Will Valve distribute future games (ie HL3) via VUG?

[OrphanBoy]

After all the problems we've read about for months that Valve have with Vivendi (eg all the legal disputes etc), will Valve go with VUG again? Obv they've got Steam, but what will they do for physical copies?

Just a thought.

 

[ShadowFox]

HL3 must come through VUG, since Vivendi owns the HL rights.

 

[Asuka]

Nope. They only had agreed on 1 more game and that was hl2. From now on its activision i believe.

 

[ShadowFox]

Nope. They only had agreed on 1 more game and that was hl2. From now on its activision i believe.

Hmm.. I believe you, but do you have a source?

 

[OrphanBoy]

Activision?
But then again, from that HL3 info thread, I seem to remember that one of the HL3 domains is registered to VUG...

 

[frusion]

Valve only has to make one more game with VU then its off to activision!

 

[Bait]

Where is everyone getting the idea that Valve is signing up with Activision from?

 

[God[TM]]

Why bother with physical copies? It's so unneccesary (do you keep (or even refer to) your current game's propoganda?) and adds quite a bit of cost to the final product.

With the price of DVD burners coming down to about $50 (it was in one of those Fry's ads), physical backups shouldn't be a problem anyhow.

 

[GorgeousOrifice]

Activision published Day of Defeat retail, so a lot of people are figuring Valve is going to move to them.

Personally, I think that the next game Valve does will be sold only through Steam.

 

[Raziaar]

Going on this same thread. I'm curious. While valve may continue to go with publishers, for hard copies, do you guys think they will EVER get into a contract about not being able to release the game on Steam before the store release? I don't think they will. That was a foolish decision on their part.

 

[Lanthanide]

Hey, here's a question I actually haven't seen anyone else ask. Will the steam version of HL2 come with the manual in PDF? I'm assuming so, but do we know for sure?

 

[OrphanBoy]

I'd much rather have a physical copy - at least you could come back to a game, say, a year after the last time you touched it and play it. I'm sure if you didn't sign into Steam for an age they'd delete your account... (Hotmail style)

Or can they not do that, as you've actually *paid* for some of their games? (unlike Hotmail)

 

[Yombi]

Why bother with physical copies? It's so unneccesary (do you keep (or even refer to) your current game's propoganda?) and adds quite a bit of cost to the final product.

With the price of DVD burners coming down to about $50 (it was in one of those Fry's ads), physical backups shouldn't be a problem anyhow.

Physical copies are needed....not everyone in the world has fast internet.

And VALVe own the IP to HL series. It was signed back over to them when VALVe and Sierra redone their contracts.

But VALVe are obligated to make another game and publish it with VUG.

 

[spitcodfry]

Activision published Day of Defeat retail, so a lot of people are figuring Valve is going to move to them.

Personally, I think that the next game Valve does will be sold only through Steam.

Wel they have to go with Vivendi for the next one. They're bound by contract on it. But who knows. After the legal snafu is finally resolved, maybe both parties will agree to part ways.

But I don't think it would be a very wise move on Valve's part to go completely Steam. Not just yet. That really would alienate a lot of consumers who don't have high-speed connections in order to gather the content which Valve will distribute via Steam for their products.

I suppose shipping their products in standard case + CD format would work as an alternative for the customer. But then again, they need a publisher for that. Maybe they have the money to create their own printing/packing factories. As time rolls on and more and more PC users get high-speed, I could see the Steam format becoming mainstream for not only all of Valve's distribution needs but other game companies as well (either their own system or Valve leasing the tech to them). It is a much easier system, I agree with you on that. Knowing I don't have to swerve in and out of traffic in a lunatic rush to get to my local game store the day it comes out is quite a relief.

I dunno: do you all think that Valve's way will eventually catch on with other developers, or do you think the costs required to operate a Steam-like service are just too much for the average game company to pump out financial-wise? If it becomes a streamlined operation, where the common layman can afford to distribute his material through his own cottage industry content delivery system, then it could work. But the costs of needing content servers capable of handling heavy loads such as Half-Life 2's could be astronomical. Then again, most of those games won't be Half-Life 2. What do you all think?

 

[OrphanBoy]

Then again, most of those games won't be Half-Life 2. What do you all think?

It's not like it's shockingly bigger than any of the other games out there... But yeh, I doubt other (smaller) companies could afford that *huge* amount of bandwidth Valve has on tap for Steam!

I think we're a long way off having every game distributed online...

 

[Epsi]

Well, Valve have taken a massive step forwards with HL2 on Steam anyways. I'm fairly sure online distribution of games as has never (legitimatly) been done on this kinda scale before.

 

[dream431ca]

The lawsuit will tell...

 

[OrphanBoy]

Maybe Valve will start a publishing-only branch of the company which sells games for other developers online... It's not like they've not been successful selling their own games via Steam.

 

[Bait]

Soon, Steam won't only be used for Valve products. Other companies are sure to be interested to use the Steam technology to distribute their products as well. We are still in the early stages of Steam, and it's only going to get bigger and better.