Valve's Newell Predicts The Future

[Anton P. Nym]

"You're going to be touching [your customers] not every three years but every three weeks - and hopefully even more often than that."

Keep your hands to yourself, Gabe, I don't swing that way.

-- Steve

 

[Mostly Harmless]

With all this talk about steam I have to bring up the fact that there are a lot of people that actually play computer games by downloading the torrents and avoid buying the games at all. (I personally use a console and don't do this)

And if consoles end up getting a steam style service. Well then someone will end up finding a way to abuse and use it to access torrent sites to download their games for free.

 

[CanadianWolverine]

With all this talk about steam I have to bring up the fact that there are a lot of people that actually play computer games by downloading the torrents and avoid buying the games at all. (I personally use a console and don't do this)

And if consoles end up getting a steam style service. Well then someone will end up finding a way to abuse and use it to access torrent sites to download their games for free.

Wait, what? From my own experience several years ago of trying out "free" games, resulted in viruses galore, the rig I had then in, I think it was 2003 was pretty much a zombie for a hacker. No such problems for me with my Steam games. While I haven't got it in writing, I would guess that if Steam allowed the propagation of viral programs along with their games like torrenting, they wouldn't be in business for long.

I think you should do a little fact checking, I am fairly certain Steam (since you are saying "Steam style service") doesn't allow one to access downloading torrents. I was under the impression you need a link to the seed and program like Bittorrent to put it all the digital parts together, unless I am mistaken and all you need a basic html browser.

 

[sheic99]

FREQUENT CONTENT UPDATES!!!! WHERE IS EPISODE 3!!!
But, I do like the updates that valve hands out for games like TF2 and Left4Dead. Although I would appreciate it if they released an SDK for Left4Dead.

The SDK is coming out in the spring and as for Episode 3, I believe that's due sometime in the winter.

Of 2011.

Seriously, the frequency of VALVe delaying their games is a lot to put it nicely. It's fun to ZING their date lines

Well, I've heard anywhere from '09-'22, so I guess when they feel like it.

 

[Wingmna]

ATM I think gaming is an in between time. Gaming never used to be this big of an industry, but now popular games get millions more then the top Hollywood movies.

Within the next few years I personally hope that games get more popular with the public to the point where they can stop being pathetically selfish on the price and actually make the cheap pieces of metal more affordable. Example, SMB has been out since 2007, the price has never dropped within Australia or New Zealand (a part from normal sales that happen on all games every now and then, e.g. Christmas)... SMB has already given millions to Nintendo already and so has already made WAY more then it would to produce it, I have no problem with paying a price and giving 'a worker his wagers', but paying $10AUS ($20-25 for a perma-copy when it is on DVD) or so for a movie that cost millions more to make then a game that costs $100 even when it is over a year old is just beyond stupid.

Left 4 Dead, $38AUS for a game when it was on special this last weekend, great idea, and I applaud Valve for doing stuff like this.

 

[Zer_]

In other words, if consoles don't adapt a Steam-style service, they likely won't survive. Well, what do you think? Is he right?

Hello Gabe. Allow me to introduce you to the Nintendo Wii.

You're somewhat right here, but not completely. Gabe truly caters to the hardcore gamer scene while still providing some great fun to the casuals. The Wii targets non-gamers who probably have no idea what Steam is anyways.

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

Valve's Newell Predicts The Future




In other words, if consoles don't adapt a Steam-style service, they likely won't survive. Well, what do you think? Is he right?

Steam is a great platform for PC gaming, personally I think all PC titles should be featured on steam. It's a perfect DRM device with an amzing community.

 

[Uncompetative]

Did anyone else read this as, "Hi! I'm Gabe Newell and I hate you if you own a console."?

I wouldn't. Gabe and the Valve team are sort of stuck when they try to release TO the consoles as XBLA etc. make them wait, and charge them.

As for GTA getting upgrades? How about a mission editor inside the game like the Hot Coffee where they can just update the game? How about new radio announcements? Altered weather patterns? A Hurricane actually hitting? Loads of stuff you could do.

What, like a patch that actually made IV fun?

 

[SmugFrog]

Concept art is good: There's nothing that builds a better "buzz" than seeing things in development. It also gets you in touch with your consumer base.

Yes. Wouldn't it be nice to see some more stuff about EPISODE THREE, or have they just completely forgot about that one. I think if they were pressured in an interview they might jump out a window or throw a smoke bomb to escape.

 

[oliveira8]

Wait.. so the president of the company that developed Steam, that helped it through its difficult birth period, that believed in it enough to keep pushing it over top of the objections of hundreds of thousands of PC gamers and directly in the face of the industry at the time, you say this person thinks it's pretty cool and the way things should go in the future?

And that console makers, who've long stood in the way of him having free reign over monetizing his own product need to adopt his method?

Wow, talk about news! Why, that's a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan.

No slight against Valve games, they're great, but I do worry about a future where the business model is "You'll have to continuously pay your developers to continously create free content" That works only so long as you don't make a mistep with any of your games that you actually charge for. Or, I suppose it works in a system where you don't make your money on the games but on reselling other people's games, in which case, your ongoing light development costs can be thought of as promotional for the site. Somehow I have a feeling Gabe is looking to move more to that second model. Yeah, no doubt he wants the console makers to stand down on having control of what gets to the consumers -- that's the space he wants to be in.

Bottom line, Gabe may hope this is the future, but I somehow doubt it.

What Gabe wants for the consoles is that the creators of the games have full control over their games and not the company of the console. Valve doesnt call the owner of the internet to put a new patch on the internet, yet they need permission of Microsoft fir rge 360 and most likely MS will charge for the patches, when Valve wants them free. You dont see any one complaining about PC version of TF2 but you see millions of complains when it comes to the console versions.

 

[rohit9891]

The valve guyz r doing a very good job...
atleast they dont put restrictions like u can install this game only once or twice and offers a whole lot of support to the customers
personally i think tat's the best way to reduce piracy unlike other publishers who uses a f***in DRM with every game they publish
any game will eventually be cracked by someone...so i think every publisher should move to the way valve is doin the stuff
Valve is the best ...

 

[ratix2]

johnx61, lets take a look at your $250 game theory. $500 for the ps3 then the cost of a game and we cant forget that so many ps3 games look like ass without an hdtv so thats another $1000 bringing the total to $1560, clearly the ps3 was a better price wouldnt you say.

your theory is so full of holes its not funny. it doesent cost $250 every time you want to buy a new game, the cost of the system is a one time thing, after which each game isnt $250, its only $50. its the same thing with the consoles, the cost of the system one tim and thats it. now if youd only buy the system for a single game thats whats called a waste of money, but thats circumstance still doesent justify your argument.

and finally valve NEVER HAD to release the game over the ps3 and they certainly dont have to like the ps3 or even like developing for it. its an absolute pain in the ass to develop for due to the absurdly complex nature the way the systems designed (im not just speaking of cell here either). and valve likes the 360.

 

[Zer_]

In other words, if consoles don't adapt a Steam-style service, they likely won't survive. Well, what do you think? Is he right?

Hello Gabe. Allow me to introduce you to the Nintendo Wii.

You're somewhat right here, but not completely. Gabe truly caters to the hardcore gamer scene while still providing some great fun to the casuals. The Wii targets non-gamers who probably have no idea what Steam is anyways.

So, because he always ignores the crowd that has made the Wii the most successful currently, and well on its way to topping the Ps2 as the most successful ever, that means his visions only apply to areas that are doing it anyway? I don't quite get what you're saying.

What I see is a company that doesn't do that, or have any ambition to do that, being far more successful than anyone who does.

What Nintendo is doing with the Wii and DS is introducing some progressively more complex games. Their plan worked for the DS, and I have no reasons to believe it won't work for the Wii. A crapload of non-gamers picked up the Wii-mote and had a good time. With the Wii Motion plus attachment the complexity of Wii games is most likely going to rise.

The simple, straightforward games of the early Wii days will be replaced by The Conduit. So really Valve doesn't really need to cater to the non-gamers. Valve makes games they like to make, they make games that their fans like, and the DON'T make games for cash. That's the bottom line. Basically Nintendo is bringing their customers to Valve's level and I fully expect to see many new gamers being introduced to our Valve community.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/44530.html Some Conduit videos.

 

[SimuLord]

In other words, if consoles don't adapt a Steam-style service, they likely won't survive. Well, what do you think? Is he right?

Well, considering I've been saying most of the same things for oh, about four, maybe four and a half years now since Steam first launched with Half-Life 2, then umm...yeah, I'd say he's right. Even though Valve trades in games that aren't personally my style, the underlying point is the same (and if only Bethesda could figure out how to do this for TES5 without charging ten bucks every time they get a bright idea in their head the way they're doing with Fallout 3)...but I digress. Frequent content updates, unavailable to pirates, first-class game support and a download platform so simple even my mother could do it...it's the wave of the future and the future is here. Contrast with what that idiot Riccitiello's saying over at EA and it's obvious that Newell has the solution in his hands.

 

[Zer_]

Conduit is third party, Madworld is third party, No More Heroes is third party. That's not Nintendo, that's the companies behind the games. No confirmed first party titles (i.e. the ones that would mean that Nintendo actually were attempting to do anything other than continue to regularly dish out sub-par simulators with no value as games) show a level of depth that you're talking about.

You only really need to look at how games on the DS evolved to realize what's going on. Any game, 3rd party or not that introduces more complex mechanics on the Wii will bring the non-gamer Wii players closer to our level of gaming.

 

[Jumplion]

In other words, if consoles don't adapt a Steam-style service, they likely won't survive. Well, what do you think? Is he right?

I would be inclined to agree with him IF consoles were all about the downloadables, but they aren't.

Consoles have always been about disc-based games. PCs are definitely for the indie group, the short time wasters that you can easily download for a few bucks or even for free on the internet. Consoles do not have the advantage of an internet browser (or a good one at least), and they have always been about disc games that give you a few hours of entertainment