Gabe Newell Divulges Valve's Secrets to High School Students

[Tom Goldman]

Gabe Newell Divulges Valve's Secrets to High School Students


Gabe Newell recently participated in a candid video interview with a class of high school students.

The current Sports and Entertainment Marketing class at Tippecanoe Valley High School are a bunch of lucky ducks. Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, was kind enough to recently join the class in a lengthy video conference session.

Newell is a very successful man [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107742-Gabe-Newell-The-Next-Videogame-Billionaire], so the teacher thought his insight into the entertainment industry might be useful. He goes over Valve's history and its current practices in a very candid way.

The video is over 40 minutes long, but it's an interesting look at the inner workings of Valve. Newell talks about how aspiring game makers can get a job at Valve, how Valve decides when a game is done, how Valve has learned to draw in customers through word of mouth rather than purchasing ads, the indie game scene, and more, all over intercom announcements about what's for lunch at school the next day.

For anyone interested in the videogame industry, Valve, or what goes on behind-the-scenes of videogame development, it's a great way to spend 40 minutes. Take a break from Left 4 Dead [http://www.amazon.com/Left-4-Dead-2-Pc/dp/B002BRYXRQ] and give it a watch.

Thanks Markcocjin [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/markcocjin]!

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[Assassin Xaero]

I wish my classes could have talked to him...

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

Oh god. I would've just raised my hand and asked when episode 3 will be done. And I live fairly close to that school too >_<

 

[Jazoni89]

Just tell me when DotA 2 is coming out, dammit!

"Ahem" their's one certain game that takes higher priority than DOTA 2.

You can guess which one.

 

[Michael Enfield]

I was the one that recorded this, and I asked the first 2 questions

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

Just tell me when DotA 2 is coming out, dammit!

"Ahem" their's one certain game that takes higher priority than DOTA 2.

You can guess which one.

I sure can't.

It rhymes with malf wife apisode tree.

Wait. That might not rhyme...

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

~_* Word of mouth isn't advertising?

 

[Jazoni89]

Just tell me when DotA 2 is coming out, dammit!

"Ahem" their's one certain game that takes higher priority than DOTA 2.

You can guess which one.

I sure can't.

You know

Gordon Freeman's super happy fun crowbar challenge extreme episode 3 dual shock edition X

that one

 

[WolfLordAndy]

~_* Word of mouth isn't advertising?

When businesses say advertising they mean the more traditional, magazine, tv, buses, internet banners, radio, etc.

Word of mouth is based purely on people finding your stuff good, useful and value for money. You can't buy it (well you can, but if/when you get found out, it usually blows up in the company's face - ala sony viral marketing goofs)

 

[RoboGeek]

Just tell me when DotA 2 is coming out, dammit!

he did actually say in the video that it was coming later this year (which means middle way though next year in valve time)

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Luuuuucky students. That must've been cool for the 2 kids in the class who knew who he was!

 

[Michael Enfield]

Luuuuucky students. That must've been cool for the 2 kids in the class who knew who he was!

It was very cool, as soon as he called, it finally hit me that "Holy Crap, I'm talking to Gabe Newell!" Which is why I sounded so nervous during the first question

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Just tell me when DotA 2 is coming out, dammit!

"Ahem" their's one certain game that takes higher priority than DOTA 2.

You can guess which one.

I sure can't.

It rhymes with malf wife apisode tree.

Wait. That might not rhyme...

Left 4 Dead 3?

 

[FlashHero]

Ive payed attention to Vavles Marketing strategies alot...Ive i ever get off my ass and make a game then it would be a muti-player fps that has a single character stats like CSS did and from there can be customizable like TF2. I would plan about a year of updates from launch and put a in-game store. I would also have day-one mod tools and have community challenges so my fans would do my work for me and let me release more official stuff in-between my updates. Then more shit like that. Oh but i would sell it for $15 if pre-order then $20 till 4 months after then move it down to $15 with a Sale of $10 for a day then so on and so forth.

 

[mocruz1200]

"im glad you took time out of your busy schedule to talk to us"
if gabe newell was busy, HL2 ep3 would be out.

 

[theriddlen]

Haha, i already can see how 90% of game devs in the world are watching it right now, noting every second sentence in the notepad

Interesting video, but i had to stop watching after 15 minutes - i can't risk using up too much of my internet.

 

[Blueruler182]

Lucky bastards. Best speaker I got in high school was the local political parties, and even then I only went because I could skip classes.