A rant to valve.

[oliveira8]

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

For your information, the top game played on steam this day was Counter Strike. An 11 year old game. The second most played game was...Counter Strike: Source. Black Ops released a couple of months ago has half the number of players of CS:S. If it weren't for the fan divide, almost 200,000 people play Counter Strike daily.

So yeah Valve is still King of it's domain. Which is the PC domain.

Either way, Portal 2 is releasing next month and will probably the one of the best sellers of the year, if not The best seller. They also releasing DotA 2 which will sell pretty well to.
And they still have Half Life 2 Episode 3 to be released some day. Not to mention that they have recently started to hire new talent which will probably be put to use to a new IP.

Valve is alive and well, and compared to the rest of the video game scene, they are probably the more "healthy" company out there.

I don't understand your rant really.

 

[RanD00M]

I'm geting these numbers off of steam. (for the valve games)

I'm getting the other ones off of xbox and computer.

The LFd community is pretty low, steam says it has 2500 players.

Could please be so nice as to link me to these numbers. Because otherwise I could just claim that a citation is needed for all the points you are making.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Popularity =/= Quality

Valve has made many diverse IPs. Counter Strike, Portal, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress.

And you're complaining that people still play them.


So what are you promoting here? The COD strategy of releasing an entirely new game every year? The DLC strategy of making players fork out $20 every month to gain access to new features?

If you're bored of Half-Life, make a thread titled "I'm bored of Half-Life!" and tell us why. Because that's pretty much all you appear to be saying.



On the flip side, I get what you're saying about Halo:Reach having more players. But do you know why? Because it's new. It's a new game, so all the Xbox fanboys will go ZOMGHALO and buy it, and play it non stop until Halo:Reach 2 comes out. And the cycle repeats.


tl;dr- CoD, Halo and everything else popular runs on a cult as much as Valve does, Valve just gives their cult free updates instead of 100s of sequels.

Bullshit, I am not complaining that people still play them, I'm complaining that valve does nothing about the fact that they only have 170,000 people playing all of their games COMBINED! (On a side note to your side note, Bungi no longer makes halo, Reach was their sort of going away present to the fanbois.) Valves newest game, L4D2, only has about 2500 people playing it currently on steam. L4D2 was made like what, A year ago? and it cannot compair to the 400,000 people still playing MW2 (Made arround the same time)

 

[RanD00M]

Current Players l Peak Today l Game
l l
41,033 l 68,164 l Counter-Strike: Source
37,223 l 74,471 l Counter-Strike
28,179 l 36,278 l Total War SHOGUN 2
20,428 l 34,340 l Call of Duty Black Ops - Multiplayer
20,113 l 22,947 l Sid Meier's Civilization V
17,637 l 21,045 l Team Fortress 2
17,239 l 37,059 l Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
16,029 l 23,710 l Football Manager 2011
12,024 l 14,511 l Left 4 Dead 2
10,786 l 11,485 l RIFT

Gotten from the steam stats [http://store.steampowered.com/stats/]
Now I count 4 VaLVE games there. I think they don't have a problem with popularity.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Am I reading this right? Seriously? CS is obviously close minded crap and Valve is killing itself by supporting a game people love.... Yet in the time it came out to now; how many Call of Duty's have we seen? And how many of them have been non-WWII shooters? How many were more than just revamps of the one that wasn't?
How many people still play Modern Warfare 1, or 2? How long until Black Ops is cycled out for "Call of Duty 7: Three Years in the Future Warfare Cheesy Excuse to Make 60 bucks While Only Fixing one Bug and Reskining Everything Crapathon!"?

You know what I loved about Epic's "Duty Calls"? It hit the nail on the head. If anything, the fact that Valve is supporting a game that is 7-10 years old, is freaking amazing! Halo 2 was.... What, 5? 6? And it's no longer able to be played online. Before that even left, there were two sequels to the game!

So, Valve should stop letting people enjoy their mindblowingly fun and amazing games just because they're old?
Two words: Arkista's Ring. A game I bought in 1993, but had come out three years previous for the NES.
I spent all Thursday playing it. I love that game. I've had it for nearly twenty years, and I still love it. Am I contributing to stagnation and the eventual downfall of the gaming industry just because I love something that is well made and fun? A game you've probably never even heard of before today?

No. I'm not. The fact that Valve can and has been supporting a product and it's community for so long is actually a step UP in the gaming industry. Can you still even play MW 1 online? And when was the last time it saw a patch? When was the last time content was added for it? When was the last time I was allowed to search for user created game modes? The insanity of the current "big boys" in gaming is that they put out a product, barely back it at all, let the community do nothing with it beyond play it the way they want you to, and then abandon it in 3 years tops. How is that better than what Valve is doing? How is Valve closing itself off when it's supporting their community? And how could it be so close minded in the face of all the companies that just copy paste each other and abandon their products so quickly?

I have to say, you, sir or madame, have no idea what it means to be innovative in the gaming industry, and your view is skewed.

Modern Warfare 2 still has more than double the players of all of the valve games currently combined. I really like valve, and they are starting to fade away, even though they still fully support each game (I get a TF2 update like every month, can't say that about MW2) So my point is they need another multi player game to bring new things to the table. And to go along with your "Point" When was the last time counter strike got new stuff? Never? (I am not entirely sure if they had added maps or not) Yeah sure modders make new game modes, but they are limited to the 40,000 people still playing it.

 

[pyrosaw]

I really don't understand your criticism. It's not really Valve's fault that they make games that are so awesome that people play them for many years. In fact, I think it's great that they continue to fully support those games. And as for your rant about the free hats: would you rather have free nothing? I don't care about the hats at all, but I guess it's kind of nice for TF2 players.

I also don't really see how they are not being creative, apart from the fact that they only make FPSs. But given their genre, they are one of the most innovative companies around. This is a company that made Half-Life, Portal, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead. Each of these games are immensely popular and contained many innovative features. The only criticism I can think of is that they don't seem to develop games very fast.

They are NOT popular. Compair them to Call of Duty, the numbers of people in one black ops playlist will stampead that 25000 playing TF2. Valve is closing its market, and they are loosing supporters, It's either come up with something new, or die out.

They ARE popular. There wouldn't be Half Life 2:Episode 3 jokes everywhere is there weren't. And are you seriously comparing the Blacks Ops servers to Valves? The Call of Duty servers beat EVERYONE when it comes to people online. Valve is no different. Valve has done pretty good as a company. Compared to other companies, they've accomplished a crapton. Portal 2 coming out, Defense of the Ancients 2, maybe Half Life 2: Episode 3(If Wikipedia is to be believed). They look pretty good. How about you ask Activision or Ubisoft for some freaking innovation? They could use it.

 

[Harsh2808]

You took the time to rant and ranted about Valve laying back and making some money?

I'd have thought a good, critical Valve rant would have included at least 2 paragraphs about the cocktease that has been the episoding of Half Life 2.

Also, you've jumped far too far to the conclusion that people don't play a wide enough spread of games just because Couterstrike is the most played. If it was the ONLY played game, then I'd agree. But by your methodology, the game that gets the most play is the only game people are playing these days...which just doesn't work. People play plenty of different games through steam, just maybe not all as much as Counterstrike.

But yeah, total waste of a rant there, bro.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Current Players Peak Today Game

41,033 68,164 Counter-Strike: Source
37,223 74,471 Counter-Strike
28,179 36,278 Total War SHOGUN 2
20,428 34,340 Call of Duty Black Ops - Multiplayer
20,113 22,947 Sid Meier's Civilization V
17,637 21,045 Team Fortress 2
17,239 37,059 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
16,029 23,710 Football Manager 2011
12,024 14,511 Left 4 Dead 2
10,786 11,485 RIFT

Gotten from the steam stats [http://store.steampowered.com/stats/]
Now I count 4 VaLVE games there. I think they don't have a problem with popularity.

Look at all of the people playing Blops right now on Xbox, They've got atleast a million. (Sorry about the pre edit, I thought the peak and the current were combined.)

 

[Ninjat_126]

Just saying: The last few games I've played are Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid, Doom 3, The Darkness and a few Source mods such as Dissolution, MINERVA and Riot Act.

Seeing a pattern here? And another thing: Singleplayer only.

 

[ThatDaveDude1]

Games that Valve made years ago still hold up today. That's not laziness, it's good game design.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

dont u think your argument is a little petty (not to mention long winded). sure ok, new TF2 hats are getting stale, but hey presto people still go out their way to get them regardless, its not valves people are stupid and like familiarity.

try cutting down the paragraphs (or making just one dude) u basically said, valve needs to stop being boring... in about 3 paragraphs...

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

it is true in a way that they are milking players on Team Fortress 2 with both hats and the whole Mann. Co store idea.

BUT it IS Gabe Newell.

 

[DominicxD]

What I don't get is why you're ranting at Valve when they're the only company in this industry who consistantly keep their act together.

What I also don't get is why you would rant about it here.

 

[RanD00M]

playing Blops right now on Xbox, They've got atleast a million. (Sorry about the pre edit, I thought the peak and the current were combined.)

What point are you trying to make by that. VaLAVE is mostly a PC orientated company. And a million is giving it a little too much credit, I suspect that it has 200,000 at most.
And I also suspect that there are most Xbox players in general than there are PC gamers. So if we put it into equality, it's around the same number.

 

[oliveira8]

Current Players Peak Today Game

41,033 68,164 Counter-Strike: Source
37,223 74,471 Counter-Strike
28,179 36,278 Total War SHOGUN 2
20,428 34,340 Call of Duty Black Ops - Multiplayer
20,113 22,947 Sid Meier's Civilization V
17,637 21,045 Team Fortress 2
17,239 37,059 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
16,029 23,710 Football Manager 2011
12,024 14,511 Left 4 Dead 2
10,786 11,485 RIFT

Gotten from the steam stats [http://store.steampowered.com/stats/]
Now I count 4 VaLVE games there. I think they don't have a problem with popularity.

Look at all of the people playing Blops right now on Xbox, They've got atleast a million. (Sorry about the pre edit, I thought the peak and the current were combined.)

And where are you getting these numbers?

 

[Hawknight]

HL2 beat out Halo 2 in sales. That is pretty fucking amazing. It beat halo 3 in sales as well. (And reach!) so yeah they can do it, they are just being lazy.

And you know why HL2 did that? Because it was a damn good game and it showed. Valve doesn't just want to crank out carbon copies of its previous games with new coats of paint and sell them (*cough*Halo*cough*CoD*cough*), they want to craft an experience. Sure it may take them longer to release a new game, but when they do you can almost guaranteed that it's going to be damn good.

It's not like Valve is just sitting there doing nothing. They finished Portal 2, they're constantly updating for their existing games, and they're constantly updating Steam. That's a lot of work. And they're currently working on DotA 2 which is a massive departure from anything they've done in at least the recent past so they're probably focusing a lot on that too. I mean DotA's got a hell of a reputation to live up to so I'm sure they want to get it right.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I really don't understand your criticism. It's not really Valve's fault that they make games that are so awesome that people play them for many years. In fact, I think it's great that they continue to fully support those games. And as for your rant about the free hats: would you rather have free nothing? I don't care about the hats at all, but I guess it's kind of nice for TF2 players.

I also don't really see how they are not being creative, apart from the fact that they only make FPSs. But given their genre, they are one of the most innovative companies around. This is a company that made Half-Life, Portal, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead. Each of these games are immensely popular and contained many innovative features. The only criticism I can think of is that they don't seem to develop games very fast.

They are NOT popular. Compair them to Call of Duty, the numbers of people in one black ops playlist will stampead that 25000 playing TF2. Valve is closing its market, and they are loosing supporters, It's either come up with something new, or die out.

They ARE popular. There wouldn't be Half Life 2:Episode 3 jokes everywhere is there weren't. And are you seriously comparing the Blacks Ops servers to Valves? The Call of Duty servers beat EVERYONE when it comes to people online. Valve is no different. Valve has done pretty good as a company. Compared to other companies, they've accomplished a crapton. Portal 2 coming out, Defense of the Ancients 2, maybe Half Life 2: Episode 3(If Wikipedia is to be believed). They look pretty good. How about you ask Activision or Ubisoft for some freaking innovation? They could use it.

The episode 3 joke is popular with the 100,000 people still playing valve games. Yes, Activision really needs inovation, (That, or people need to open their eyes) But inovation doesn't count for much when it was held 10 years ago, now every one has been there, done that. Yes, valve has accomplished a crapton, and I wouldn't mind if they just faded away now, but the fact that they keep purposly trying to keep what little they have left is just a waste. If they want the nerds to really come, They should make a new online shooter. If not, They can fade. (But in my heart I want them to stay, with quality)

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

HL2 beat out Halo 2 in sales. That is pretty fucking amazing. It beat halo 3 in sales as well. (And reach!) so yeah they can do it, they are just being lazy.

And you know why HL2 did that? Because it was a damn good game and it showed. Valve doesn't just want to crank out carbon copies of its previous games with new coats of paint and sell them (*cough*Halo*cough*CoD*cough*), they want to craft an experience. Sure it may take them longer to release a new game, but when they do you can almost guaranteed that it's going to be damn good.

It's not like Valve is just sitting there doing nothing. They finished Portal 2, they're constantly updating for their existing games, and they're constantly updating Steam. That's a lot of work. And they're currently working on DotA 2 which is a massive departure from anything they've done in at least the recent past so they're probably focusing a lot on that too. I mean DotA's got a hell of a reputation to live up to so I'm sure they want to get it right.

CRAP REPLIED TO WRONG POST!

 

[Netrigan]

What I don't get is why you're ranting at Valve when they're the only company in this industry who consistantly keep their act together.

What I also don't get is why you would rant about it here.

It also hinges on Call Of Duty or Halo being something a game company should aspire to.