Activision, Valve tangle over 2002 lawsuit

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 30, 2009 2:53 pm PT

Half-Life developer sues Sierra parent company for skimping on arbitrator-assigned multimillion-dollar settlement over royalty rights.

In the game industry, sometimes it feels like lawsuits have a half-life on par with carbon-14. So it is with a 2002 dispute between Valve and former publisher Sierra Entertainment over the latter company's unauthorized licensing of games such as Half-Life to cyber cafes around the world.

Can't we all just get along?

The Valve-Vivendi dispute yielded three years of claims and counter-claims until the pair finally reached a settlement in 2005. The subsequent agreement called for an arbitration process that itself dragged out until earlier this month, when the arbitrator said that Valve was owed nearly $2.4 million in back royalties. That sum was to be paid by Activision in light of the publisher's merger with Sierra parent Vivendi Games, finalized last July.

As reported by GamePolitics, Valve has filed suit this week in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, claiming that Activision declined to pay out the whole award. Specifically, the Half-Life 2 developer claimed that the Guitar Hero publisher is withholding some $424,000 of the payment, saying that it previously overpaid royalties to the studio.

Valve also said that Activision threatened to file a separate suit seeking that aforementioned overpayment money if the publisher's short-changing on the arbitration award was challenged in court. The developer is asking a judge to force Activision to pay up the remaining amount, with 1 percent-per-month compound interest tacked on, as well as attorney's fees. Valve is also seeking a declaration that Activision may not sue to retrieve its alleged royalty overpayment in the future.

Activision has been involved with numerous lawsuits as of late. The past several years have seen the massive publisher cross legal swords with THQ, Harmonix, Viacom, guitar maker Gibson, Turning Point developer Spark Unlimited, a few former RedOctane employees, some of its shareholders, and several irate customers.

As of press time, representatives with Valve and Activision had not returned GameSpot's request for comment.

134 Comments

  • unnamed475

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 9:55 pm PT

    Activision needs to sit on one of their plastic guitars, and just go lie down in the street. I hope the company goes bankrupt and their CEO rots in the lowest layer's of hell, the one reserved for child rapest, and people who talk at the theater.

  • whizeguy

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 10:54 pm PT

    Wow, just WOW, Activision is officially the worst, most evil company. I think they have surpassed Blizzard, EA, and Disney in the worst, most evil departments.

  • hurricaner

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 5:11 pm PT

    I think Activision is STILL pissed about the 2002 lawsuit

  • silvergun2

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 4:47 pm PT

    hahaha activision sucks ass

  • SocialAnXieTy

    Posted Jun 7, 2009 1:36 am PT

    My God Activision, give it up.

  • thisisreallybor

    Posted May 17, 2009 9:13 am PT

    no. this is just a political lawsuit. if valve gets sued for their money, it might put a damper on release date of HL2:E3, but it clearly won't in this case

  • s2-sohaib

    Posted May 12, 2009 10:01 am PT

    Well this effect on releasing half-life 2 episode 3?

  • thenephariouson

    Posted May 6, 2009 9:26 am PT

    @Naked_Shooter

    "$500k? Seriously? Isn't that like pocket change for a studio like Valve? Couldn't they just let it go?"

    Same could be said of Activision i guess, "Couldnt they just pay them?"

  • bodylotion

    Posted May 6, 2009 5:58 am PT

    Naked_Shooter : I think any game developer can use that money.

  • StaxMurphy

    Posted May 5, 2009 9:14 pm PT

    (at Naked_Shooter) if someone owed you $10 and they said they would pay you back and they didn't, would you be upset? $10 isn't much but money is money.

  • Naked_Shooter

    Posted May 5, 2009 7:50 am PT

    $500k? Seriously? Isn't that like pocket change for a studio like Valve? Couldn't they just let it go?

  • champmanfan

    Posted May 5, 2009 12:10 am PT

    hotbodyboy_2006, I expect it to be released Q4 2009 - moreso at the backend such as December - if all goes well.

  • hotbodyboy_2006

    Posted May 4, 2009 8:49 pm PT

    Activision can now only depend upon prototype. But seriously when are we getting HL 2 EP 3? Every time i get any updates regarding valve, i expect Episode 3!

  • rob_devitt

    Posted May 3, 2009 11:20 pm PT

    Insane00,

    If you spent as much time reading the item as you did googling the half lif of c14 you would realise that it's used correctly in this case that the court case is dragging on for years and is still not finished!!

  • Insane00

    Posted May 3, 2009 6:28 pm PT

    Activision, like most large companies, is more likely to be sued now than ever. It is so large that it will find itself a target if nothing else. Though as a big company it also has the resources to fight such lawsuits and pull stunts like this. One would think that the previous decision took into light all royalty payments already given to valve.

    On another note, C14 has a half life of over 5000 years. While the analogy may have been referring to C14's short half life compared to most natural radioactive isotopes, it seems poorly written on gamespot's part.

  • Glade_Gnarr

    Posted May 3, 2009 5:44 pm PT

    Not like activision can't pay valve, considering the cash cow that is guitar hero.

  • Wardrift

    Posted May 3, 2009 8:00 am PT

    Valve has been involved in several lawsuits as of late. Can't recall if they were ever resolved or are still on-going as well.

  • nappan

    Posted May 3, 2009 7:40 am PT

    @AnarchyRising: Heh, kinda sad when a company has a history of losing lawsuits for good reasons that is so long, it sets a real precedent from which you can predict...

  • equili3rium

    Posted May 3, 2009 5:44 am PT

    This is what happens when companies take advantage.

  • nyranasaurus

    Posted May 3, 2009 2:19 am PT

    This is where i hate companies merging together , this is always the result of this kind of stuff. There should be a law that companies arent allowed to take over other companies.

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