Monica Harrington from Valve shared some interesting facts about the company during her talk at the GDC 2025. One of the most surprising stories was about how Valve struggled to sell Half-Life due to stores being hesitant about the game. The situation got so tough that Valve had to come up with a clever trick to make sure it could sell the game: they added a “Game of the Year” sticker to the box.
The Struggle to Gain Trust
At first, stores didn’t see the potential of Half-Life and didn’t give much importance to the positive reviews it had received. As a result, stores didn’t order enough copies, which limited the game’s availability on shelves and hurt its initial sales.
Valve’s Genius Strategy
To overcome this challenge, Valve came up with a simple but brilliant marketing move: they created a “Game of the Year” (GOTY) edition of Half-Life. This special edition had a sticker on the box and was backed by Sierra, the company that published the game. Although Half-Life had already won numerous awards, some very prestigious ones from various publications, there was technically no official GOTY award at the time. In fact, even today, there isn’t an official GOTY award—what people refer to is the recognition given by The Game Awards in December.
The GOTY label was something that store owners could easily recognize, as it stood for quality and success. As a result, store orders for Half-Life increased, and the game received much more exposure in stores. It’s no surprise that Valve’s strategy worked: orders skyrocketed, sales took off, and Half-Life became the massive commercial success we know today, solidifying Valve’s place in the gaming industry. The rest, as they say, is history.
