Overview

• Sierra initially planned to pull all marketing funds from Half-Life shortly after its release, jeopardizing the game's success and Valve's future.
• Monica Harrington, then Valve's CMO, threatened to expose Sierra's mismanagement and abandon game development entirely if the publisher did not renegotiate the contract.
• Harrington successfully convinced Sierra to launch a Game of the Year edition of Half-Life, which revitalized sales and became a major hit.
• The renegotiated contract allowed Valve to regain control of the Half-Life IP, setting the stage for its rise as a leader in PC gaming.
• At the Game Developers Conference, Harrington reflected on how these events ensured Valve's survival and eventual dominance with titles like Half-Life 2 and the Steam platform.