EA in Talks to Secure Portal 2 Publishing Rights

[Corpse XxX]

May I be the first to...



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

This has my full support. As long as they don't alter it. SO far, I have yet to see a game that hasn't made me hate them with the EA logo attached

This was my exact thought also! Please do not in any way let EA temper with the magnificent product of 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.

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.

I'll repeat what I say in that quote: please do not invent opinions for me to have, I have opinions of my own. My opinion about EA's involvement in Valve is just that, an opinion. To characterise it as 'an accusation' requiring a source reference and supporting evidence is just ridiculous. I might be of the opinion that England wanted to lose the world cup; it's not a view I impose on others or use to advocate a certain action, so asking for evidence to support it is just asinine.

 

[Moriarty70]

Why can't Valve publish it them selfs

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

Nope, Half Life was published by Sierra and then EA, Half Life 2 as well, first Sierra and then Valve. You are right though concerning TF2 and the Orange Box, they published it themselves, but EA took care of the Distribution in retail. And that's probably what this is about - distribution in retail. And I can understand Valve - muss less stress for a bit of revenue gone to EA.

I'd forgotten about Sierra for a while. Really bad of me considering the whole dustup/legal posturing over the digital version of HL2 on Steam.

 

[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.

I'll repeat what I say in that quote: please do not invent opinions for me to have, I have opinions of my own. My opinion about EA's involvement in Valve is just that, an opinion. To characterise it as 'an accusation' requiring a source reference and supporting evidence is just ridiculous. I might be of the opinion that England wanted to lose the world cup; it's not a view I impose on others or use to advocate a certain action, so asking for evidence to support it is just asinine.

OK then. Let me rephrase. You said

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.

I haven't heard of these interviews, and I'd imagine there would have been a bigger fuss over this if said interviews were well known, hence my demand for a link. I'm sorry if I got snappy, but I do not believe that EA would get so involved with Valve. Valve hasn't had a poor selling game since HL2M, and probably Deathmatch Classic. They know how to make games people want. Why would EA mess with something that works?

 

[Sebenko]

EA can get fucked. Theirs are the only games I've ever had DRM troubles with (I haven't bought any of Ubisoft's **** DRM games).

Crysis: Warhead had no code, so I had to download a crack (by the time EA support got back to me, I'd found a crack, used it, completed the game and forgotten about it).

And ME:2. I can't get that fucking Cerberus network to work. Why should I pay for content that doesn't work?

 

[Covarr]

To all the people complaining about Orange Box PS3: Do you even know the difference between a developer and a publisher?

EA was responsible for porting The Orange Box to the PS3, and they did a shitty job. But Valve is developing ALL versions of Portal 2 in-house. If EA does publish it, that's all they'll be doing, they'll have no part in the development.

Not to mention, there's no way in hell Valve will even let EA near it if EA tries to put any DRM on it. Valve has a history of using only Steam and nothing else for PC DRM, and there's not really any kind of DRM for consoles.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Cynical skeptic]

and there's not really any kind of DRM for consoles.

Quibble: On the contrary, consoles are the ultimate form of DRM.

 

[Lawyer105]

May I be the first to...



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

This. I've had bad experiences with almost every EA published game I've purchased in the past two years. LET IT NOT BE EA!!!

 

[Deathfish15]

The question: Is is really that bad to have EA doing this, or would you want someone like Activision to assist in the physical distribution?

I'm sure that EA isn't that bad and is far more appealing to the PC crowd than Activision is (BF:BC2 vs. MW2, which had dedicated server support? The one with the EA sticker on it).

 

[Pinstar]

In other news. Portal 2 has been divided up into 7 different parts and will be sold to you separately at near-full price for each part over the next 2 years.

That's Activision, not EA.

No, they did that with The Sims. Not only would they splinter the content into individual EPS and make you pay for them each separately, when you went from one generation to another, they got to strip out the extra functionality and gameplay elements from the previous generation and re-sell it to you as a 'brand new ep' for the new generation.

See the images below for them selling you the ability to go on vacation three separate times.

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

e_o EA? In MY Portal 2? What madness is this?

 

[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.

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.

I'll repeat what I say in that quote: please do not invent opinions for me to have, I have opinions of my own. My opinion about EA's involvement in Valve is just that, an opinion. To characterise it as 'an accusation' requiring a source reference and supporting evidence is just ridiculous. I might be of the opinion that England wanted to lose the world cup; it's not a view I impose on others or use to advocate a certain action, so asking for evidence to support it is just asinine.

OK then. Let me rephrase. You said

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.

I haven't heard of these interviews, and I'd imagine there would have been a bigger fuss over this if said interviews were well known, hence my demand for a link. I'm sorry if I got snappy, but I do not believe that EA would get so involved with Valve. Valve hasn't had a poor selling game since HL2M, and probably Deathmatch Classic. They know how to make games people want. Why would EA mess with something that works?

Like Westwood Studios and Bullfrog?

In an interview with Gamesutra, Doug Lombardi who first suggested to Gabe Newell the idea of partnering with Valve on distribution said that during negotiations with the people from EA(technically EA Partners, a sister-company), they were quite persistent with a lot of extra offers that Valve didn't want. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19695

I'm guessing that because Valve have given good references to other developers since the deal is the reason why EA at least appears to have cleaned up its act in recent years. But that might change now there are signs that EA are going to put less emphasis on distribution deals and more on in-house development and acquisitions.

 

[soulsabr]

In other news. Portal 2 has been divided up into 7 different parts and will be sold to you separately at near-full price for each part over the next 2 years.

I believe you have EA/Portal II and Microsoft/Halo mixed up, friend. EA will just charge you US $10 for all the features you need to play the game and have fun.