It is not yet fully official, no press release yet, but Sierra Entertainment, Vivendi's subsidiary will get to publish Half-Life 2.
This month has been very busy for Valve, first they announce the Day of Defeat, Activision deal, then the imminent release of Half-Life 2 and now they're back with Sierra on HL2. In the wake of these new announcements it's not surprising that Sierra took the news of the Activison deal very calmly.
The news concerning Sierra getting Half-Life 2 cannot be questioned since it comes from Valve's Gabe Newell on CNN. The news will certainly do a lot to help Vivendi who have been plagued by takeover rumours and poor financial results.
The question remains however, why Valve did not mention any publisher when the HL2 news first broke and why they have chosen not to use Vivendi's stand to present the game at E3 this year but instead chose to have it hosted, in a non-interactive theatre, in the ATI booth. A move which will further distress nVidia who first saw ID and now Valve joining forces with their hated rivals. Well at least they should be happy they managed to grab the EA deal before the Canadians beat them to it.
