Am I the only person who kind of hates Valve?

[Beryl77]

I don't even know why I'm responding. I've gotten tired of those "Am I the only one" threads a long time ago. Like many have said, you're never ever the only one, no matter how much you want to be the only one, you're not.

OT: I can't understand it but of course you can hate them. They can't please every single gamer on this world, no matter what they'll do. Although in your case, it just sounds like you don't like them much but the word hate seems to be too strong.

 

[Snoozer]

Yes, you are the ONLY ONE in the world who hates Valve.

I love that you made an account specifically to post this.

Yep, that is hilarious.

Valve just makes good games, let's you mod them gives free DLC and seems the last publisher on the market that isn't only up for profit. When they want to make money they do it the smart way with -75% off price.

 

[viranimus]

Ok completely ignoring the existence of steam for this query. Valve as developers.

Im inclined to agree. Im not fond of valve either. However, its for different reasons. Honestly I am not the sort of gamer who lives, eats, breathes shooters, and personally i LOATHE any sort of military based shooter. (not a big fan of having recruitment tools pushed on me) So to me Valve is just slightly more familiar than say Infinity ward/trearch, etc.

The point that gets me with Valve is that out of the essentially 4 big franchises they are most notable for, (Halflife, Portal, Team fortress, Left 4 Dead) they are basically purely focused on the shooter gameplay mechanic (Yes, I know its a puzzle game, but mechanic wise portal is still rooted in a shooter) They really do not branch out very far from their home base. When they do, typically it comes from purchasing intellectual properties or from absorbing smaller developers. (see portal, TF, L4D)

So really, when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it Valve is responsible for creating 1 out of their big 4 properties. and essentially buying the rest with the intention to develop it. Much like what is likely to betheir next big property will be Defense of the ancients 2 of which will be another purchased property.

Yet back in march we saw it first hand. The unadulterated adoration was astounding as it was represented by sheer vile and venom at the concept that an indie developer that had yet to fully launch 1 game had somehow managed to topple a developer who has made so many. But does it still count if they actually had not developed a property of their own since 2004, instead just buying out properties like it was a big game of developer monopoly? When Microsoft did the same thing in the 80s, it was viewed as an evil empire. When Valve does it today they are viewed as benevolent gaming benefactors above all criticism and quite frankly thats a load, and that is not enough to merit the loyalty of which they receive.

It reminds me of the Star Wars ratio. 1.5 good films averaging out to encompass 6 mediocre ones. They are good developers in that they have the luxury of not rushing products, but thats from the strength of steam that affords them that ability now. Even with that luxury, their games are good, but never great, and really how many years do you get to hang on to glories developed in 2004?

 

[Falseprophet]

From what I've seen, and heard, yes Valve does want to make their DLC free. Which is a wonderful thing, but is not a lasting or sustainable business model. The opportunity cost of spending time making DLC, paying your employees for their man hours, rent, bills, and all other expenses for something that's net income can only really be measured by the possibility of more people buying the game for the prospect of free DLC (A statistic that is almost down right impossible to keep track of). It would make sense they're not trying that hard to get DLC going. Especially when they're mainly a PC developer, they could nuke money out of people with DLC cause there's a much higher chance your PC is hooked to the internet than your console. I mean my console is like 8 feet from my ethernet chord, I just keep it unhooked cause I'm lazy, kills feung shuai and I don't really want to spend the money on wireless adaptors.

You can't apply the standard economic rules to companies like Valve or say, Blizzard. Your standard dev studio is probably owned or firmly contracted by a publisher with publicly available stock market shares, millions of dollars and the corporate stock rating are on the line, and shareholders are constantly bugging you about the next big release.

Both Valve and Blizzard have a machine in their basement that prints money--Steam and WOW respectively--that gives them a lot more breathing room with their releases and development cycle. Valve has the additional benefit, AFAIK, of still being privately held and thus not accountable to shareholders. Only customers, who ultimately can only vote with their dollars. Valve has neither the financial pressures nor the cultural pressure of shareholders that most studios have to deal with, and can experiment with absolutely crazy notions like producing their own marketing.

For standard studios and publishers, free DLC and doing your own marketing are not sustainable business models, but Valve's in a unique situation. So do Valve's other unique attributes, like their employee "savant" system, contribute to their success, or are these innovations only sustainable because of their reliable financial situation? Who can say?

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

Valve are really good game developers but a very jackass company. But then again to be a big company in a competitive market you have to be a jerk, its how capitalism works.

 

[kickyourass]

While not Valve specifically, I do have a small love-hate relationship with Steam, which Valve are responsible for. I love the convienence, the (usually) low prices, the free demos, the pack offers (That Valve complete pack is fucking awesome.) and all the other special deals they have going make it pretty sweet. BUT the the fact that you require Steam for many newer games to install even when you buy a physical disk (Something I intend to do whenever possible), just bothers me. Plus the fact that installing something over Steam takes roughly 200X longer then it would off a disk.

 

[Sandytimeman]

Fuck Valve. They are a shit developer that makes a few good games and just as many average or poor ones. They have a shitty development cycle. And, they are responsible for one of the biggest forced DRM platforms out there for the PC market so they get no love from me for there focus on PC gaming either.

You do know that they have a dead man sever switch (in the case of Steam shutting down it gives 100% access to all your games by implementing the dead man code) and you can play all your games in offline mode for steam right? All you gotta do is right click and set the game for offline mode.

Also name me 1 shit game. Cuz I own all of Valves games and I've yet to see one shitty one.

 

[Snotnarok]

I never got who cares who develops the games, why do people build this big fan excitement for a company? I can understand being a fan of a GAME but why the company? Companies change people/employment all the time and it's not always the same teams developing the same games. And it's a company, I can't remember ever showing favoritism over any company ever besides when I was a kid.

But people get attached and I get slightly more confused all the time.
Do I hate valve? No but I do like most of their games and the TF2 blog always provides a laugh.

If you're wondering why it takes valve so long to get DLC out for games like that, they're a small company and Microsoft has a large process that developers have to go through. Valve being a small indie company (yes most people forget they are infact indie) probably don't put much time into it because it takes so long for Xbla but it takes 5 minutes via steam with no hassle.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

My disdain level for Valve: 5/10 - They do their jobs, but I don't like their games, and there's going to be some bleed over from...

My disdain level for the Valve Community: 8/10 - Equal parts whiny and holier-than-thou members of the PC Gaming Master Race. They are outclassed only by Square Enix's fans in rabid devotion to products, and the company's actions. However, they're more of a symptom than a cause.

 

[darkcalling]

Honestly I've never played a single Valve game. I don't hate them but they're a pc developer. I do the vast majority of my gaming on consoles. One thing i WOULD kinda hate them for is how long it's taking for Half Life episode 3. I've never even played the series and I feel your pain on that one.

 

[Philip Petrunak]

BURN THE HERETIC!

 

[natster43]

You are not the only one. I hate how they do certain things, like only making hats and stuff for Team Fortress 2, and neglecting the Xbox user because they would have to pay for the DLCs, I also hate that they don't work on Left4 Dead any more. I also hate how people feel they are fucking godsend and thinking otherwise makes you an idiot. But they make solid games that are fun. And I admit there are a lot worse companies out there.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm indifferent about them. They haven't released any games I really enjoyed so meh

I'm kinda with this guy, in that i reguard them as 'meh'
(i do enjoy portal, but that's like the only game they've made i like)

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

As a good half, maybe, of the people here have said, you're not the only person who dislikes Valve.

Personally, I like Valve. Steam is a pretty good digital distribution platform and I enjoy their games. The console ports are less than stellar, but that doesn't really matter to me. I'm not a PC gamer, nor do I play primarily on consoles. I like to mix it up sometimes. Their development cycle isn't very good, as well. (*cough*Episode 3*cough*)

The biggest reason that I like Valve, though, is their public relations section. Their community involvement is superb and they do not try to deceive or otherwise mislead their customers. They're really honest and overall seem more reasonable than other developers.

Of course, it's just a matter of personal preference. I'm not going to judge you for disliking them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

[Something Amyss]

I probably wouldn't mind them if certain games based around solving puzzles using portals, that they give away for free, would actually work on my pc, instead of just stopping right after the intro clip before the main menu.
(Might be my pcs fault too, but it's still frustrating)

Well, you could try customer service. If they had any. >.>

 

[bob-2000]

I'm not so fond of their last few decisions, but it there's anything that the Dragon Age 2 mess taught me, its that people who constantly whine about a developer are idiots. So yes, I liked all of Valve's games, so I like Valve.