Will steam purchasers still be supported if Vivendi wins the litigation?

[Rocketman9mm]

IF vivendi wins, and valve is told to halt sale of HL2 over steam, isnt valve still obligated to support and provide hl2 for those who've already purchased it? Or will vivendi then have to send hard copies to steam buyers? I know they use it for updates, but purchasers back before the decision would still have the rights to re-download the game if need by right?

 

[Dynasty]

vu dont actually have control over valve's steam sales i believe. thats y they're offering the packages and have released cs:s, to get their own back on vu lol. it was pretty funny and very clever.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

VU can't. but a judge could by ruling they've breached their contract by bypassing vivendi through their steam sales, something they downplayed as possible earlier.

 

[Pressure]

Simple Solution: Move :cheers:.

 

[Gotter]

It's possible (But not likely since it's been said that VU signed away their rights to online distribution. And regardless of what Gabe may or may not have said, they signed a contract to that effect) that VU could get an injunction blocking the sale of HL2 over Steam, but I doubt even that would stop them since Valve could just modify the packages to say "Buy CS:S, get HL2 for free!" and once Vivendi sets a release date, they can distribute these free copies of HL2 to everyone who paid so much money for CS:S.

This is my take on it, anyway. I am by no means a corporate lawyer.

Oh, and something to add. The contract was signed in what? 2001? I'm sure back in 2001 that Steam was really rudamentary and probably didn't work very well at all. So any statement made by Valve saying that it probably wouldn't be a great way to make money was probably true... At the time. I still say it's Vivendi's fault for their lack of forward thinking.

 

[vorinoch]

If VUG wins, there's no way they would even want to halt the sale of the game over Steam.

They'll just want to charge VALVe a price per Steam sale equal to that of retail.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

If VUG wins, there's no way they would even want to halt the sale of the game over Steam.

They'll just want to charge VALVe a price per Steam sale equal to that of retail.

ah, thats true.

 

[Gotter]

If VUG wins, there's no way they would even want to halt the sale of the game over Steam.

They'll just want to charge VALVe a price per Steam sale equal to that of retail.

Valve wouldn't settle for that, though. I mean, it would be like walking up to you and handing you a percentage of Steam sales even though you did nothing to deserve it.

VU should only be getting a piece of the pie when they've spent money. Like when they sell a retail copy of the game because they've paid for the advertising, the packaging and the duplication. VU contributed no money at all to the actual software, so their claims to any sort of cut of a Steam sale is tenuous at best, ESPECIALLY since, as I claimed above, they signed away their rights to online distribution.

 

[Mountain Man]

I have a feeling that Valve would not be taking pre-purchases through Steam if there was even so much as a hint of a chance that it could get them in legal trouble.

Personally, I'm just not going to worry about.

 

[Gotter]

Well, they've stated that they're confident they are going win. And they should be since they have the only thing that will matter in the case. A signed contract.