EA and Valve Do a Deal for Portal 2

[Andy Chalk]

EA and Valve Do a Deal for Portal 2

Electronic Arts has signed a deal with Valve to distribute the upcoming Portal 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Portal-2-Pc/dp/B002I0JIQW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1293035706&sr=8-2] through its EA Partners publishing arm.

Coming out in April barring a Steam [http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time] platform.

"Portal 2 is Valve's most innovative title in the company's history and will be launched with a first-class launch campaign this April," said Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice president of marketing. "We're excited to be working with Electronic Arts to deliver this title as we expand our platform strategy to include the Mac and PlayStation 3 platforms."

The EA Partners program has resulted in publishing and distribution deals between Electronic Arts and a number of high-profile developers along with Valve, including Crytek's Left 4 Dead [http://www.amazon.com/Crysis-2-Pc/dp/B002BS47YE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1293035864&sr=8-3] games.

Portal 2 is scheduled for release on April 21 for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac.


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[RatRace123]

Well, that's actually a pretty sweet deal. EA knows how to market stuff.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Well, EA is good at that kinda thing.

Can't see them doing this with an Activision game for some reason...

 

[Monshroud]

So are we reporting that Valve is using the same company to distribute it's products in the retail market as it has done in the past? .... blink ....

Yay Portal 2!

 

[KEM10]

Maybe EA will keep the Valve time closer to real time if they are sinking money into it too.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

So is the day fixed now? Or should I tack on a few more months on my countdown timer?

 

[subject_87]

Well, if it means that Valve's games will get to be put in the hands of more people, then I'm all for it.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

that's awesome! but i have to laugh at "Portal 2 is Valve's most innovative title in the company's history...". really? Portal 2 is more innovative than Portal? does he know what innovative actually means? or is the sequel taking huge leaps from the original?


*edit* really? no one else finds it amusing that he's calling a sequel the most innovative thing his company has ever done? to me it just sounds like the sort of incredibly stupid thing that only a marketing guy could come up with...

 

[Delusibeta]

Understandable, considering EA's been Valve's retail partner since the Orange Box. Why change something that works?

 

[vallorn]

i still havent forgiven EA for porting the PS3 Orange Box... this just seems like a bad idea to me. well il just wait n see

 

[UnravThreads]

Maybe EA will keep the Valve time closer to real time if they are sinking money into it too.

I don't think EA have any foothold in it, to be honest. They're taking a cut of the money for distributing the retail copies, that's how it works. I don't think their name even goes on the box. Valve don't have the resources to distribute their games outside of Steam, with Half-Life 1 being Sierra, for example, so they need to make deals like this to get their games into stores.

 

[Covarr]

As long as EA is *just* publishing, and has no hand in the development process, I'm happy.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Worgen]

considering that valve games tend to get pamphlets instead of instruction manuals and I intend to get the game on pc, Ill probably just do digital distribution for the damn thing, valve is the only company I would think about giving full price for a game digitally only

 

[Thorvan]

Okay, I know it's a bit off topic, but does anyone else think it REALLY disturbing to think of GLaDOS as sexy? Slick, brilliant, maybe even attractive, but sexy? Just, uhrm, no.

EDI, however. I could go for that.

 

[Arec Balrin]

Understandable, considering EA's been Valve's retail partner since the Orange Box. Why change something that works?

Because EA make their own logo very conspicuous on the adverts they produce for Valve games as if they actually made the game and Valve's own logo gets demoted to something alongside Bink video, Steam, Havok and other third-party applications. Gabe Newell really should have taken them to task over the Left4Dead advert which screamed "WE ARE EA! WE MADE THIS! These other little people helped.." .

 

[Megacherv]

i still havent forgiven EA for porting the PS3 Orange Box... this just seems like a bad idea to me. well il just wait n see

It's just a publishing deal now, Valve are porting Portal 2 to the PS3 themselves this time around.

 

[CatsAttackAgain]

No Valve! Finish Half Life 2: Episode 3 first, then we'll talk about publishing Portal 2 But even though EA is evil, they know how to do this sort of thing.

 

[theriddlen]

So is the day fixed now? Or should I tack on a few more months on my countdown timer?

Valve time - you know it!

 

[Baresark]

It's cool that it will be distributed more widely. The other uptake is the reversal of the port. Normally, PC get console ports, but now the console will be the port. It's a small comfort really. Go Valve, milk EA for all they are worth, if their higher ups still keep talking the way they do, they will end up in the dust of everyone else. One day maybe you'll buy them, haha.

 

[KEM10]

Maybe EA will keep the Valve time closer to real time if they are sinking money into it too.

I don't think EA have any foothold in it, to be honest. They're taking a cut of the money for distributing the retail copies, that's how it works. I don't think their name even goes on the box. Valve don't have the resources to distribute their games outside of Steam, with Half-Life 1 being Sierra, for example, so they need to make deals like this to get their games into stores.

I know, same thing happens with movies. However some of the pushers end up sternly looking at the developers if they take too long.