Half-Life Demo Premieres Today On PC Gamer Online; Sierra Studios and Valve Launch Free Playable Demo of the ``Game of the Year``

Business Wire, Feb 12, 1999

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 1999--Sierra Studios, Valve Software, and PC Gamer Online will launch Half-Life: Uplink, the official public demo for the worldwide smash hit game, Half-Life, today at noon at www.pcgamer.com.

"Half-Life: Uplink is a free never-before-seen Half-Life mini-mission," said Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve. "In creating the demo, we wanted to give new players an experience that captures the essence of what makes Half-Life the Game of the Year, plus provide current Half-Life players with exciting, all-new content."

Half-Life, Valve's debut title, was released late in November 1998. For the month of December in the United States, Half-Life generated more revenue than any other PC game.(a) PC Gamer, the world's best-selling PC Games magazine, named Half-Life the "Game of the Year" in its March, 1999 issue.

Founded in 1996, Valve LLC develops game software. Based in Kirkland, Wash., the company consists of more than 25 leading artists, game designers and programmers. TF Software PTY Ltd., the developers of Team Fortress, was an Australian developer of games software acquired by Valve in 1997. More information about Valve is available through the company's web site at www.valvesoftware.com.

PC Gamer, the market-leading magazine of PC gaming, is a three-tiered environment consisting of the magazine, web site (http://www.pcgamer.com), and monthly CD-ROM cover disc. It is published monthly by Imagine Media, America's fastest growing media company.

Sierra On-Line Inc. is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra is comprised of six brands: Sierra Attractions, Sierra FX, Sierra Home, Sierra Sports, Sierra Studios, and Dynamix, a Sierra Company. Sierra is a division of Havas Interactive, whose holdings also include Knowledge Adventure, Davidson & Associates and Blizzard Entertainment.

More information on Sierra Studios can be found at www.sierrastudios.com.

(a) Per PC Data. Ranking does not include Barbie's Digital Camera, which shipped with hardware.