Valve Explains Lack of PlayStation 3 Support

[Andy Chalk]

Valve Explains Lack of PlayStation 3 Support

PlayStation 3 [http://www.valvesoftware.com/] is primarily a matter of choice and that it won't actively support the console until it can assemble a dedicated PS3 team.

Valve and the PlayStation 3 are like oil and water: They hate each other's guts. That might be overstating it a bit but there's no question that while Valve enthusiastically moved from its PC roots to support the got in the way [http://www.xbox.com] of creating memorable game experiences.

Whatever the reason, Lombardi made it clear that Valve has no intentions of changing direction on the system anytime soon. "We've run a couple of experiments over the years of PlayStation in general; we did CVG [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game)]. "We weren't able to deliver the same type of product on PS3 and PS2 for that matter that we were on the 360 and PC."

"We're really, really proud of the fact that whatever platform you play the game on you're getting the same experience, you're getting the same Metacritic [http://www.metacritic.com] score," he continued. "Until we have the ability to get a PS3 team together, until we find the people who want to come to Valve or who are at Valve who want to work on that, I don't really see us moving to that platform. We've kind of learned a lesson in that again, if we were customers of that product on PlayStation, we'd feel like we sort of got the stepchild version of the product while the guys on the PC and the 360 got the sweet version of it."

So there you have it. Valve doesn't hate the PlayStation 3 at all, it just loves PS3 owners so much that it can stand to see them getting the second-class treatment.


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[Woe Is You]

Fair enough. This seems like almost the answer the PS3 fanboys want.

What I find amusing though, is that we've had a whole load of these things, and the question is, why didn't they just say this to begin with?

Different guys being interviewed about it. Lombard is a marketing director, the others were programmers.

Why they bother with the interviews is something I'm not sure about but I guess it's the same kind of perverse pestering like with Kojima and MGS4 on the 360.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

They hurt you because they love you, Sony. Now stand still and take your whuppin then git yer ass back in tha kitchen!

 

[Kilgorn]

the PS3 is realy the inferior system if you think about it otherwise valve would have been able to make the same exact content on it as the 360 and PC

valve also needs to hurry up with the DLC for TF2 on the 360 they talked about it like two years ago and its still not done

 

[Spirultima]

The irony...I was walking back to college with a friend having this exact discussion...

Anyway, I can say that if Valve release L4D2 on the PS3, you would have to chain me up with about 30 xbox 360s and a copy of Halo...but when i got out of the chains i would sell it all and get L4D2...so in retrospecs you can't stop me...huh...

Personally i called them "Lazy developers" not on the games, but the fact they couldn't be arsed to take the extra time to do the coding for the PS3. Its either that, or they are telling the truth about the "PS3 dev. team".

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

So there you have it. Valve doesn't hate the PlayStation 3 at all, it just loves PS3 owners so much that it can stand to see them getting the second-class treatment.

That's kind of the answer I wanted from VALVe but I also want to call bullshit.
In my opinion as long as Gabe is there, the PS3 will be left in the dark (Good thing it's black *ba-dum-tish*).

the PS3 is realy the inferior system if you think about it otherwise valve would have been able to make the same exact content on it as the 360 and PC

I call foul. Just because the PS3 is harder to program for doesn't mean the console is inferior. If anything the 360 is inferior for having the RROD problem.

 

[Deathsong17]

So there you have it. Valve doesn't hate the PlayStation 3 at all, it just loves PS3 owners so much that it can stand to see them getting the second-class treatment.

That's kind of the answer I wanted from VALVe but I also want to call bullshit.
In my opinion as long as Gabe is there, the PS3 will be left in the dark (Good thing it's black *ba-dum-tish*).

That was really bad.

 

[midpipps]

the PS3 is realy the inferior system if you think about it otherwise valve would have been able to make the same exact content on it as the 360 and PC

valve also needs to hurry up with the DLC for TF2 on the 360 they talked about it like two years ago and its still not done

It is not inferior or superior just different the thing is it just takes a little different programming to make it the same. That is why valve has good luck with the 360 because it is basically the same code with minor changes to make it on the 360. It is kind of like if you programmed a game for dx9 and then wanted to port it to linux on openGL you have to change a decent amount of code to make it run correctly or have the same look, feel, and performance.

 

[oliveira8]

They should have said this 3 months ago...oh well.

In the last months VALVe has been talking about the wrong product with the number 3 attached. Stupid VALVe...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

so they like it so much they won't hire their own dev team for it nor will they outsource the development?

hmmmm does that not really feel like a girl saying "look i'm not interested in dating and i only want to be friends with you" and then never talking to you again?

 

[hamster mk 4]

It is not inferior or superior just different the thing is it just takes a little different programming to make it the same. That is why valve has good luck with the 360 because it is basically the same code with minor changes to make it on the 360. It is kind of like if you programmed a game for dx9 and then wanted to port it to linux on openGL you have to change a decent amount of code to make it run correctly or have the same look, feel, and performance.

Ditto what midpipps said.

Even swapping between DirectX and OpenGL libraries on the windows platform can be a real pain. I can't even fathom all the specialized aspects of the PS3 and Xbox. I am pretty sure neither company had any intention of making their code set compatible with the other. Often when you are designing a game you have to take into account the limitations of your platform and resources. If valve doesn't even have an in house PS3 team I don't see how they can take into account platform limitations.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

Here we go again with this nonsense...

*sigh*
Look, Valve is a GAMING company. They make GAMES! They are independent so they get paid for making GAMES that SELL. PERIOD. They have no vested interest in which console is better or who thinks what system is the bestest. Why is it nobody is crying because Valve isn't turning out Wii games? Because This is and has always been about butt-hurt Sony fans that for some reason think they know better than people who have turned out arguably the best track record for awesome game-age in the past decade.

Because most of their dev costs go into buying snacks for Gabe Newell?

Nice, fat jokes. That'll really make people take heed to your criticism. Speaking of which, what developer do you make awesome games for again? Oh wait, what's that? You DON'T make games or run a multi-million dollar gaming company? My bad. So basically you're just mad because nobody is buying YOU snacks, right? Is this snack envy going on here?

Sarcasm aside though...

After pissing off a 23 million strong install base, basically giving them the finger, they have to come out and say something less caustic than most of what they have to say about the PS3, because, simply put, that attitude could start damaging PC/360 sales.

Thats a really over-exagerrated statement. Seriously, how many PS3 owners even know what valve said? A handful of fanboys dispersed across countless forums does not make 23 million pissed off PS3 owning VALVE fans. Heck, you're making a huge assumption that 23 million is even strong... how many people own PS3's JUST for blu-ray? I'm willing to wager more than a considerable amount, considering that that has been and still remains the number 1 selling point for the system compared to the game library so far. Second, why would 23 million people care about ONE game developer from a company that makes a handful of games every few years? Are there that FEW decent games for the PS3 that this is worth bitching about? Really?
Thirdly, I seriously doubt that anyone who really cares about VALVE and it's games are going to intentionally stop buying the PC version (let alone 360) version of their games because of statements about a PS3... probably because those particular people are already PLAYING the games on the PC and 360 and could give a pig's eye about the PS3 and it's relationship. What gamer who has a bad ass PC desktop or a 360 didn't buy Left 4 Dead because "Gabe Newell trashed talked SONY!!!."


Then there's this whole "Valve is lazy developers who dont wanna learn the PS3" crap that I've hated since the very first time Gabe Newell opened his mouth.
Why? Because the vast majority of those people are NOT GAME DEVELOPERS... at least NOT game developers with any real credit or talent worth noting to give them the justification for espousing such an ignorant opinion. Truth is, none of us know HOW difficult it is to develop for the PS3, but I can determine by inference that it must be pretty TOUGH, considering that hardly anyone seemingly wants to do it. Valve is far from being the only developer snubbing the PS3's architecture and there is probably a very good and valid reason for that. Spending countless hours training, learning, and paying for developers to learn the PS3 architecture might satisfy PS3 game enthusiasts, but it might not make much business sense to a gaming company. There is no guarantee that a game developed ON the PS3 will have any success, even if the game is ported from another console. Haze was a PS3 only game, developed for the PS3... look how many people 'bought' that. Some companies had it made worth their while to do so, like Naughty Dog, but then they run the risk of being a one trick Pony... how many Uncharted games do you see coming out of that studio over the next 5-6 years. Probably more than we'll see a successful second franchise.

Anyway, until people with some real development credentials that can program top notch games on anything beyond an Iphone gets some training on the PS3, then comes back and regails us with the stories of how 'easy' it is to develop games on with some sort of proof, opinions to the contrary are moot. I don't think ANY gaming development is a simple process, and if the reports of how difficult the PS3 is to develop for have any substance (it certainly has a lot of verbal support from people in the industry), then I'm going to accept that as a very valid excuse no matter how much I love my PS3 and long for great games for it.

Until then, I'll play the great games that are coming for it, like Last Guardian and White Knight Chronicles and especially Demon Souls.
I'm not going to sit around complaining that I can't play any of those on my PC or 360 because those developers think the Xbox is too "boring" to develop for. I'm just going to buy what I can for the consoles I own and enjoy the GAMES.

 

[ADarkHorse]

It's not even converting it between the two graphics engines, that actually is fairly trivial as it's generally all a bunch of high level wrappers. It's due to the fact that the lower level work such as dividing the concurrent tasks to work on the multiple processors of the cell can be hell, I saw an example of a simple best first search algorithm grow from 300 lines on the xbox 360/pc implementation grew to around 3000 for the cell. That's a lot of work which if not done makes the game run like a dog.

 

[Geoffrey42]

I do not get why Valve gets so much crap for developing for what is essentially one platform, instead of being multi-platform. If the cost to take a PC game (which is Valve's primary platform) and put it on 360 is 5% (<-hyperbole), but you increase your potential user base by 200% (<-hyperbole), then duh. But if that same percentage for PS3 is 200% (<-hyperbole), then why spend the money? Sony made a significantly different platform. This is one of it's self-professed PROs. Why ***** that you don't get more ports, when the code requires more effort to bring over?

Straightforward Cost-Benefit Analysis != Laziness, you poor, backwards, jerks. Note that this is not in defense of the idiotic bile that Kilgorn is spouting in defense of his platform of choice.

I don't know if you can tell or not, but this subject makes me angry.

[sarcasm]
Why are Level-5 so f'ing lazy? I don't own a DS, but I hate them for not making that game available on XBOX Live/Steam/PSN/Virtual Console/PSP. Those lazy jerks are such... lazy... jerks.

Wanh, wanh, wanh, wannnnhhhhh.
[/sarcasm]

The only external (non-inferred/assumed) difference between Valve and LEVEL-5 in this case is that Valve had the misfortune of being pressed on the issue, and responding. People get on Newell's case for the "waste-of-time" comment, but at this point, I don't even think you can prove him wrong. You can't prove him right either, but do we really know that the PS3's non-traditional hardware architecture is really so much better that it was worth the paradigm shift in development? Would a slightly more powerful traditional architecture (which would've been feasible in the year between the 360's and the PS3's launch) + Blu-ray allowed for a similarly performing machine, but simpler code-portability? I'll go with Newell-Agnostic: not enough information to agree or disagree.

 

[Jumplion]

So there you have it. Valve doesn't hate the PlayStation 3 at all, it just loves PS3 owners so much that it can stand to see them getting the second-class treatment.

.....I feel like a $3 whore now.....I don't know why, I just do....

[sarcasm]
Why are Level-5 so f'ing lazy? I don't own a DS, but I hate them for not making that game available on XBOX Live/Steam/PSN/Virtual Console/PSP. Those lazy jerks are such... lazy... jerks.

Wanh, wanh, wanh, wannnnhhhhh.
[/sarcasm]

The only external (non-inferred/assumed) difference between Valve and LEVEL-5 in this case is that Valve had the misfortune of being pressed on the issue, and responding.

Isn't LEVEL-5 a Sony-owned company? I'm not sure as all I know is that they made the Dark Cloud games and they're making the White Knight Chronicles game aren't they?