to contracts. Let's just hope they just release the single-player at least. They can patch up any problem in the Multiplayer. Heck, what harm is that to play aimbots and wallhacking in single-players?

 

[Tyrant]

there would be some sort of contract btween ati and valve/vivendi because hl2's release would have been the main selling point for their card, as someone else said earlier, people who dish down so much money for sucha high end card are going to want to see performance as soon as they install the card. i wouldnt put down so much money to boost my ut2k4 or max payne 2 frame rates. with nothing else to push the card to to its limits not many people are going to rush out to buy it immeadiatly, when hl2 gets released in april there would be newer faster cards that people are going to get, rendering this 9800xt useless.