Valve Sues Activision over 2002 Licensing Dispute

by Nick Breckon, Apr 30, 2009 1:31pm PDT

Related Topics – Valve, Legal, lawsuit, Activision Blizzard

Half-Life 2 developer Valve today filed suit against Activision, owner of former HL2 publisher Sierra, over a 2002 lawsuit regarding cyber-cafe licensing.

Valve originally won its dispute with Sierra, and was awarded $2,391,932 in its favor. However, Activision paid Valve only $1,967,796 last week, claiming that the missing $424k had already been doled out over the years, as pointed out by GamePolitics.

Not all that happy with Activision's appraisal of the situation, Valve sued the publisher this Tuesday. As promised, Activision is now threatening to countersue.

And in the span of time that it took you to read this, Activision Blizzard probably earned another $400,000. This one is about principle.

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Comments

19 Threads | 65 Comments

#48

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By: bored x Show Full Post

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"And in the span of time that it took you to read this, Activision Blizzard probably earned another $400,000. This one is about principle. "

Nice bias? How about just reporting? The suit was between Activision and Valve at the time. Activision Blizzard wasn't even a company at the time of the dispute and settlement.

Apr 30, 2009 9:19pm PDT

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"And in the span of time that it took you to read this, Activision Blizzard probably earned another $400,... : bored
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 7 replies.

#41

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By: Sinizar x Show Full Post

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The real crime is how much Valve charges Cybercafes to license their games. Most companies like Ubisoft, EA, etc charge a one time fee. Valve Software milk's the Cybercafe yearly with their fees. This is the thanks we get for launching their games back in the late 90s. Valve actually showed up at Cybercafes back in the late 90s giving their games away to the Cybercafes so we would promote their games. Now we pay them annually a minimum of $1200.00 a year for 10 or less computers running Valve Software games.

Apr 30, 2009 5:30pm PDT

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The real crime is how much Valve charges Cybercafes to license their games. Most companies like Ubisoft,... : Sinizar
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#25

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By: Wandergeist x Show Full Post

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They're going to spend more than $400K in lawyers fees. Each of them. Unless they settle in very short order, the only way this can be justified is "on principle." Which Activision will have a much harder time doing, because they have to justify it to shareholders. As a private LLC, Valve is much freer to follow the whims of its founders/owners.

Apr 30, 2009 3:27pm PDT

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They're going to spend more than $400K in lawyers fees. Each of them. Unless they settle in very short... : Wandergeist
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.

#19

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By: DewFuel x Show Full Post

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And who said publishers and developers don't get along?

Apr 30, 2009 2:34pm PDT

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And who said publishers and developers don't get along? : DewFuel
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  I'm not quite sure Valve isn't a publisher. They sell millions of games on Steam each year. : TurtlePerson2
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    Distributor != publisher : DewFuel
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      So what exactly does a publisher do, then? They fund developers to make games, taking on most of the ris... : Agrona
      
      valve would be a self-funded developer, not a publisher, cause they're not providing funding to other dev... : Torias

#4

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By: TheGamer11 x Show Full Post

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That's low.

Combined those Companies made something like 2-3 billion last year and they are really trying to stiff a company out of the money?

Granted Valve is the same company that it was in 02 either.

Apr 30, 2009 1:40pm PDT

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That's low. Combined those Companies made something like 2-3 billion last year and they are really try... : TheGamer11
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 9 replies.

#31

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By: Wombat Woo x Show Full Post

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Chump change for Blizzard.

All they have to do is allow players to change their race for a $10 fee. They would have the money within an hour.

Apr 30, 2009 4:20pm PDT

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Chump change for Blizzard. All they have to do is allow players to change their race for a $10 fee. ... : Wombat Woo
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- They would have the money within an hour. three minutes. : Agrona

#55

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By: Agrona x Show Full Post

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I'm a little surprised this wasn't Sponge. Nice comment there, Breckon =)

The details in the GP article were interesting, for those who haven't read them.

May 01, 2009 1:02am PDT

I'm a little surprised this wasn't Sponge. Nice comment there, Breckon =) The details in the GP artic... : Agrona

#33

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By: spaceyme x Show Full Post

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closing comment is lame, as usually shacknews' bias towards valve rears its ugly head.

Apr 30, 2009 4:25pm PDT

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closing comment is lame, as usually shacknews' bias towards valve rears its ugly head. : spaceyme
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#12

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By: ajvitaly x Show Full Post

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Blizzard-Activision is generating $250,000 an hour, every hour, 24 hours a day in revenue from WoW alone.

Apr 30, 2009 2:00pm PDT

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Blizzard-Activision is generating $250,000 an hour, every hour, 24 hours a day in revenue from WoW alone. : ajvitaly
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- What are you an accountant? : Porkasaurus
- when you put it like that, it seems hippocritcal for blizz to actively persue chinese gold farmers. : Klebold
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  Not all of the 12 million subs you used pay in at $15/mo : Harbinger
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    Even assuming $12/mo, it's still almost $200k an hour. : Helter Skelter
    - That is only the US pricing. : OverloadUT

#34

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By: churgen x Show Full Post

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they'll settle and make "World of Half-Life" together.

Apr 30, 2009 4:29pm PDT

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they'll settle and make "World of Half-Life" together. : churgen
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- that would be so awesome : Cihte

#3

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By: burning eye x Show Full Post

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fuck it all, im suing everyone.

Apr 30, 2009 1:38pm PDT

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fuck it all, im suing everyone. : burning eye
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  I'll sue you first : tfsbrian
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    And I'll sue you for sueing Burning Eye : Anastomosis
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      Not if i sue you both first... from space... with nachos. : SigENeaT
      
      I'm super super serial; I'm suing all suers, from the sewers, wearing many hats made of tin foil and doub... : massdev

#30

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By: doomed x Show Full Post

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Activision merged with Blizzard?

I must have been away when that happened?

Apr 30, 2009 4:15pm PDT

Activision merged with Blizzard? I must have been away when that happened? : doomed

#11

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By: ajvitaly x Show Full Post

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Will Activision pull it's steam catalogue? Or refuse to put any future releases on steam?

Apr 30, 2009 1:57pm PDT

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Will Activision pull it's steam catalogue? Or refuse to put any future releases on steam? : ajvitaly
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#27

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By: UMG x Show Full Post

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In 5 years, valve will probably be a pay at the door cult.

Apr 30, 2009 3:57pm PDT

In 5 years, valve will probably be a pay at the door cult. : UMG

#17

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By: snitch13 x Show Full Post

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"This one is about principle."

So, let me get this straight. These two are just bitch slapping each other over this?

Man. Now that's gangsta!

Respect, I'm out.

Apr 30, 2009 2:29pm PDT

"This one is about principle." So, let me get this straight. These two are just bitch slapping each ... : snitch13

#15

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By: xeropulse x Show Full Post

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Rofl, the $400k will go to lawyer fees alone! Both companies must be bored this time of year. If you're paying for high-class lawyers, might as well use them, no? "Hey law dept, I know we pay you a lot and all, got anything to do? No? Figure something out please, make yourselves useful perhaps?"

On another note, if you let one company/entity slip by you on breach of contract, you have no footing when it comes to others doing the same thing. You have to stand your ground, or be trampled over. Valve (and any other developer/publisher) is a business, first and foremost, not a "game" company.

So when is EP3 and even straight-up HL3 coming? CS2? Damn you Valve!

Apr 30, 2009 2:14pm PDT

Rofl, the $400k will go to lawyer fees alone! Both companies must be bored this time of year. If you're... : xeropulse

#8

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By: mort x Show Full Post

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Activision can easily afford to pay $400k but it has absolutely nothing to do with if they should

Apr 30, 2009 1:50pm PDT

Activision can easily afford to pay $400k but it has absolutely nothing to do with if they should : mort

#2

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By: Johnnsen x Show Full Post

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They could pay it then, from the money they earned from me reading this

Apr 30, 2009 1:37pm PDT

They could pay it then, from the money they earned from me reading this : Johnnsen

#1

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By: stgdz x Show Full Post

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I have to say I really like the closing comment.

Apr 30, 2009 1:35pm PDT

I have to say I really like the closing comment. : stgdz

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