actually they wouldnt have gone bankrupt. valve employs a certain environment of experimental lab at their facilities. what steam does is make that possible. but valve has put out some of the most famous games in history, and they have done it periodically. they havent missed a year without publishing at least one game, and almost all are highly productive. so no, they would not have gone bankrupt without steam. what they wouldnt have however, is the experimental environment they have now, where you can just start a project and work on it, and if it dont work, fuck it, start a new one. they would most likely focus their team on more concrete projects, but i highly doubt they would rush to meet deadlines. remember that valve is not owned by anyone but themselves, never was. they dont have corporate fucks over their heads, demanding money. and that is what trully differentiates them.Jove said:
Valve: "Valve Time" is a Compliment
- Thread starter Jeremy Wilkinson
- Start date
taking your time is always good. i can live with that, better having a good game then a rushed out the door game like ?A loves to do. but not telling us if your working even on HL3, is not very nice either.
Considering how much of their annual profit is now generated purely from selling silly hats to TF2 players, does that put Gabe in the 'milliner's club'?
*hides*
*EDIT* I am concerned however, that Half Life 3 could be better than HL2 and Portal combined and still not be good enough for the expectation that's built up around it.
If I was Gabe, I'd release this amazing but generic plot driven FPS.... then a week later drop the patch that changes the protagonist into Gordon Freeman and all the titles into 'Half Life 3' and the setting to Black Mesa etc.
Let the masses go ape at this wonderful new game, original IP, rate it 98 at Metacritic, shovel awards at it, then...with the patch, reveal it was Half Life 3 all along, and watch people trying to backpeddle and say it aint that good
*gabetrollface*
*hides*
*EDIT* I am concerned however, that Half Life 3 could be better than HL2 and Portal combined and still not be good enough for the expectation that's built up around it.
If I was Gabe, I'd release this amazing but generic plot driven FPS.... then a week later drop the patch that changes the protagonist into Gordon Freeman and all the titles into 'Half Life 3' and the setting to Black Mesa etc.
Let the masses go ape at this wonderful new game, original IP, rate it 98 at Metacritic, shovel awards at it, then...with the patch, reveal it was Half Life 3 all along, and watch people trying to backpeddle and say it aint that good
*gabetrollface*
Sorry, but this little "fact" has never made sense. Not even in the slightest.Jove said:
I don't understand how anyone fails to notice that Valve releases a minimum of one game every year. That's more game output then most larger developers. Which is made more impressive by the fact that they have a grand total of ~250 employees.
But clearly, Valve are just lazy developers who are content to sit on their laurels, simply getting paid by Steam sales and TF2 hats. Yep. That's how they've stayed "afloat" all these years.
I love reading these kinds of statements. They're so cute.Jove said:
Funny thing is, most developers get their game ideas from external sources. This isn't some phenomenon exclusive to Valve. On the contrary. Most devs get their fresh new ideas by hiring fresh, new talent. I.E. budding game designers. (most of whom; get this; got their start by making mods. :O ) Even then, some devs don't even hire the people who come up with the ideas. They will just buy the ideas from the original creators and rarely if ever credit them for it.
Oh, and on the topic of "Valve didn't create TF2", you might wanna let Robin Walker in on that little epiphany. You see, he's a Valve employee and he seems to have this rather crazy notion that he was the design lead of the original Team Fortress mod team.
So, if what you say is true, either Mr. Walker is lying about creating Team Fortress or he isn't actually a Valve employee. The former of which would be quite controversial, while the latter of which would make filling in the last decade plus of his resume quite awkward.
Both Mass Effect and Dragon Age are made at the main Bioware office in Edmonton. "Out-sourcing" for ME3 Multiplayer was most likely done by the Montreal studio.Rainboq said:
There is no Bioware Vancouver studio. You're thinking of Bioware Austin which handles the SWTOR MMO.
Wait wait wait wait...Are you saying that Valve hiring modders, giving them a good job with a good income and good benefits and releasing the modders game under Valves name is the same as EA controlling a companies IP and making them dumb them down to "Broaden the appeal" and then throwing the broken company out the door? I think you don't understand what Valve do with modders.Jove said:Pretty much this. Although I would be careful if I were you for that people here will now accuse you of comparing Valve to EA. In fact, you should borrow my flame shield.dogstile said:
And yet my favorite game of theirs is the one that took them under a year to make, Left 4 Dead 2.
As much as I hate Valve time and their terrible business model(make a few games that sell incredibly well and live off extended pay from Steam and TF2), I've gotta admit, they are still the kings when it comes to any fps game.
The thing is that valve can release a solid game without issues at a non-slave labour-esque pace for the devs and the Q-A team. And frankly I doubt they give a shit about a few people whining and complaining when they have some of the most dedicated fans in the world and even if people started hating their companies ways of business those people wont boycott Half-life 3 whenever it comes out just because it took a long time for development, it will still sell crazily.
I like how the only argument against Valve is that they aren't giving people what they want fast enough. It seems like a general trend in the game industry that the people who buy the games believe they are more entitled to control than the people who create them. Get over yourselves. So long as there are people like me who can wait for quality products, you're immature "gimme now" attitude is only going to make your own life worse.
Boy do I hate PR responses like this more than life itself.
Frankly it always comes off to me as arrogance of the highest order, this is one of the few acts by any member of Valve that I can say without hesitation I find absolutely one hundred percent detestable and unjustifiable.
I love Valve, but Valve Time has -never- been a compliment and to smugly claim that they take it as one is the act of a douche-bag.
Frankly it always comes off to me as arrogance of the highest order, this is one of the few acts by any member of Valve that I can say without hesitation I find absolutely one hundred percent detestable and unjustifiable.
I love Valve, but Valve Time has -never- been a compliment and to smugly claim that they take it as one is the act of a douche-bag.
I think it's about time I boycott Valve. Their constant hipster wanks and pretense to being something other than the purchaser of modding talent has gotten my gander up one too many times!
Start the pickets!
Start the pickets!
Ah Valve always with an abundance of two things: arrogance, and fanboys to shamelessly hang off every word and unnecessarily boost the ego level even higher. Well back to see if the DRM monster feels like letting me download the games I paid money for yet.