Stardock Boss Thinks Steam Is Holding Back Half-Life

[Logan Westbrook]

Stardock Boss Thinks Steam Is Holding Back Half-Life

Being a developer and a retailer is tricky, says the Stardock exec, and one of the two will inevitably suffer.

Selling off the Impulse digital distribution platform seems to have given Stardock CEO Brad Wardell more time to muse upon the state of the industry, or at least about Valve's role in it. He's already weighed in [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109120-Former-Impulse-Boss-Predicts-GameStop-Will-Beat-Steam] on Steam's chances against GameStop - Impulse's new owners - and now he's wondering how much becoming a retailer had hurt Valve as a developer.

Wardell said that there was a significant difference in Valve's output - that is to say, the games it developed internally - following the launch of Steam. He noted that there hadn't been a new Half-Life game in a while, and wondered if it might be because Valve's focus was elsewhere. "When one of your groups is so ridiculously profitable, every business instinct you have is to throw all your best people at it, because that's what's making the money."

He said that Stardock had found itself in a similar position with Impulse, but that the only way for Impulse to become a valid rival to Steam was to go all out and make become an online retailer. He said that that wasn't a direction that Stardock wanted to go. "When the winning scenario is not what your objective in life is, then it's time to re-evaluate what you want to do."

Wardell isn't wrong: It has been a long time since Valve released a new Half Life game, but it seems likely that Steam is just part of the equation and development on other games has to be taken into consideration. By specifying games developed internally by Valve, rather than games that were started elsewhere then brought into the Valve fold, like Left 4 Dead, Wardell does eliminate a few titles, but actually not that many. Work on games like Team Fortress 2 - which has received constant updates since its release - and Portal - the sequel to which is due out very soon - will have had an effect on the production of a new Half-Life, too.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/steam-success-holding-up-half-life-development/]









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[Arachon]

And he just broke the #1 rule of maintaining a good reputation among the internet gaming community: Don't ever criticize Valve, unless you're working there.

OT: The man's got a point though, acting as both developer, publisher and retailer is sure to stress company resources a bit, and it doesn't seem too far-fetched saying that could contribute to Valve's very slow release cycles.

 

[Vaccine]

And he just broke the #1 rule of maintaining a good reputation among the internet gaming community: Don't ever criticize Valve, unless you're working there.

OT: The man's got a point though, acting as both developer, publisher and retailer is sure to stress company resources a bit, and it doesn't seem too far-fetched saying that could contribute to Valve's very slow release cycles.

Or if they haven't released a new HL game, which they haven't.

 

[googleback]

See!? even DEVELOPERS can cry "where's episode 3!!!!?"

I think they're focus HAS been elsewhere but I don't actually mind at all. is it REALLY such a bad thing?

 

[Neverhoodian]

Gee, a CEO heavily invested in a service that's trying to dethrone Steam is implying that Valve doesn't know how to handle things? Who would have guessed?

I'm one of those strange Valve fans that doesn't care for Half-Life, so it wouldn't bother me even if Brad Wardell's comments are true.

 

[Legion]

As long as the quality of Valve's games isn't in decline then I don't really care to be honest. I was annoyed as everyone else when I heard Portal 2 was getting a delay (and again the second time), but now it's almost here I don't care as long as it's as good as it looks.

 

[therandombear]

meh, I'm not listening to anything he says after his "GameStop will beat Steam".

Also...I may be entirely wrong, but I read through the Portal 2 achievements...and

Spoiler

One achievement called "Ship Aboard: Discover the missing experiment"....could be about Aurora...and we all know what that is

 

[Korak the Mad]

I've heard rumors about this already, and I really am starting to believe that Valve is withholding the Half Life games.

 

[Tomo Stryker]

I'm not sure why he is why he is hitting on Valve but its about as affective as throwing pebbles at a castle wall. Let Valve take their time, they know that they have an incredibly large fanbase teetering on Half Life and they most certainly won't leave it standing in the dark. Let them take their time, besides it will probably come with a new game engine that will pale the Unreal Engine and the Crytek Engine. Patience is a virtue fool.

 

[Harbinger_]

Ugh... I hate to get on the bad side of a bunch of fans here on The Escapists but Valve not putting every single employee that works on video games into Half-Life 3 as soon as possible is not the end of the world. There are honestly other games out there. (Plus I wouldn't buy Half-Life 3 anyway because I don't enjoy the series and preferred Portal by a factor too high to post without looking like I'm spamming the board.)

I have faith in the company and I enjoy the games that they make and distribute with a few exceptions but the fact they haven't focused all their energy into making one game when they've made several others is not evidence that Valve is losing their Midas touch.

 

[Tzekelkan]

Is there no limit to how low this guy will to insult a competitor. I used to respect Stardock, but this, selling Impulse to with Gamestop, saying idiotic things about Steam... what the hell, dude? I get he (used to) ran a competing service to Valve's own, but they sure haven't gone out of their way to badmouth anyone.

 

[draythefingerless]

Half Life 1 release: 1998

Half Life 2 release: 2004

Thats 6 years. If anything, Steam is getting better at releasing games quicker.

Saying Valve witholds games is fucking ridiculous. Valve in fact works FASTER than MANY companies out there, and produces good products. Team fortress, portal games, not to mention handling the HUGE half life 2 mod community and steam. If anything, the fact they can release SOLID games so fast is suprising. This is no longer Half Life 2 : Episode 3.


This is gonna be Half Life 3. I have little doubts about it.

 

[Numachuka]

Really? Well they seem to be doing very well so far.

 

[Art Axiv]

I wish he would stop attention whoring. Really. He sounds bitter in my book.

 

[Littaly]

This seems like a weird way to speculate. Surely the people who develop games at Valve have little to nothing to do with distributing them. Likewise I'm assuming they have people employed specifically to work with Steam, so why would it have any impact on how fast they develop games?

 

[Wrann]

Other than the guy obviously trying to get attention I would rather have Ep:3 delayed and have Steam than have Ep: 3 and no steam.

 

[Phishfood]

"Yes, if we ignore the development in l4d and l4d2 and tf2 and portal and portal2 and probably other games I've forgotten then clearly it is steam causing the long delay in hl(ep)3."

And if we ignore the tsunami that nuclear plant in japan fell down all on its own!
And if we ignore the fumes they put out cars are great for the environment!

We can do all sorts of silly things if we pick and choose the facts we use. I have *no idea* how the dev's time at valve is allocated. He might have a better idea than me, but I'm guessing no-one outside valve itself knows.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

"When the winning scenario is not what your objective in life is, then it's time to re-evaluate what you want to do."

Well that pretty much sums up my year so far.

I don't really agree with his points in context though. They all are more-or-less true, but Valve seems to be picking up...steam...since Steam came about. Maybe not Half-Life specifically, but they've not exactly been slacking off on the support and quality of development.

 

[DEAD34345]

I really don't think that the above was supposed to be an insult against Valve... mainly because it wasn't insulting in any way whatsoever...

But regardless, i love Stardock. They release amazing games and they did something even better. They got rid of the thing that was making them the most profit, because it got in the way of developing their games and software. Finally, proof that not every company in the universe is *purely* about money-making.