EA, Valve Confirm Distribution Agreement For Portal 2

Electronic Arts and Valve Software on Wednesday confirmed a distribution agreement for Portal 2, which will see EA's third-party publishing arm EA Partners distribute the anticipated sequel. EA also partnered with Valve to publish 2007's The Orange Box, which included the original, highly-acclaimed Portal, along with Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. EA more recently published Valve's Left 4 Dead series at retail. Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi said the game will be backed by a "first-class launch campaign" leading up to its April 21 launch. He said Portal 2 is the "most innovative title in the company's history." Valve will be handling digital distribution of Portal 2 through its Steam platfrom on PC and Mac. Like the original Portal, the game is also coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The original Portal had players solving puzzles within the fictional Aperture Science Labs using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" -- a gun that can create portals through which users can enter and exit. Portal 2 has seen two delays: the first one pushed the game from 2010 to 2011, because according to Valve, "making games is hard." The most recent delay was announced in November, pushing the game back two months to April 2011. Valve called the delay "the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays."