According to a news story on CNN's money web site, Half-Life 2 will be delayed for at least four months. This means that the game will become available sometime in April 2004. Although Vivendi seem to suggest this, Megagames have found that Valve is still insisting that the game will reach stores by the holiday season. This strategy of arguing with their partners over H-L 2 announcements seems to be Valve's M.O., throughout this pre-release saga but until they do release some form of statement which makes a holiday release official you are advised to read what VU Games have to say on the subject.
According to Vivendi Universal games then, the delay is a direct result of the theft of part of the source code. A third of the source code was stolen, said VU Games president of international operations Christophe Ramboz. It's serious because it forces us to delay the launch of the game by at least four months, that is to April 2004. Just the time to rewrite parts of the game.
At a time when Valve are keeping quiet, working on their security and conducting damage assessments no doubt, VU Games decided to speak out, crashing any hopes that the game would have made it to a holiday release.
For those of you residing in another planet, under a rock, H-L 2 was delayed from its original 30 September release due to steam bandwidth issues and other technical problems but the theft of the source code, apparently using Gabe Newell's email, will probably require Valve to rewrite a large part of the game.
The much anticipated and troubled game, it was hoped, would re-establish Valve as the elite of the gaming world, it will take all of the company's resolve and patience in order to achieve that now. Gamers all over the world wish them luck in their efforts.
