Valve: "Valve Time" is a Compliment

[Jeremy Wilkinson]

Valve: "Valve Time" is a Compliment

Quality is worth far more to Valve than punctuality.

Half-Life developer Valve believes that Valve Time - the peculiar phenomenon by which time appears to dilate such that the company's release dates never seem accurate - is in fact a good thing.

In an interview with Eurogamer at the Develop conference in Brighton, Valve's head of business development Jason Holtman said that the delays were just a side-effect of the company's unusual development cycle. The company, he says, doesn't conform to the formal schedules adopted by most other studios. The flexibility that this strategy affords sometimes leads to incorrect announcements, or lengthy stretches of time devoid of any new information. However, Holtman said, it also allows the team to focus more on the quality of the game than on when it will be released. "We would infinitely rather have happy customers for decades, rather than a happy batch of customers at one Christmas," he stated.

The existence of Valve Time doesn't necessarily mean that everything developed by the company needs to be matured like a fine whiskey, though. On the contrary, there are plenty of updates and features which end up taking far less time than the team expects, but these rarely get much fan attention in comparison to larger announcements.

Valve comes under a lot of flak for its protracted development times, especially over the long-awaited Half-Life 2: Episode 3 , whose existence has rarely even been hinted at in the five years following the release of Episode 2. Despite the constant badgering for updates from fans, however, spirits within the company remain high. Indeed, Holtman sees the heated fan response as a compliment of the highest order. When inevitably asked if he had any new information regarding Half-Life, though, Holtman simply replied "No. See, now I'm being cagey." It's clear, then, that Valve isn't looking to alter its working structure any time soon, meaning that the mixed blessing of Valve Time is here to stay.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-12-valve-on-valve-time-its-charming-its-kind-of-a-compliment]

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[Dreadman75]

It's okay Valve. We'll all forgive you once Half-Life 3 comes out.

But seriously, who else does this? Actually taking the time and effort to go over their games with a fine-tooth comb in order to make sure that they are up to a specific standard, instead of treating their franchises like a machine where you just pull a lever and another installment pops out.

I applaud this kind of business practice. It shows they care about their fanbase enough to risk their ire for taking so long on a much anticipated game, in order to make sure that game is something that is worth such a wait.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Take all the compliments you want, Valve, just give us more Half-Life while you're at it.

 

[the doom cannon]

It's okay Valve. We'll all forgive you once Half-Life 3 comes out.

But seriously, who else does this? Actually taking the time and effort to go over their games with a fine-tooth comb in order to make sure that they are up to a specific standard, instead of treating their franchises like a machine where you just pull a lever and another installment pops out.

I applaud this kind of business practice. It shows they care about their fanbase enough to risk their ire for taking so long on a much anticipated game, in order to make sure that game is something that is worth such a wait.

The devs at ArenaNet for Guild Wars 2 have been preaching this since it's announcement: "It'll be done when it's done." Heck, they didn't even give us a release date til a couple weeks ago after 5+ years in development. I love when devs take the time to clean up and perfect their games.

And as every escapist poster will tell you: HURRY UP AND GIVE US HALF LIFE 3! (take your time though)

 

[=y]

I'm going to assume building a new game engine is part of this Valve Time phenomenon. Source is starting to age little by little each year. Make hats to make the masses happy.

Whatever, I'm a patient man.

 

[bafrali]

It is OK guys. Take your time and if i die before it comes out, remember me from your nightmares.

 

[monkeymo4d]

Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Steam, Valve would have gone bankrupt and shut down years ago with the kind of game development schedule they have at the moment.

I don't really believe Valve actually believes in any of these stuff, they just know they can get away with it because of the money made from Steam. They could wait till they actually release a game of their own (that's not a mod) for another decade and people will still worship them like they were gods.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hide behind my imaginary Internet flame shield.

That's actually true infact I think at some point Bethesda almost went under because their development cycle took too long(and other things) and if it wasn't for the huge success that Morrowind then we probably wouldn't have Skyrim today.

Fact is for most game devs releasing a game in under 3 years isnt really a matter of choice but neccesity and Valves approach to game development is only plausible due to their constant fountain of revenue (Steam).

 

[VZLANemesis]

Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Steam, Valve would have gone bankrupt and shut down years ago with the kind of game development schedule they have at the moment.

Even you must admit you HAVE to be exagerating to prove a point right?
I mean, jokes aside, Orange Box (and then hat sales), L4D, L4D2, Portal 2, F2P TF2 (getting shitloads more money bc of hats), Valve has gotten quite a bit of good games out there, not to count the crazy ammount of free content they offer after every game is released, TF2 Updates, Portal 2 extras, L4D 1 & 2 Free content... Its not like they've been doing absolutely nothing over the span of years.

The longest period of time without a game release has been what? 1 year?

(also, right now, DOTA 2 and CS:GO Getting lots of work and updates done onto them)

 

[Dogstile]

Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Steam, Valve would have gone bankrupt and shut down years ago with the kind of game development schedule they have at the moment.

Even you must admit you HAVE to be exagerating to prove a point right?
I mean, jokes aside, Orange Box (and then hat sales), L4D, L4D2, Portal 2, F2P TF2 (getting shitloads more money bc of hats), Valve has gotten quite a bit of good games out there, not to count the crazy ammount of free content they offer after every game is released, TF2 Updates, Portal 2 extras, L4D 1 & 2 Free content... Its not like they've been doing absolutely nothing over the span of years.

The longest period of time without a game release has been what? 1 year?

(also, right now, DOTA 2 and CS:GO Getting lots of work and updates done onto them)

Remove the games that Valve employees didn't make or come up with the idea for (for example, finding a cool project and buying it + staff) and that list becomes a lot shorter.

Valve is a publisher now, not a developer.

 

[Andrew_C]

By my count they've released 9 games (and several hundred hats) since 2004. Not too bad.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Let's be honest, if it wasn't for Steam, Valve would have gone bankrupt and shut down years ago with the kind of game development schedule they have at the moment.

Even you must admit you HAVE to be exagerating to prove a point right?
I mean, jokes aside, Orange Box (and then hat sales), L4D, L4D2, Portal 2, F2P TF2 (getting shitloads more money bc of hats), Valve has gotten quite a bit of good games out there, not to count the crazy ammount of free content they offer after every game is released, TF2 Updates, Portal 2 extras, L4D 1 & 2 Free content... Its not like they've been doing absolutely nothing over the span of years.

The longest period of time without a game release has been what? 1 year?

(also, right now, DOTA 2 and CS:GO Getting lots of work and updates done onto them)

Remove the games that Valve employees didn't make or come up with the idea for (for example, finding a cool project and buying it + staff) and that list becomes a lot shorter.

Valve is a publisher now, not a developer.

You should really look up what publisher and developer mean... just wow...

 

[Ragsnstitches]

snip

snip

You... you both realise that Valve have released 1 massively successful game each year since 2004, right?

But lets look at this in detail.

2004: Half Life 2, Counter Strike Source
2005: Day of Defeat: Source
2006: Half Life Episode 1
2007: Half Life Episode 2, TF2, Portal
2008: Left 4 Dead
2009: Left 4 Dead 2
2010: Aline Swarm (Free game)
2011: Portal 2
2012: Counter Strike Global Offensive (August), Dota 2 (TBA)

Yeah... thats a real shitty release schedule.

EDIT: That's not including everything they have done with TF2 since release.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Bioware: Three Mass Effect games in five years, and despite the ending of ME3 being hotly debated, some of the best games if not the best games of their respective years. In the same amount of time, two Dragon Age games, one of which was very well received, the other polarising but with a dedicated fanbase and Star Wars the Old Republic, an MMO which at least did get well received, even if it was crushed by WoW pretty quickly.

Bethesda: Two Elder Scrolls games in six years, both incredibly well received and Skyrim looking set to become an early contender for game of the decade judging by the nerd response to it. Also, two Fallout games, one of which, while badly received by fans of old Fallout, basically revived what was a near dead franchise, created a great game which accoridng to the Escapists very own competition is one of the eight best games ever, and could go on to win or be in the top four.

Valve: Ten games in six years. Two of which they didn't actually make, just hiring the team that did all the work at the last minute. One of which was basically received as a glorified expansion pack for the game they didn't make, one that was yet another revamp of a popular old game (and people criticise other companies for remakes and updates) and above it all the looming specter of a game that is fast becoming the new Duke Nukem Forever of gaming humour.

See, Valve time is good up to a point, but as I look at what they've actually released in the same period that Bioware have released one of the most acclaimed series of all time and Bethesda have pumped out Skyrim, I realise that they're kind of coasting on old glory, and at some point that is going to have to change. If they hadn't been able to nab the company that actually made Left 4 Dead or Alien Swarm they would have been even worse off in the 'releases people cared about' column.

Valve Time isn't a compliment, because while Valve may say that their development process leads to better games, personally I'd rather go and replay the entire 100+ hours of the Mass Effect trilogy, or the hundred plus hours of a single Bethesda game, rather than an unfinished episode of a game that as the years go by looks increasingly worse for wear. I'll say it right up front. Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Skyrim are better than anything Valve has put out in the same time period. Yes, a Valve game from, say, '98 or '99 was very very impressive for the time, but what really have the actual company of Valve (not the teams they bought out) done recently? Portal 2, and that's about it.

 

[tehweave]

I've stopped caring about valve a long time ago. I'll "consider" caring again if and when HL3 is released.

"Consider."