HALF-LIFE®: GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION VAULTS TO NUMBER #1
Team Fortress™ Classic Tops Charts as Most Popular Online Action Game
Bellevue, WA (August 30, 1999) - Sierra Studios and Valve Software announced today that their PC game Half-Life is once again topping industry tracker PC Data's charts as the #1 game. Both companies reported today that the total sales of the recently released Half-Life Game of the Year Edition™ combined with the original version, have propelled the franchise to the coveted #1 PC Data slot by revenue for the week of July 25th. Since its release in November of 1998, Half-Life has won more than 40 Game of the Year honors and has sold over one million units worldwide.
As a result of the exceptionally high sales numbers for the Game of the Year edition, there has been a rise in the number of people playing Team Fortress Classic (TFC), which is included inside the special edition box. TFC is a team-based multiplayer game, and runs on top of the Half-Life engine technology. Currently the #1 action game played on the Internet*, TFC enables players to experience heart-pounding action in a collaborative squad-based game experience.
"We've more than surpassed our goal to reach a broader audience with the 'Game of the Year' edition for Half-Life. It's also gratifying to see online usage numbers for Half-Life and TFC continue to climb," said Dave Grenewetzki, president of Sierra On-Line.
"It's wonderful to see Half-Life's continued success in the retail channel," said Gabe Newell, Valve co-founder and managing director. "We're also very grateful to the Half-Life and TFC online player community for their ongoing support."
"Half-Life is a bona fide hit franchise," said Gary Bale, vice president - merchandising for CompUSA, one of the nation's leading software retailers. "The new packaging, which highlights Half-Life's critical success, is drawing a more mainstream audience. We expect Half-Life:Game of the Year Edition to continue as a big seller through the upcoming holiday season."
Founded in 1996, Valve develops entertainment software. Half-Life is Valve's debut title. Since its release in November, 1998, Half-Life has won more than 40 game of the year awards from publications that include PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, and Cnet's Gamecenter. Team Fortress Classic is a team-based action game, previously released over the Internet, that runs on top of the Half-Life technology. The company released the Half-Life Software Development Kit in May 1999. Valve's upcoming title, Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms recently won the E3 Game Critics' Award for Best Action Game and Best Online Game. More information about Valve is available through the company's web site at www.valvesoftware.com.
Sierra On-Line, Inc. is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra, a division of Havas Interactive, is comprised of a family of brands: Sierra Attractions™, Sierra Home™, Sierra Sports™, Sierra Studios™, and Dynamix™, a Sierra Company. Havas Interactive holdings also include Knowledge Adventure®, Blizzard Entertainment® and WON.net™.
*According to the leader board on www.theclq.com