EA in Talks to Secure Portal 2 Publishing Rights

[GiantRedButton]

Why can't Valve publish it them selfs

Didn't they for Half-life, Team Fortress etc.

Ea published all the retail versions of the gamesa you mentioned^^ http://www.ea.com/de/spiele/the-orange-box
Even the pc versions.
Only thew steam releases, like all steam games are distributed by valve.

 

[Arec Balrin]

Apart from my speculation(and opinion, we are allowed them) on EA's possible involvement in L4D's sequel arrangements, everything else I said was factually accurate. They did involve themselves in more than just distribution; they were responsible for television marketing and used the opportunity to push L4D as an EA game, to the detriment of Valve's own brand image. Valve themselves have said in interviews that EA has been quite pushy with trying to be more involved in decisions on Valve games beyond their remit and have been politely turned down; repeatedly.

Please don't invent opinions for me I didn't say.

 

[nelsonr100]

EA, if you are reading this... Please don't! The PS3 Orange box was botched together, and the PS3/Steam collaboration is actually really important. I don't want this to suck!

Lets just hope all EA do is publish the game and in no way filter or alter the genius of valve

EA also distributed the Xbox versions of Left 4 Dead/2, it's not as if this is a new thing.

*Snip*

Remember, EA are the good guys now with the development of unique IPS such as Mirrors Edge and the fun advertising with Dantes Inferno.

Maybe my initial reaction was a bit far, I still worry about the EA of old which absorbed and destroyed a lot of companies and games I liked. I play valve stuff on the PC so I didn't realise they had published all of valve's stuff so far.

And as I said, so long as they simply publish it and don't change anything then I have no issue!

There is a very big different between publishing rights and owning a developer.

Had you taken time to read the article, you wouldn't be making these childish outcries of how the game was going to be ruined by EA.

If you had taken the time to read my post I said that there is no issue so long as they don't try to change it in any way, EA has done some pretty poor things in the past when interfering with developers. Try to take forum posts a bit less seriously, no reason to call anyone childish when you can't see humour

 

[Cynical skeptic]

This is how it should work. Developer makes game, publishers beg for the ability to leech away some revenue with defunct/inefficient distribution models. Not this, "we'll give you 40 million to develop a carbon copy of [popular game]," bullshit.

 

[Eruanno]

Well, feel free to publish it, EA. But if you poke around in Valves creation of the game itself, there will be blood.

But then again, you published Left 4 Dead 1+2 and a lot of other stuff, and it turned out alright, so... sure. At least it's not Activision.

 

[Megacherv]

Why can't Valve publish it them selfs

Didn't they for Half-life, Team Fortress etc.

Nope, that was Sierra

EDIT: Well, before Steam

EA, if you are reading this... Please don't! The PS3 Orange box was botched together, and the PS3/Steam collaboration is actually really important. I don't want this to suck!

Nah, you see, that was co-developed by EA, whom I'm not sure is that skilled with the Source Engine, whilst they only published the 360 version. Valve now have an in-house team to develop for the PS3, so they'd only be publishing both the console versions.

I'm not scared by this at all. Remember Brutal Legend, how that was published be EA? That was a really fun game I thought, and I didn't feel like much was cut out on EA's side (it felt more like a developer fault that the campaign was short as fuck). EA are kinda the good guys these days, and Activision are the evil vizier wanting to destroy all that is good.

 

[SnipErlite]

EA, DO NOT TOUCH THE GAME.

By all means support in the distribution and whatever else side of things, but stay away from the actual game. Let Valve do this themselves, please.

 

[Outright Villainy]

EA, if you are reading this... Please don't! The PS3 Orange box was botched together, and the PS3/Steam collaboration is actually really important. I don't want this to suck!

I'm quoting this because it seems like a typical response here; EA will have no input on how Portal 2 is being developed. The orange box ps3 port sucked because Valve didn't want to touch it, so EA did it for them. Now Valve have a dedicated PS3 team, So EA will have no hand in it's development. This is all purely for distribution, and console distribution at that. Valve still have steam, and they aren't some small dev under the foot of a mighty publishing giant; Valve are world renowned and will always have absolute control of their products when they want it. They're hugely sought after, and they could easily get by on steam if it came to it anyway.

 

[Jared]

Well, I hope all goes well. Im not too worried about EA handling of it, dont well previously, so all should be good

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I'm cool with whatever, as long as they don't touch the game and just publish it.

 

[thom_cat_]

don't care... I'll be on steam

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Why can't Valve publish it them selfs

Didn't they for Half-life, Team Fortress etc.

They do for the PC, through Steam, but I'm guessing since Portal 2 is a larger project they want, or EA hopes they want, outside support for publishing on PS3 and Xbox.

They certainly don't need a publisher on PC.

Is everyone forgetting that Valve released retail PC versions of all of their games and that Portal 2 isn't going to be an exception?

Anyway, Valve is financially strong enough that they don't need additional income from a publisher. As such, I imagine that whatever deal they made only entailed publishing the game, nothing more.

Also, I suspect the reason why Valve doesn't have a standing contract is beacuse of the enormous problems they had with Vivendi back when Half-Life 2 was released. So rather then having to deal with that again by signing a long-term contract, they probably decided it was best if they handled it on a case-by-case basis.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Just no activison since thy will try to take you over and destroy you. But EA would be a good choice so go with them

 

[Dr Bob]

EA, if you are reading this... Please don't! The PS3 Orange box was botched together, and the PS3/Steam collaboration is actually really important. I don't want this to suck!

Lets just hope all EA do is publish the game and in no way filter or alter the genius of valve

EA also distributed the Xbox versions of Left 4 Dead/2, it's not as if this is a new thing.

*Snip*

Remember, EA are the good guys now with the development of unique IPS such as Mirrors Edge and the fun advertising with Dantes Inferno.

Maybe my initial reaction was a bit far, I still worry about the EA of old which absorbed and destroyed a lot of companies and games I liked. I play valve stuff on the PC so I didn't realise they had published all of valve's stuff so far.

And as I said, so long as they simply publish it and don't change anything then I have no issue!

There is a very big different between publishing rights and owning a developer.

Had you taken time to read the article, you wouldn't be making these childish outcries of how the game was going to be ruined by EA.

If you had taken the time to read my post I said that there is no issue so long as they don't try to change it in any way, EA has done some pretty poor things in the past when interfering with developers. Try to take forum posts a bit less seriously, no reason to call anyone childish when you can't see humour

Ah yes, the old "lol jk, i dint mean what i sed lol!" response.

Your "humour" sucks, by the way.

Again, you fail to see the difference between publishing a game through a partnership and owning a developer.

 

[Delusibeta]

Apart from my speculation(and opinion, we are allowed them) on EA's possible involvement in L4D's sequel arrangements, everything else I said was factually accurate. They did involve themselves in more than just distribution; they were responsible for television marketing and used the opportunity to push L4D as an EA game, to the detriment of Valve's own brand image. Valve themselves have said in interviews that EA has been quite pushy with trying to be more involved in decisions on Valve games beyond their remit and have been politely turned down; repeatedly.

Please don't invent opinions for me I didn't say.

Well then, source for your accusations that EA wanted to fiddle with L4D's development or it didn't happen. I realise that EA promoted themselves in L4D's TV spots, but it's because Valve don't do TV spots.

 

[nelsonr100]

If you had taken the time to read my post I said that there is no issue so long as they don't try to change it in any way, EA has done some pretty poor things in the past when interfering with developers. Try to take forum posts a bit less seriously, no reason to call anyone childish when you can't see humour

Ah yes, the old "lol jk, i dint mean what i sed lol!" response.

Your "humour" sucks, by the way.

Again, you fail to see the difference between publishing a game through a partnership and owning a developer.

I'm not a big fan of your implication that I talk like an idiot, bit uncalled for.

You don't need to make excuses for not getting it first time round. A big picture of darth vader shouting "Nooo" is clearly a serious statement of objection....

I never made a comment differentiating publishing through a partnership and owning a developer. However even when a company only publishes a game there are numerous examples of the publisher insisting the developer slightly change the content to meet their standards before publishing.
I can't believe I need to make the same point 3 times but thats what I was saying I may be worried about, as stated in the very first post. Who knows how the contract will turn out, you can't guarentee EA keeping their hands off (although imo they probably will *phew*).