Update: Valve Fires Hardware Guru

[Vigormortis]

What confuses me is that none of these developers walked out, or voluntarily left. They all got fired. If it was just one or two individuals, I'd put it down to them just not fitting in the work environment, but twenty five? Twenty five high profile, experienced employees who've worked on everything from Half-Life 2 to Left 4 Dead? I mean, one of the people fired was one of the developers who worked on Narbacular Drop. You know, the game that Valve created Portal from?

My guess is there's been a massive restructuring within the company. A shifting of priorities, especially on the hardware front. Not that they're cancelling development but perhaps changing direction and their end goals.

As such, several lay-offs from the hardware labs isn't that big a stretch.

Regardless, it's all speculation at this point. Until more solid details come out, we have nothing more to go on than Ms. Ellsworth's tweet and Valve's employee list changing.

In between this and his recent comments about players in single player games being 'retarded and autistic', part of me is wondering if Gabe isn't quite the swell dude gamers make him out to be. Could very well be wrong, but he wouldn't be the first guy to disappear up his own arse as soon as he starts making his millions.

He didn't say players were "retarded and autistic". People have been misquoting and misinterpreting that statement since he made it at the University of Texas.

What he actually meant was, in the context of a game attempting to tell its story in a fashion similar to film, the main character in the game, as controlled by the player, would look "retarded and autistic" from an outside observers point of view.

Or, as an article from Storify put it:
"..,what Newell actually was referring to was that single player games try to be like films, however since the player is in control of the main character, they can do whatever they want. It would be like Luke Skywalker banging his head on the wall while Darth Vader is talking to him."

But the internet being the internet, people immediately took the quote out of context or misunderstood his meaning; much like they do with comments from any high-profile speaker. Since then, it's been a veritable shit storm of nonsense.

 

[Frostbite3789]

As opposed to people like you that make a point of finding a negative connotation to anything Valve related?

Overreaction and hyperbole work both ways, my friend.

I HATE Valve so much I use one of their characters as my avatar.

 

[Vigormortis]

I HATE Valve so much I use one of their characters as my avatar.

To be fair, I took that as an act of irony. Especially given the usual fiery vitriol you bring to discussions on the topic of Valve. (though certainly not to the degree Baahlspawn likes to) <.<

I probably seem the same way in regards to EA; even if it's not purposeful.

 

[Vigormortis]

I am well aware of the context of the quote, thank you very much. And I still think it was in poor taste. It doesn't matter what Gabe was trying to say about the nature of player autonomy in games, making the comparison to and explicitly using the terms 'autistic' and 'retarded' was in incredibly poor taste. That's the sort of language I'd expect from a 4chan user, not a high-profile developer giving a high-profile speech.

My apologies. I meant no offense. There's no need to get riled up.

I understand where you're coming from. I really do. Still, I think far too many are taking the comment out of context. Many going so far as to feel personally offended. It's as if they think he was personally insulting fans of single-player games.

Something he most certainly wasn't. Especially when put into the context of his speech.

 

[EHKOS]

Half-Life 3 is done. They needed a hardware specialist to make something to plug into the USB port to increase system power for the might of HL3. It is now complete. They will release a teaser tomorrow.

 

[EmperorZoltan]

Only one possible conclusion to make here....

She done gone and sexually harrased all the boys... call in the panda!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnNH7I07RY

 

[Woodsey]

its a company, they also can fire people for some reason.
i dont get all that "SHE GOT EXILED FROM THE HEAVENS" shock that is in this thread.

maybe she got fired because they dont want to continue a project and her job is redundant?

so just wait and see.

It's odd because Valve have a very fussy hiring process, which involves picking people who have particular strengths as well as broad ones - the idea is that people are able to move from one project to another as and when they see fit, whilst retaining core strengths specific to themselves. They've also said they have no problem with things going wrong, as long as the person(s) involved learn and move on from it. Added to that the whole "no boss" idea, where performances are analysed by peers, and it would seem a pretty difficult place to get fired from.

It's irritating to see people act as if Gabe's turned around and started twirling his moustache, but it's not surprising that there's some surprise around the whole thing. You hardly ever hear of people leaving Valve, let alone getting fired. Now apparently there's 25 of them in one fell swoop.

Half-Life 3 is done. They needed a hardware specialist to make something to plug into the USB port to increase system power for the might of HL3. It is now complete. They will release a teaser tomorrow.

Perhaps they've had to instigate a mass exodus to contain it within the building. Gabe'll be the last to walk out, and with the only copy.

And then the world ends.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I HATE Valve so much I use one of their characters as my avatar.

To be fair, I took that as an act of irony. Especially given the usual fiery vitriol you bring to discussions on the topic of Valve. (though certainly not to the degree Baahlspawn likes to) <.<

I probably seem the same way in regards to EA; even if it's not purposeful.

Nah, I like Valve, but I feel like in the gaming community and especially this one, people are all too ready to declare them the godking of video games.

It's just like...guys calm down. They aren't perfect.

 

[Waaghpowa]

From PC Gamer Magazine.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/13/valve-layoff-hardware-mobile/

We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.

There are numerous reasons why he wouldn't want to talk about why people have been let go. My first thought is that it isn't necessarily his place, or it's out of respect that he isn't saying why.

I also don't see why he would have to lie about the effect of the layoffs on their projects. Unless there's something more concrete, we can probably assume that everything their working on is going as planned. So for those who were saying that Steambox is dead, calm down till we know more.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Jesus jumped-up Christ are people flipping shit over this.

Valve's a business, people. Businesses hire AND fire people on a regular basis; for any number of reasons.

Valve laying off these people (most of which are still unconfirmed, and only Ms. Ellsworth mentioned the word "fired"), isn't some odd, out-of-place occurrence. These things happen all the time; for any number of reasons.

This news isn't ringing the death knell of Valve, Steam, their game development, nor even their hardware development. It also doesn't mean Gabe Newell has suddenly flipped his lid and is going on a "firing spree". It simply means there were a few employees whose positions, personalities, or talents either became redundant or no longer meshed with the companys direction or structure.

Can we all relax a bit? In the very least until we get solid confirmation on what's actually going on?

I should have read your post first, because you said what I was thinking. Read my first post above. I provided a link and quote from Gabe Newell. I'm not entirely worried about what's going on, but I can't help but be curious.

 

[Irridium]

What confuses me is that none of these developers walked out, or voluntarily left. They all got fired. If it was just one or two individuals, I'd put it down to them just not fitting in the work environment, but twenty five? Twenty five high profile, experienced employees who've worked on everything from Half-Life 2 to Left 4 Dead? I mean, one of the people fired was one of the developers who worked on Narbacular Drop. You know, the game that Valve created Portal from?

My guess is there's been a massive restructuring within the company. A shifting of priorities, especially on the hardware front. Not that they're cancelling development but perhaps changing direction and their end goals.

As such, several lay-offs from the hardware labs isn't that big a stretch.

Regardless, it's all speculation at this point. Until more solid details come out, we have nothing more to go on than Ms. Ellsworth's tweet and Valve's employee list changing.

You're right, companies hire and fire people all the time. But Valve isn't like most companies. Them laying off or firing this many people at once is pretty unprecedented for them. I don't think something like this has ever happened in their history, which is pretty damn impressive considering it seems to be standard procedure for every other developer.

 

[kordo]

Oh Valve, WTF is going on? You used to be cool. Quit screwing around and focus on getting Half-Life 3 out the door ffs...

 

[CAPTCHA]

Gabe had this to say on the matter:

"We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here."

Sounds like a personal issue to me, rather than a corporate one.

 

[Vigormortis]

Decided to save space, and posts, by replying to everyone in one comment and spoilering everything:

Spoiler: j-e-f-f-e-r-s

It's not that I think he was insulting fans of single-player games. It's that I think, whether intentionally or not, he insulted people either suffering from or caring for those suffering from mental illnesses such as autism and such. These are genuine afflictions which have profound effects on the lives of millions of people around the planet. They're also afflictions which suffer a lot of negative press and imagery, precisely because the terminology is thrown around as a needlessly mean-hearted insult.

Perhaps Gabe wasn't aware of the implications of such loaded verbage, but if you're giving a high profile speech in front of an assembly, it's common practise to go through your speech before hand to try and weed out things that could be deemed offensive or ignorant. He should have known that bandying about the terms 'retarded' and 'autistic' would cause upset amongst a certain demographic of gamers who deal with and care for genuinely autistic or mentally retarded people. You can't blame people for calling out poor wording when it occurs.

I actually agree with you, to a degree. And, I've not been blaming anyone for "calling Newell out" for that kind of inferred implications in his wording.

However, I have been disputing peoples claims that he was making a personal insult to single-player games or single-player fans.

Newell has openly admitted his love of single-player games. He's even professed his obsession with games like Skyrim. So the idea of him "insulting" single-player games and fans is just nonsensical. (besides, half of his company is practically built on providing single-player experiences)

Spoiler: Irridium

You're right, companies hire and fire people all the time. But Valve isn't like most companies. Them laying off or firing this many people at once is pretty unprecedented for them. I don't think something like this has ever happened in their history, which is pretty damn impressive considering it seems to be standard procedure for every other developer.

Perhaps, but at the same time we must keep a few things in mind.

First, Valve is generally not "forthcoming" with information in regards to personal affairs; such as hirings/firings.

Second, Valve, even to this day, is still a relatively small company. Over the course of their existence, they've average around 200 employees.

Thirdly, we keep hearing numbers being tossed around like "20 employees fired" or "30 employees fired". I've even seen some news sites claiming 45 have been laid off.

However, the only "confirmed" numbers we have aren't even in the double digits. And, among those only one or two are solidly confirmed.

[sub]last I checked[/sub]

So yes, something is clearly up in "the land that Half-Life built". I'm just not convinced it's anything nearly as dramatic as many have speculated.

Spoiler: Frosbite3789

Nah, I like Valve, but I feel like in the gaming community and especially this one, people are all too ready to declare them the godking of video games.

It's just like...guys calm down. They aren't perfect.

Oh, I agree with you. They certainly aren't perfect. They have, and still do occasionally, do things that bug me. And I agree, there are some who will excuse any transgression they may commit.

However, as time has gone on, there's been a much stronger, much more vocal, element within this community that makes a point of lashing out at anything relating to Valve or it's fans. Usually bombarding news posts or discussion threads on the matter with comments filled with anger, bile, and hatred; both to the company and anyone who is a fan of their products or services.

Those people are a lot like the "EA-haters" we see so prevalently now-a-days; only, they are far more harsh in their comments and more personal in their insults (to the fans).

 

[Therumancer]

The downfall of Valve has officially begun it seems.

Gabe is also not getting any younger, once he goes, Valve is pretty much toast.

To be entirely honest I had similar thoughts when I first read it, thinking financial difficulties.

I've oftentimes wondered how STEAM could stay in business with some of these massive sales they do. In general massive sales are great for motivating people to bring in regular business, but it seems like people have gotten to the point where they don't want to buy anything new when it comes to PC gaming, and will just "wait for a STEAM sale".

Given that the producers of the games get money for selling their games through STEAM it seems like a 75% discount which someone like Gabe authorizes probably comes out of the share for his service. The generosity that made Valve so popular might very well be responsible for it's current problems due to the way it's trained gamers.

Now, I could be totally wrong on this of course, but it DOES sound like there is some financial trouble there. I notice a lot of other huge, seemingly invulnerable, Juggernauts are losing money right now, it's not surprising that this might involve STEAM.

I'm not quite as willing to yell "The End Is Nigh" right now, but I don't in any way see this as a good sign, and truthfully if something happens to STEAM I'll wind up losing a ton of games and money invested in them. My hard drive simply isn't big enough to hold them all at once if I was to try and save them from a sinking ship, and I'd lose them on a later computer if nothing else.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Wow, this really does strike a chord.

This just goes to show that, as cool as Valve is, it's still a company, worn by time and the economy. I fear for projects like Half-Life 3 and Steam if someone at the head like Gabe leaves for some reason or another.

Especially given some of Steam's special circumstances regarding its games. I doubt there are two Gabes at Valve.