Valve have adjusted their revenue share for bigger titles on Steam

It's true they didn't abandon it completely - maybe I should have said new game development - but Portal 2 is almost eight years old, and Left 4 Dead 2 is nine. Dota2 was effectively bought in, and TF2 hasn't seen a major update in a long while. It's pretty obvious that Steam has been the priority for the best part of a decade.

They LITERALLY just released a game this week. Dota 2 wasn't bought in. And just because you don't know what happens behind closed doors doesn't mean they aren't working on games. What else do you think those developers are doing?

Gabe Newell said they are [back in the business of “making and shipping games.”](https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/9/17099920/valve-artifact-new-games-gabe-newell) Emphasis mine.
He should know what happens behind his closed doors and if there's been some major gap, no?

It's true they didn't abandon it completely - maybe I should have said new game development - but Portal 2 is almost eight years old, and Left 4 Dead 2 is nine. Dota2 was effectively bought in, and TF2 hasn't seen a major update in a long while. It's pretty obvious that Steam has been the priority for the best part of a decade.

They LITERALLY just released a game this week. Dota 2 wasn't bought in. And just because you don't know what happens behind closed doors doesn't mean they aren't working on games. What else do you think those developers are doing?

Gabe Newell said they are [back in the business of “making and shipping games.”](https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/9/17099920/valve-artifact-new-games-gabe-newell) Emphasis mine.
He should know what happens behind his closed doors and if there's been some major gap, no?

How does that contradict my statement?

Gabe Newell said they are [back in the business of “making and shipping games.”](https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/9/17099920/valve-artifact-new-games-gabe-newell) Emphasis mine.
He should know what happens behind his closed doors and if there's been some major gap, no?

How does that contradict my statement?

You implied they've been working on games all the time, Newell is cited as being back on games, which implies they haven't.
If that's not what you wanted to express, you should make your point clearer. I got the impression though this became a discussion for the sake of discussing.

Gabe Newell said they are [back in the business of “making and shipping games.”](https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/9/17099920/valve-artifact-new-games-gabe-newell) Emphasis mine.
He should know what happens behind his closed doors and if there's been some major gap, no?

How does that contradict my statement?

You implied they've been working on games all the time, Newell is cited as being back on games, which implies they haven't.
If that's not what you wanted to express, you should make your point clearer. I got the impression though this became a discussion for the sake of discussing.

I'm never discussing things for the sake of discussing things. That would be pretty pointless. I just wouldn't put too much emphasis on that quote by Gabe, especially because there's some context.

It's a fact that they have been working on games all the time. Things like that space game might have fallen apart, sure. Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever... but saying that they haven't been working on anything for the past couple of years is just plain wrong.

As if Artifact is no real game. Just because you don't like it or just listen to this dumb hate train?

Not just me. There are thousands of reviews on Steam. People are saying it's unplayable without spending additional money on cards. Just look at this: https://steamcommunity.com/app/583950/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

How do you know? Thos things, they take time. TF2 was shown at E3 1999. Then nothing for 7 years.

HL2 and CS: Source aren't nothing. CSGO, Dota 2 and Artifact are.

You know that's a dumb argument.

Do you have better guesses what Valve spent their billions on? I don't. Definitely not on game development.

Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever...

Because gamers are much more interested in a Dota card game than in HL3, sure.

Definitely not on game development.

You don't know that.

Because gamers are much more interested in a Dota card game than in HL3, sure.

Lack of interest BY THE DEVELOPERS. That's how things at Valve work. Low hierarchy.

You don't know that.

You too.
I think if they had games in development they would have shown them just to tell people that Artifact is not Valve's top priority and more games are to come.

Lack of interest BY THE DEVELOPERS. That's how things at Valve work.

Exactly. Valve don't care about what gamers want anymore, just $$$. I appreciate what Gaben is doing for Linux, but let's get real: Valve is dead as a game development company.

You don't know that.

You too.

With the difference that I don't make claims like you do.

Look, it's Schrödinger's cat! You say it's dead. I say we don't know if it's alive or dead until we actually find out.

I think if they had games in development they would have shown them just to tell people that Artifact is not Valve's top priority and more games are to come.

They already said that they are working on multiple projects. Did Blizzard need to show people Titan to tell them that they were working on something? Was showing Duke Nukem Forever back in 1997 a good idea? No. It's ridiculous.

Exactly. Valve don't care about what gamers want anymore, just $$$. I appreciate what Gaben is doing for Linux, but let's get real: Valve is dead as a game development company.

Way to miscontrue things. They do what they want and what they think is right. They've always done that. And if they would just want $$$ - they would just release Half-Life 3, because that guarantee millions of sales.

You don't know that.

You too.

With the difference that I don't make claims like you do.

It's a fact that they have been working on games all the time. Things like that space game might have fallen apart, sure. Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever... but saying that they haven't been working on anything for the past couple of years is just plain wrong.

You don't know that.

You too.

With the difference that I don't make claims like you do.

It's a fact that they have been working on games all the time. Things like that space game might have fallen apart, sure. Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever... but saying that they haven't been working on anything for the past couple of years is just plain wrong.

Yeah, so? There are facts. Things have been leaked. That's no baseless claim. I don't claim to know anything besides that. I don't know what games they will release next (besides In The Valley Of Gods) and when Half-Life 3 will be a thing and what VR games they are exactly working on.

Did Blizzard need to show people Titan to tell them that they were working on something? Was showing Duke Nukem Forever back in 1997 a good idea? No. It's ridiculous.

When Bethesda announced Fallout Shelter for smartphones, they also revealed Fallout 4 which was almost finished. When they demonstrated crappy Fallout 76, they at least showed a teaser trailer for TES 6. And people were quite happy. Recently Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal, and what happened next? If you make a cash grab, at least show something good.

What an excitement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0qZTS38cjw

So ignore everything else and don't make a single rational/logical argument. Fine.

It's a fact that they have been working on games all the time. Things like that space game might have fallen apart, sure. Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever... but saying that they haven't been working on anything for the past couple of years is just plain wrong.

Yeah, so? There are facts. Things have been leaked. That's no baseless claim. I don't claim to know anything besides that. I don't know what games they will release next (besides In The Valley Of Gods) and when Half-Life 3 will be a thing and what VR games they are exactly working on.

Well, you believing in leaks more than in what Gabe Newell says about his company and presenting your conclusions as facts might be part of the communication problem. As expected, this is not going anywhere. I'm out.


Last edited by Eike on 2 Dec 2018 at 1:53 pm UTC

It's a fact that they have been working on games all the time. Things like that space game might have fallen apart, sure. Others like HL3 might have slowed down/been restarted due to a lack of interest or whatever... but saying that they haven't been working on anything for the past couple of years is just plain wrong.

Yeah, so? There are facts. Things have been leaked. That's no baseless claim. I don't claim to know anything besides that. I don't know what games they will release next (besides In The Valley Of Gods) and when Half-Life 3 will be a thing and what VR games they are exactly working on.

Well, you believing in leaks more than in what Gabe Newell says about his company and presenting your conclusions as facts might be part of the communication problem.

Facts have nothing to do with believing. That's why they are facts :/

Valve should have put Linux version release as a requirement for such discounts. It would incentivize big developers (who have money) to make Linux versions. Win win for everyone.

If they had the leverage to do that they wouldn't be dropping the price in the first place.

I said “effectively”, and admit that wasn't a good way of putting it. But IceFrog was hired for Dota 2. What I meant was that it didn't originate at Valve, from a Valve creative team. Of course their own people did most of the work on it.

What is it always with discrediting Valve's work? Is TF2 not a Valve game, because Valve once hired Robin Walker? Is Portal not a Valve game, because some students came up with the portal concept and Valve then hired them? Is Left 4 Dead not a Valve game, because Turtle Rock Studios originally came up with the game?

How do you even define a Valve game? The guys (or most of them?) who founded Blizzard aren't with the company anymore. Is Overwatch thus not a Blizzard game?

But even that was five years ago. Clearly their eyes have been off the ball. They've let a lot of developers, especially on the creative side, go over recent years. It's one of the reasons many fans have lost hope of ever seeing HL3 or Portal 3.

How are their eyes "clearly" off the ball when you literally have no idea what's going on behind the scenes? Yes, some people left, but also a lot of other people joined them. And some of the people that left actually returned to Valve.

Oh, come on. A giant "game studio" that puts out a game every five years is clearly not emphasizing the "game studio" thing. I personally don't understand why people want Valve to be a game studio again when clearly their main business is being a game store++, but it's just ignoring reality to pretend their main business is still making games. It obviously isn't.
And all the better for both us and them. For us, because one game studio vaguely interested in Linux wouldn't be much use to us compared to this huge platform thing being interested in Linux. For them, because which would you rather have--100% of the revenue (and expenses) for 3 or 4 games, or 30% of the revenue for gajillions of games?
Frankly, I think they're still making games at all mainly because someone at Valve is of the opinion that it's useful for the main business to still have some hands-on experience with what it's like, so they can keep their finger on the pulse of the developer world and not get out of touch.

Valve should have put Linux version release as a requirement for such discounts. It would incentivize big developers (who have money) to make Linux versions. Win win for everyone.

If they had the leverage to do that they wouldn't be dropping the price in the first place.

They can give it as an extra bonus. I.e. decrease even more for those who make Linux releases. Not sure how much it will cut into their profit, but it's some incentive still.

but it's just ignoring reality to pretend their main business is still making games. It obviously isn't.
And all the better for both us and them. For us, because one game studio vaguely interested in Linux wouldn't be much use to us compared to this huge platform thing being interested in Linux. For them, because which would you rather have--100% of the revenue (and expenses) for 3 or 4 games, or 30% of the revenue for gajillions of games?
Frankly, I think they're still making games at all mainly because someone at Valve is of the opinion that it's useful for the main business to still have some hands-on experience with what it's like, so they can keep their finger on the pulse of the developer world and not get out of touch.

Did I say anywhere that game development is their main business? No. I just said that there are still many game devs at Valve and they've gotta do SOMETHING... otherwise they wouldn't be there. But people here claim over and over again that Valve as a game dev is dead and will never make a REAL game again...

Did I say anywhere that game development is their main business? B
[...] But people here claim over and over again that Valve as a game dev is dead and will never make a REAL game again...

Citations needed

Citations needed

That's why abandoning game development to concentrate on Steam was a mistake.

Clearly their eyes have been off the ball. They've let a lot of developers, especially on the creative side, go over recent years. It's one of the reasons many fans have lost hope of ever seeing HL3 or Portal 3.

They made no games since 2011 (I mean REAL games). If they wanted to make one, they would have released it already.

HL2 and CS: Source aren't nothing. CSGO, Dota 2 and Artifact are.

Do you have better guesses what Valve spent their billions on? I don't. Definitely not on game development.

Valve don't care about what gamers want anymore, just $$$. I appreciate what Gaben is doing for Linux, but let's get real: Valve is dead as a game development company.

And it's not just here. It's everywhere.


Last edited by kuhpunkt on 3 Dec 2018 at 8:49 am UTC