Bellevue, Washington-based game developer Valve and global developer/publisher Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) have reached a settlement in a pending federal court lawsuit filed by Valve in August of 2002. Under the terms of the agreement, VU Games will cease distribution of retail packaged versions of Valve titles, including Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source, effective August 31, 2005.
Cyber café licenses will also be affected by the settlement. Operators that were licensed by VU Games to use Valve titles have been notified that only Valve is authorized to distribute Valve games and grant cyber café licenses. Existing cyber café license agreements from Sierra Ent., VU Games or any affiliates or distributors have been terminated.
VU Games’ development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Ent., Radical Ent., Sierra Ent. and Massive Ent. The company’s library of more than 700 titles includes Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Empire Earth, Leisure Suit Larry, Ground Control and Tribes.
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