Valve and VU end legal dispute
 

Parties settle long-standing beef out of court--as of August, VUG will no longer distribute any Valve titles, and cybercafe rights revert to the developer.

Specifics as to what monies may have changed hands in the settlement were not addressed. As a result, analysts and gamers may never know the full financial extent of the settlement, but what the two parties publicly stated was the following:

First, that beginning August 31, 2005, VU Games will no longer distribute packaged versions of any Valve game, including Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and Counter-Strike: Source. This makes it unlikely that VU will publish the Xbox version of Half-Life 2 if it is released following the end of August.

Second, VU Games will notify distributors and cybercafes that were previously licensed by VU Games that "only Valve is authorized to distribute Valve games to cyber cafes and grant cyber cafe licenses."

And third, all licensing agreements between cybercafe operators and Sierra Entertainment, Vivendi Universal Games, affiliates, or distributors that had previously "granted rights to use Valve games in cyber cafes, whether written or oral," are now null and void.

News source: ieXbeta
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