EA & Valve combine hmmm

davewhite04 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:10

Just got email from EA advertising Portal 2, I was confused...

It turns out that Valve will be taking care of the digital distribution, but EA the retail, if I'm reading it right.

Why?

It has me slightly worried, saying that Valve have virtually done nothing new(technology wise for PC at least) for eons, they seem happy to just watch the money roll in from Steam.

Haven't even heard about a Halflife 3.

Maybe EA will do it?

Just a thought...

Kouba · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:11

Oh no.. if anything I would have hoped that Valve would stay away from EA...

Frapple · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:12

Seeing as EA is a publisher and Half Life is Valves pride and joy.

No.

Bloomfield · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:13

EA distributed The Orange Box retail too :confused:

Gimpymoo · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:14

Valve have a E.A Partners deal with Electronic Arts and have done since 2005 I believe.

E.A handle the physical media distribution, which to be honest, they are probably world leaders at.

orderoftheflame · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:17

Gimpymoo said:
Valve have a E.A Partners deal with Electronic Arts and have done since 2005 I believe.

E.A handle the physical media distribution, which to be honest, they are probably world leaders at.

This. Another lolEA non-story.

Mahnsikir · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:25

Yeah as gimpysays they've been publishing partners since HL2 and Valve's split from Sierra.

As far as I know, aside from when an EA studio ported the orange box to PS3 the only thing EA have to do with Valve games are getting boxes onto shelves in shops & marketing (especially for console versions). I doubt you'll see EA knocking on Valves door making sure L3D is out by Q3 to make sure profit targets are reached or anything like that.

Dark_Angel · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:34

InB4 EA buy steam.

I jest, I jest

Neil79 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:35

If EA ever owned Valve, which i doubt but if they did expect valve to be destroyed from the inside just like everything else EA has touched

davewhite04 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:37

It just doesn't sit well with me, having this little partnership going. EA leading publishers? More like the killers of originality.

It wouldn't take EA to sell this game, tescos could publish it and it would still sell by the bucket load.

Sleeping with the enemy, EA will get the plaudits for Portal 2 as the ordinary joe will just see EA plastered on the box. Surely Valve is big enough to do this themselves?

Valve have went way down in my book.

As for the Orange box, that was an old package re-issued and dumbed down for the consoles, Portal 2 is supposed to be Valves next big game, but they'd rather have EA plastered over the box.

All about money, I wouldn't be surprised if EA are paying Valve so they can do this for them.

While I'm talking about Valve, I remember when Halflife 2 was delayed etc. graphics cards sold with vouchers for the game as it was going to really test them out, and it did.

Why have they not done this again, and really pushed the PC ahead of the consoles big time? I think Valve have already give up the PC as their platform of choice now, they've had plenty of time to improve the vastly dated source engine.

Minor rant over.

davewhite04 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:38

Neil79 said:
If EA ever owned Valve, which i doubt but if they did expect valve to be destroyed from the inside just like everything else EA has touched

You understand where I'm coming from mate, shame others don't.

Neil79 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:39

Ofcause

Shamikebab · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:39

Been like this for ages without a problem. The sensationalist EA bashing on this forum is just ridiculous.

Nymins · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:39

Bloomfield said:
EA distributed The Orange Box retail too

Yea.

This isn't exactly new?

Neil79 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:40

Shamikebab said:
Been like this for ages without a problem. The sensationalist EA bashing on this forum is just ridiculous.

No it isn't ! if you can't see why this is then i feel sorry for you.

Tombo · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:43

Wahhhh.

Been like this for ages. Valve have gone down in your book? pathetic tbh get over it.

drunkenmaster · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:53

Neil79 said:
No it isn't ! if you can't see why this is then i feel sorry for you.

The problem is, several indepentant studios make a great game, followed up by complete tripe, its not even close to rare for it to happen that a couple of studio founders have a couple very good games then run out of idea's and make poop games.

Problem is if a studio makes a great game, then sells out to a bigger publisher, then makes a crap game(that would have been crap anyway) its always the new owners fault.

I mean, to a degree, look at Fable, fable 2 was good, I hadn't played fable 1 before, when I then went and played fable I was laughing at Fable 2, its a complete rehash, almost nothing remotely new or original about it. I felt like I was playing the same game a second time, waiting for FAble 3 for the PC if it ever arrives but not expecting a new game, still decent to play.

Its so common for a lead designer to make a great game, found a studio and continue to make the same game over and over with marginal changes, but if a company does that under the Activision/EA banner, its all their fault.

I'd say its incredibly rare for lead designers to make original title after original title. Most companies make a single franchise, kill it with multiple repeat titles, and throw a few original but rubbish titles out on the side, then said studio dissappears.

Yes, the EA bashing is ridiculous, every single time a bad game is made its their fault, if its a good game, its inspite of them. Its big business mentality, as in, people just want to hate and blame everything on them.

EA have done some rubbish, they've done some good, blaming them for every team who runs out of idea's is ridiculously stupid.

davewhite04 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:53

Tombo said:
Wahhhh.

Been like this for ages. Valve have gone down in your book? pathetic tbh get over it.

You keep playing on your 10year old source engine mate.

EDIT: Oh, and don't forget this years version of Fifa has 4000+ new players.

davewhite04 · 23 Mar 2011 at 18:59

drunkenmaster said:
The problem is, several indepentant studios make a great game, followed up by complete tripe, its not even close to rare for it to happen that a couple of studio founders have a couple very good games then run out of idea's and make poop games.

Problem is if a studio makes a great game, then sells out to a bigger publisher, then makes a crap game(that would have been crap anyway) its always the new owners fault.

I mean, to a degree, look at Fable, fable 2 was good, I hadn't played fable 1 before, when I then went and played fable I was laughing at Fable 2, its a complete rehash, almost nothing remotely new or original about it. I felt like I was playing the same game a second time, waiting for FAble 3 for the PC if it ever arrives but not expecting a new game, still decent to play.

Its so common for a lead designer to make a great game, found a studio and continue to make the same game over and over with marginal changes, but if a company does that under the Activision/EA banner, its all their fault.

I'd say its incredibly rare for lead designers to make original title after original title. Most companies make a single franchise, kill it with multiple repeat titles, and throw a few original but rubbish titles out on the side, then said studio dissappears.

Yes, the EA bashing is ridiculous, every single time a bad game is made its their fault, if its a good game, its inspite of them. Its big business mentality, as in, people just want to hate and blame everything on them.

EA have done some rubbish, they've done some good, blaming them for every team who runs out of idea's is ridiculously stupid.

So can you tell me the last time EA actually developed a new original game or even franchise that altered the way other developers developed?

They deserve a bashing, simple as, they have an excellent record of killing games. If you don't want to hear/read it, then don't.

orderoftheflame · 23 Mar 2011 at 19:01

Neil79 said:
No it isn't ! if you can't see why this is then i feel sorry for you.

Yes it is. People love an excuse to turn any EA non-story into a circle jerk cryfest.

davewhite04 said:
It just doesn't sit well with me, having this little partnership going. EA leading publishers? More like the killers of originality.

You are aware of the differences between the in-house development and third party distribution roles of a publisher aren't you? All EA are doing, is stamping copies onto disks and distributing it worldwide. They have zero input in development.

davewhite04 said:
It wouldn't take EA to sell this game, tescos could publish it and it would still sell by the bucket load.

Tesco, well known for their disk reproduction capabilities. Regardless of how much the "bad publisher" EA is, they ship more disks worldwide than almost any other publisher. And they are very good at this part of their business.

davewhite04 said:
Sleeping with the enemy, EA will get the plaudits for Portal 2 as the ordinary joe will just see EA plastered on the box. Surely Valve is big enough to do this themselves?

Valve have never done any physical distribution themselves to my knowledge. They might be big enough to set up their own retail publishing outfit. But seeing how few games they publish a year, why would they?

davewhite04 said:
Valve have went way down in my book.

Grammar aside. /Facepalm.

davewhite04 said:
As for the Orange box, that was an old package re-issued and dumbed down for the consoles, Portal 2 is supposed to be Valves next big game, but they'd rather have EA plastered over the box.

The Orange box was simultaneously released on Xbox 360 and PC, containing three entirely new games.

As for having EA plastered on the box... Have you actually looked at the front of the box with it's distinct lack of any EA logo yet?

davewhite04 said:
All about money, I wouldn't be surprised if EA are paying Valve so they can do this for them.

I would. That would just be retarded.

davewhite04 said:
While I'm talking about Valve, I remember when Halflife 2 was delayed etc. graphics cards sold with vouchers for the game as it was going to really test them out, and it did.

Why have they not done this again, and really pushed the PC ahead of the consoles big time? I think Valve have already give up the PC as their platform of choice now, they've had plenty of time to improve the vastly dated source engine.

There are Source engine improvements in Portal 2, and it's the best looking Source game by far to date. When Half-Life 3 comes out, expect a new engine, and expect it to be great.

davewhite04 said:
So can you tell me the last time EA actually developed a new original game or even franchise that altered the way other developers developed?

Can you name the last time any company changed the way other developers developed in some major way?