Monica Harrington's Bold Strategy Secured Valve's Future and Half-Life IP

At the 2025 Game Developers Conference, Harrington recounted how a decisive threat to abandon game development forced Sierra to renegotiate Valve's unfavorable publishing agreement.

Valve's original publishing deal with Sierra granted the publisher control over the Half-Life IP and imposed restrictive financial terms on the developer.
Monica Harrington, Valve's first CMO, threatened that the company would pivot away from game development if Sierra did not renegotiate the agreement.
Sierra initially planned to pull marketing support for Half-Life, jeopardizing its success, but was convinced to relaunch the game as a Game of the Year edition, which boosted sales significantly.
In 2001, Valve successfully renegotiated its publishing agreement, regaining ownership of the Half-Life IP and securing online distribution rights for its games.
These negotiations laid the groundwork for Valve's evolution into a major force in PC gaming, enabling successes like Half-Life 2 and the Steam platform.