EA AND VALVE TEAM UP TO DELIVER HALF LIFE
Redwood City, Calif. and Bellevue, WA - July 18, 2005 - Electronic Arts, the world's leading interactive entertainment company and Valve®, the award-winning studio behind the blockbuster franchises Half-Life® and Counter-StrikeTM, today announced that the two companies have entered a multi-year agreement to deliver a collection of Valve games to players worldwide. The first two games to be released under this agreement are Half-Life 2: Game of the Year and Counter-Strike: SourceTM for PC, both launching this winter. In addition, Half-Life 2 for the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft, currently in development at Valve and targeted for release in October, will be published and distributed worldwide by EA.
"At EA Partners, our mandate is to seek out the world's top studios and game franchises, build partnerships, empower the development teams and help get these great games to more people in more countries than ever before. We consider Half-Life and Counter-Strike to be two of the best game franchises of all time," said Tom Frisina, Vice President and General Manager, EA Partners. "We could not be more excited to have the opportunity to help deliver these outstanding games to players around the globe."
"EA is the worldwide leader in bringing best of breed games, for all platforms, to market," said Gabe Newell, Valve's founder and president. "Valve games have sold over 18 million units at retail since Half-Life shipped in November 1998. By combining EA's unparalleled operation structure and distribution channel with Valve's award-winning development teams and games community, we've established an awesome combination for delivering great products to console and PC gamers around the world."
Half-Life 2: Game of the Year is a special edition release of the best-selling and critically acclaimed title that includes Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, plus Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, and Half-Life: Source.
Counter-Strike: Source takes the world's number one online action game to new heights atop the Source engine with brilliant graphics, enhanced versions of the classic CS maps, all-new CS maps, offline skirmish play with AI bots, and more. It also includes Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Day of DefeatTM: Source.
Half Life 2 for the Xbox system defines a new benchmark in console gaming with startling realism and responsiveness. Powered by Source technology, Half-Life 2 for Xbox features the most sophisticated in-game characters ever witnessed, advanced AI, stunning graphics and physical gameplay.
For more information about EA please visit www.electronicarts.co.uk and for information about Valve, please visit: http://www.valvesoftware.com
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS BIGTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.electronicarts.co.uk. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at www.eelctronicarts.co.uk/press.
About Valve
Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company's debut title, Half-Life®, has won over 50 Game of the Year Awards and was 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 Defeat, and Team Fortress®. This portfolio of titles accounts for over 18 million retail units sold worldwide, and Valve games account for over 88% of the PC online action market. In addition to producing best selling entertainment titles, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the Source game engine and SteamTM, an electronic distribution platform for the delivery and management of digital content. Today, Valve is composed of over 80 of the industry's leading artists, programmers, and writers. In the company's nine-year history, it has risen from "unlikely new entry" to industry leader, producing a string of best selling and critically acclaimed PC entertainment products and technologies.
® 2005 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. Valve, Half-Life, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, Source and Steam are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation. Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Xbox is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.