Bellevue, WA and Los Angeles, CA - April 29, 2005 -- Valve and Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) today announced the settlement of a pending federal court lawsuit filed by Valve in August 2002. The parties have resolved their differences, and the settlement provides for the dismissal of all claims and counterclaims. Under the settlement agreement, VU Games will cease distribution of retail packaged versions of Valve's games, including Half-Life®, Half-Life 2, Counter-StrikeTM, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source, effective August 31, 2005.
Additionally, VU Games has notified distributors and cyber cafes that were licensed by VU Games that only Valve is authorized to distribute Valve games to cyber cafés and grant cyber café licenses. Cyber café operators that were licensed by VU Games have also been notified that any license agreement from Sierra Entertainment, Vivendi Universal Games or any of their affiliates or distributors that may have granted rights to use Valve games in cyber cafés, whether written or oral, is terminated.
About Valve
Based in Bellevue, Washington, Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996. Valve's debut title, Half-Life, has won over 50 Game of the Year Awards and named "Best PC Game Ever" in the November 1999, October 2001, and April 2005 issues of PC Gamer, the world's best-selling PC games magazine. Valve's portfolio of entertainment titles also includes Counter-Strike, Day of DefeatTM, and Team Fortress® and accounts for over 15 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the PC online action market. Information about Valve's Cyber Café Program can be found at
www.steampowered.com.
Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games)
Vivendi Universal Games (
www.vugames.com) is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. The company is a leader in the subscription-based massively multi-player online (MMO) games category, and also holds leading positions in the PC, console and handheld games markets. Its development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Entertainment®, Radical Entertainment(tm), Sierra® Entertainment and Massive Entertainment(tm). VU Games' library of over 700 titles features owned intellectual properties including Warcraft®, StarCraft®, Diablo® and World of Warcraft® from Blizzard; Crash Bandicoot®, Spyro The DragonTM, Empire Earth®, Leisure Suit LarryTM, Ground Control® and Tribes®. VU Games also maintains strategic relationships with industry leading content partners, including NBC Universal and Twentieth Century Fox.