Valve pursued by EA for over a possible $1 billion

[Floppertje]

that would be baaad...
regardless of my feelings toward EA (not that warm) or wether or not I think EA would fuck valve up if they bought it (they totally would), it won't be a good thing for the industry to only have 2 mayor publishers.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Valve have no reason to be bought by anybody. They make a ton of money from Steam sales, they publish their own games, and they're unlikely to ever go out of business.

 

[Wolfhowl the shadow lurker]

If ever there was a "yup now we are fucked" for gamers that would be it, i don't even want to think of what EA would do with steam... seeing how they fuck everything up! like i don't know the new gears of dead space thats coming out?

 

[ThriKreen]

That would actually fit in well together with ther actual plan to charge for in-game bullets: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.354961-EA-John-Riccitiello-thinking-about-charging-money-for-bullets-in-games

So him talking about the psychology about one's willingness to buy a microtransaction to get more ammo for their gun somehow translates to some actual plan?

While he did say "run out of ammo in your clip", he probably means exhausted all the ammo for your guns, not the act of reloading once you've used up the magazine or clip.

I suppose I could put on my dev hat and point out all the other flaws in your conspiracy theory about this subject, but you're just going to ignore me. Again.

So please, I beg of thee, grace us with your all encompassing knowledge of the game development industry since you have such an exclusive knowledge of it all!!!!

You'd be surprised how many devs lurk on the forums. And how many gamers have no clue how things are done.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

You'd be surprised how many devs lurk on the forums. And how many gamers have no clue how things are done.

Surprised? No, not really. I would assume that any industry that has it's own independent feedback loops would want to tap into those feedback loops.

However, I'm willing to bet that what is missing from these type of forums is accounts for persons in upper management at these game studios. I look at entities with a lot of bureaucratic bloat like EA and maybe even Blizzard as examples where as smaller studios who don't have 10 layers of management in between the end user and the CEO probably have a much firmer ear to the ground of what the consumer wants. I'm not saying that the rule is big studios don't have faces on the net, but I find when you get corporate entities that are publicly traded and have to have a face to the outside world, it's handled through a PR Manager and selected staff who are basically sock puppets. When you get the breaking of rank from individuals at large institutions is when you see hullabaloo backtracking and press releases giving precisely defined language. Its the nature of two vastly different ways of managing people.

I also could be way off about EA as well, but perceptions are realities to those on the outside, and EA has this distinct persona of doing what it wants over what it's audience wants in the pursuit of further profit at the expense of it's consumer base.

 

[C F]

As long as Gabe Newell is around I'd like to think EA would never have a shot in hell; at least not for a piddly billion.

"Why would they accept a trillion when they could accept... a billion?"
<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9lac87Iox1rq0q0m.jpg" width="200" /img>

You know, I'm beginning to think that more corporations are, or at least could be run by inept supervillains and that wouldn't change a thing.

I've already decided that if I were in charge of a corporate organization, I would have an office desk backed by huge windows at the top of a metropolitan skyscraper and a huge swivel chair myself. That way when people come in, I can swivel to face them and say things like "I've been expecting you", "Well well well...", or "You know, I'll bet you think I was expecting you. I expected you would expect as such, and have hence decided not to expect you. To what do I owe this completely unforeseen visit?"

I would NOT, however, buy out a successful company such as Valve. I would watch them with a keen eye and parrot incorporate some of their tactics; see what makes them tick and construct an appropriate "tock" to match. No competition means no pressure for growth.

 

[Irridium]

Well they weren't "nearly" bought by EA, were they? EA have made offers it seems (which went nowhere) and Valve's basically said fuck off. If the word from Valve is that they'd "disintegrate" sooner than be bought by EA then there was nothing "nearly" about it.

Pretty much what I was going to say.

EA didn't "nearly" buy Valve. They made offers, and were refused. Nothing really "near" about it.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Yup, the time between Portal, Left 4 Dead, Alien Swarm, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, CS:GO and DOTA2 were 10 years... *love those stupid comments*

None of which are theirs. Exactly my point, every title in this list was someone else's, bought in by Valve to cash on. Actually each one except AS is a sequel. Exactly the sort of things EA is hated for, yet if Valve does it it's suddenly okay.

Valve only has two games of their own design. HL and HL2.

Yes there is NOOOOOOO diference between picking up modders and recent graduates and offering jobs at a unique company than buying up a company, firing some people (George Fan, Popcap Games) making them rush out sequels (Dragon Age 2, Bioware) and closing them down (Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic...)

Yep, no difference at all.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Heaven forbid. Such a takeover would be a death knell for gaming and possibly the last nail in the coffin of PC gaming in particular. They destroyed BioWare's quality standard and reputation within 2 years. Valve is too different from other devs tho, the way people find their place within the company, "Valve Time" and their uncompromising standard of quality are unmatched anywhere else in the industry, possibly excepting Bethesda.

 

[Krantos]

If EA bought them, why would EA see any reason to interfere with what is obviously very successful?

Um, because they've done it in the past.

See, I said the same exact thing when EA bought BioWare. "That's no big deal," Spake I, "BioWare is a huge name in the industry. What they're doing works. EA would be stupid to mess with that."

Fast forward to today....

If it DID happen (which it won't, Newell has gone on record saying he'd rather see the company dismantled than sold), my money is that EA would fold Steam into Origin, and make Steam adopt their practices rather than the other way around. What we (I) love about Valve would be gone.

History speaks for itself, I'm afraid. No company has been better off once they've been acquired by EA. They've either deteriorated (BioWare, Maxis, etc.), or completely shut down (Pandemic, Bullfrog, Westwood, etc.).

I'm not enough of a business guru to tell you why it happens, but the pattern is pretty clear.

 

[UltraPic]

Valve doesnt have deadlines. They only publish thier games when they come to an agreement that theyve made thier game or expansion as good as they can make it without community feedback, this also happens to be why Valve rarely if ever actually releases a game.

They don't release games often because they are still busy patching the buggy messes they have already released.

 

[Krantos]

Just curious, if EA did have the means to buy Valve, could Valve actually say "Fuck Off"?

yes, because Valve is privately owned. Gabe Newell still holds the keys to the castle, as it were. He'd have to agree to the deal. He's gone on record saying he'd sooner see Valve dismantled.

Now after Newell is no longer at the helm (hey, he's gonna want to retire eventually)? That's another story.

 

[gigastar]

Valve doesnt have deadlines. They only publish thier games when they come to an agreement that theyve made thier game or expansion as good as they can make it without community feedback, this also happens to be why Valve rarely if ever actually releases a game.

They don't release games often because they are still busy patching the buggy messes they have already released.

Dont mistake bugs for trying to play games on an old machine.

 

[Andre Rapp]

Apparently reported by the New York Times, it seems that EA has been pursuing Valve for almost a year.

Scary thought since I was just talking to a friend way back about how one of the worst things that could happen to the game industry was if EA ever brought Valve.

You dissipated Westwood.

You killed Pandemic

You nearly destroyed Bioware.

Now you want Valve?

Back the frack off, EA

Thoughts?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/10/report-ea-sought-to-acquire-valve

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name
also, EA does not even have the capital to make a purchase anywhere near as big as Valve

 

[Andre Rapp]

Just curious, if EA did have the means to buy Valve, could Valve actually say "Fuck Off"?

yes, because Valve is privately owned. Gabe Newell still holds the keys to the castle, as it were. He'd have to agree to the deal. He's gone on record saying he'd sooner see Valve dismantled.

Now after Newell is no longer at the helm (hey, he's gonna want to retire eventually)? That's another story.

when the day comes for him to retire, they will release HL3, and in them there will be a total of five golden hats. they shall win a ture of Valve, and one lucky individual shall inherit the company and take up Gabe's title as the Santa of the internet.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name

So EA is Reaper tech? a Dragons tooth where gaming companies get impaled, have everything that was good in them sucked out and replaced with crap before being let loose?

 

[Signa]

Why is this some massive issue?

Valve make billions of dollars by being the biggest game retailer on the planet.

If EA bought them, why would EA see any reason to interfere with what is obviously very successful? Valve isn't a developer, it's a retailer.

EA wouldn't use them to make games. They'd use them to sell games. Kind of like what Valve is already doing. You can count on a company to follow the money. And if Steam is already raking in money hand over fist, EA wouldn't even dare stop that.

But this wouldn't happen. Valve doesn't have a CEO or Board of Directors who all hold stock and put the sale of a company to a vote. Valve is owned entirely by Gabe Newell. He doesn't have a board or stockholders to answer to. The sale of the company would be his absolute decision.

I think you're underestimating what Valve does for us as a gaming community, and overestimating what good EA does. I know you're no fan of Valve, but their respect for their customers is something that is almost unseen in today's corporate world. Yes, they want that respect to earn money, but there's nothing wrong with earning that money through more ways than just offering a service or product that no one else can.

EA on the other hand sees no value in their customers. They only see the value in their products, and if those products don't display that value, they shut them down without a second thought. Since EA isn't smart enough to value their customers, they would make every effort to start squeezing Valve's fandom for as much cash as they are willing to shell out. You might see some echos of what Valve did under EA, like constant TF2 updates, but items probably would become more expensive, and updates would include more unbalanced items. I mean, you'd hope they would just leave Valve alone to do their work, but all their other studios have suffered because of the demands they make. Bioware is only the most recent example.

 

[Andre Rapp]

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name

So EA is Reaper tech? a Dragons tooth where gaming companies get impaled, have everything that was good in them sucked out and replaced with crap before being let loose?

yes, that is exactly how EA works

 

[Sean Hollyman]

So basically, 'If you can't beat them, buy them.'

EA probably just wants rid of Steam so Origin is supreme.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Valve would unemploy themselves and start a new company, leaving EA with IPs their fanbases would only hate EA for capitalising on.