This week marks the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve’s seminal first-person shooter and arguably one of the genre’s greatest games. To celebrate the occasion, Valve released a nearly two-hour documentary on the making of the game, which included the story of how Valve’s future was threatened by a lawsuit from its former publisher, Vivendi.
As related by PC Gamer and 80 Level, the story behind the lawsuit begins about one hour into the documentary, and that tale flows in and out of the background of Half-Life 2’s development over the next 43 minutes of the movie. At the heart of the lawsuit was Valve’s assertion that Vivendi was distributing Counter-Strike to South Korean cyber cafes without permission from Valve itself.
In response to Valve’s lawsuit asserting its rights, Vivendi responded with multiple counter-claims against the former, as well as Valve COO Scott Lynch and co-founder Gabe Newell. The legal battle was such a drain on Valve’s resources that the company nearly went bankrupt. Newell also revealed that he was nearly personally bankrupted as well, and he had to put up his house for sale in order to keep fighting.