On the 22nd, Valve and EA confirmed a distribution agreement, which means that, as usual, EA will be publishing Portal 2 on retail channels, this time through its third-party publishing arm, EA Partners, which distributed APB and will distribute Respawn Entertainment’s games.
Valve And EA Confirm Retail Distribution Agreement for Portal 2
News & Rumors
EA has been publishing Valve’s games at retail brick-and-mortar stores since 2007’s The Orange Box.
Doug Lombardi says the game will be backed by a “first-class launch campaign”, and that Portal 2 will represent “most innovative title in the company’s history.”
April 18th couldn’t come sooner enough.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32162/EA_Valve_Confirm_Distribution_Agreement_For_Portal_2.php
What did Valve use to distribute retail before 2007? (Half Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source etc).
Vivendi/Sierra, but after the cyber cafe incident, Valve self-published for a while.
Good news. I’m unable to buy games directly from Steam, so it’s nice to know that the retail version will be there for certain.