With the launch of Steam and shortly afterwards Half Life 2 in 2004 Valve nearly instantly transformed the PC gaming market. They gave a single storefront and DRM for games of all shaped and sizes. Since that time they have released depending on how you count the various mods as few as 7 games which most recently includes Artifact a failed collectable card game and Half-Life Alyx which while apparently amazing requires expensive and bulky equipment to fully enjoy.
They could have easily taken the money earned from Steam and invested it in their own studios or purchased studios to release games on Steam. Fast forward to 2021 and Epic is eating into their storefront space and Microsoft is gaining huge ground with game pass for PC. I think they took their position for granted and really failed to capitalize on it when they had virtually no competition.
Thoughts?
How is Valve refusing to use their mountains of cash to moneyhat games and studios a bad thing?
Them not reinvesting their mountains of cash into making new original games that can take greater creative risks than 3rd party games can, is very much a bad thing... that's what they sorely missed out on.
They have. Black Mesa is a fan remake of Half-Life: Source.if valve doesn't want to develop games themselves they should license their IPs to other devs. arkane would have been a top tier studio to make half life 3 before bethesda bought them. i'm sure there are lots of indie devs who would love to do another portal.
Since 2016, they’ve made Half like Alyx, A card trading game and dota mod thing.But they still make games lol
I think the most important question is, what happens to Valve/Steam when Gabe Newell passes away?
Do his wife and children take over? Does the company get put on the auction block?
Steam owns PC gaming and you're taking shots at their business decisions?
Steam hasn't changed for close to 10-15 years and in that time many competitors have showed up and still remain amazingly incompetent. In fact now you have every IP trying to make their own Steam and you know what happens, the games are still sold on Steam.In the present. The future is written on the wall. A business can't stagnate and stay on top for long.
In the present. The future is written on the wall. A business can't stagnate and stay on top for long.
As far as stagnation is concerned... they're up against a store that put a shopping cart on it's roadmap two years ago and still hasn't implemented it.In the present. The future is written on the wall. A business can't stagnate and stay on top for long.
On top of what? The open platform nobody owns or controls.
You think they should flood it with money pit projects to earn some 'first party' optics. They are putting resources into linux & VR development. They are putting money into their own tournaments. By all means, tell us more about what they should be spending money on to ward off this impending doom.
Every argument you're making here is fucking stupid. All predicated on some point that Steam should "own" PC gaming. They don't own it, they're just the best at providing their service to an open platform, and no competition has come close.
Don't guess, it's foolhardy.Valve is the most relevant company when it comes to PC gaming, but "first party" doesn't really work on an open platform.
They are? How so? We don't have Game Pass for PC numbers and MS games on Steam are still selling quite well. If I had to guess, I'd say the vast majority of Game Pass subscribers are on Xbox consoles.
Windows owns PC gaming.Steam owns PC gaming and you're taking shots at their business decisions?
Don't guess, it's foolhardy.
Windows owns PC gaming.
As far as stagnation is concerned... they're up against a store that put a shopping cart on it's roadmap two years ago and still hasn't implemented it.
But Epic is investing in games and when it comes down to it the games are what matters most in any ecosystem.
Epic isn't investing in games, they're paying developers to stay away from Steam. Aside from their own games, none of the "exclusives" on their store are games that would not have been made or released without their money.But Epic is investing in games and when it comes down to it the games are what matters most in any ecosystem.
Epic isn't investing in games, they're paying developers to stay away from Steam. Aside from their own games, none of the "exclusives" on their store are games that would not have been made or released without their money.
who? who the hell are thosE? indie studio? thats fine let them keep their indies, but stay away from everything else with their shitty moneyhatting and keeping games from steam, cause thats what it it, it has nothing to do with the cut o competition, its all about kepping it away from steam.Not even close to true. The funding from Epic is what allowed Gen Design and Bokeh Studios make the games they want to make.
The idea that studios fronted by the creators of Silent Hill and Shadow of The Colossus couldn't have gotten their games funded without Epic's help is ludicrous. And even if it weren't, my statement about the store still remains true since neither of them have actually released anything yet.Not even close to true. The funding from Epic is what allowed Gen Design and Bokeh Studios make the games they want to make.
Not even close to true. The funding from Epic is what allowed Gen Design and Bokeh Studios make the games they want to make.
What does that even mean?
Valve missed a huge opportunity to be successful in a way that is different than their current success.
I think they should spend the money they are making off of games on making brand new high quality games ideally through organic growth. They could be using those billions to advance the industry instead they are just sitting on their giant pile of gold like Smogg the dragon. Epic is giving money to great devs like Fumito Ueda and the creator of Silent Hill among others instead of just sitting on their Fortnite money or giving it to executives or investors
This is how I translated the OP.What does that even mean?
the major consensus is, gamers prefer their games on steam.
Windows owns PC gaming.
Microsoft gaining ground by having their games sell best on steam?
Valve doing nothing, meanwhile they have an esport game with the biggest tournaments in the world
Will post this here before you tell me lol is bigger, the prize money sure isn't.
Dota 2 vs League of Legends - Prize Pools & Players Compared :: Esports Earnings
Dota 2 vs League of Legends: $234,017,258.92 difference in prize money, detailed side-by-side comparison of prize pools, tournaments, players and countries.www.esportsearnings.com
they have created the best VR device available and probably the most expensive (and arguably best but that's subjective) VR game dev cost wise to date.
If Newell thought like you want him too he would have never left microsoft because that was gonna make him rich without the risk starting valve had.
Good hardware needs good games to shine. If VR is their baby why have they only made one real game to support it? That's a massive failure of leadership.
They don't care, that's right. But the "gamers just want games" part is very wrong as well.business doesn't care about your preferences that don't include them. they will do what they can to maximize their assets and revenue. some will be attached to Steam sentimentally. but gamers just want the games. we don't care where.
and on PC it doesn't require purchase of new hardware. just install an app.
Sega and Nintendo once dominated console games. later came Sony and MS and the gaming community hated the "pretenders" at the start. now they dominate console games. Sega is out and Nintendo were forced to carve out a different market away from them.
Sony would have lost the console market if it didn't change after the PS3. MS also changed after the XB1 and retained a significant share of the market with big growth potential after their games come out. Valve needed to change years ago. I don't think they have time if they just change now.
A massive failure of leadership, you say. As if they developed the technology to get there with no effort. Gabe himself said these things take time. You have no idea what they are doing internally as far as game development is concerned.
Nothing you say makes sense in the real world. It only makes sense if you're both stupid, and irrationally biased against Valve.
They have had plenty of time. Vive came out 5 years ago.
Steam already has established its dominance in PC gaming. Yes, it might change one day, but that day is not anywhere soon nor likely to happen at all.
Plenty of time for what, though? They made one of the few games that dominate and prop up the potential of VR in gaming, while also spending years working on the infrastructure and tools surrounding the whole thing.
What is your excuse for every other developer, in that regard? Why aren't they making VR games and eating Valve's lunch?
You're on here complaining about Valve doing nothing, and it's stupid.
You're just wrong. Both oculus and Playstation VR have supported their platforms with a huge amount of first party/exclusive content. Valve has done virtually nothing to support their VR platform in comparison.
How am I wrong? I'm not even trying to talk about Oculus and PSVR. Facebook and Playstation supported their closed platforms and incrementally tried to grab the market with their "fIrSt PaRtY!" and exclusive content. Meanwhile, Valve have done "virtually" everything on the back end by integrating better VR R&D into game engines, sharing their efforts, while also developing and putting out HL:Alyx. A superior game to anything else, and it came out years after the Vive, because Valve put in the work.
You don't see Valve following the others, so you think they're missing out on opportunities to do what? Shit out new game after new game? You are oblivious to the very point that they are driving the R&D that benefits and props up the new standard tech being used in the shit you think is competing with and beating them in some imaginary pissing contest.
You're just a console warrior minded clown, looking to shit on Valve to justify some narrative that they have done nothing and are doomed; despite being the defacto leading digital store of choice on the biggest OS used for PC gaming. You should be saying "Thank you, Valve. For making all things VR/AR a more open and useful standard, unlike Oculus & Facebook who want to lock me down in a proprietary world of shit. Or Playstation that wants to do the same with a platform that is fundamentally ancient and obsolete."
There are dozens of developers on this forum who work with VR every day, more qualified than I am to speak to your ignorance. Let alone your magical ability to know what Valve are developing internally, which is clearly inadequate anyway.
Writing several paragraphs doesn't mask the fact that your entire style of discourse is "durr durr you're stupid if you disagree with my opinions." Which ironically is the lowest form of discourse there is. It's video games. You don't need to resort to personal attacks.
The fact is that in the same amount of time Oculus and Playstation have produced at least a dozen VR titles to push their platforms forward while Valve has made one.
Their attitude of "we will build the hardware/Service and third parties can do the rest" worked for Steam but otherwise is a massive failure. Steam Machines, VR, Steam Controller, etc show that if you want to grow an ecosystem in gaming you need to push HARD to make lots of compelling software for it.
Valve maintains a very high standard. When they release something new, it will only be to represent an evolutionary next step in gaming. Half Life 2 was the pinnacle of fps when released and is still representative of hq design. The genre itself hasn't really changed enough to just make a HL3 fps. It would have better visuals and physics, but they exist to bring everyone a true next-step exp. They did that with Alyx.With the launch of Steam and shortly afterwards Half Life 2 in 2004 Valve nearly instantly transformed the PC gaming market. They gave a single storefront and DRM for games of all shaped and sizes. Since that time they have released depending on how you count the various mods as few as 7 games which most recently includes Artifact a failed collectable card game and Half-Life Alyx which while apparently amazing requires expensive and bulky equipment to fully enjoy.
They could have easily taken the money earned from Steam and invested it in their own studios or purchased studios to release games on Steam. Fast forward to 2021 and Epic is eating into their storefront space and Microsoft is gaining huge ground with game pass for PC. I think they took their position for granted and really failed to capitalize on it when they had virtually no competition.
Thoughts?