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Valve Layoffs: Several (25?) cut as Valve makes 'large decisions' about its future
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
Yes, and that's exactly what they're doing. They've only said they would sell hardware if they HAD to.
It isn't that they are fired all the time, it's that they need to be aggressive when firing for two reasons:
-Some people come into the company from other industries and simply cannot adjust to the business structure (Gabe has said that almost everyone coming into the company from the animation and film industries has had difficulty initially because of the strict hierarchies within those industries). It seems likely that some people are simply better motivated within existing hierarchies in other businesses, especially when Valve is heavily staffed by people who are extremely self-motivated and don't need a real work "structure" to operate in(modders).
-Being a "flat" organisation where employees assign themselves to projects means that masses of employees may decide to spend time on projects that don't provide significant value to customers (how best to "provide value to our customers" is a mantra said over and over again by Gabe when talking about how employees use their time). Maybe Valve looked at the staff numbers and time investment into the hardware labs and decided it was starting to get too big, especially since their involvement in hardware initially was purely in controller development. I think it's possible they have finalised a roadmap of hardware releases with vendors who are going to manufacture both the steambox and the controller, which has meant gutting their hardware staff since it's unlikely they'll have much work over the coming years.
grimshawish said:
Valve are moving away from curating Steam; they will just bloat the company with people whose entire days are spent negotiating getting content into the platform. Once they start hiring dedicated curation staff they can never stop as long as Steam keeps growing and content submissions keep increasing. Steam's future is as an API where storefronts are built and curated by communities of users who are much more capable of managing the huge influx of titles on the service than Valve could ever be (e.g. the RockPaperShotgun store, the IGN store, the TotalBiscuit store, the Ubisoft store etc). This will become massive when they start giving users a cut of sales generated through user-created stores.
Sheesh that make's him sound like a Bond villain stroking his cat... actually that would be a great gif...
As for the layoffs interested to see what emerges, not going to jump to conclusions and sticking to the usual "sucks for those folks" response.
Or maybe he just changed his mind? Being able to change course is a sign of good leadership.
grimshawish
Banned
By the community I assume we mean different companies setting up their stores (will they pay Valve to run the servers?); but the problem is implementing this and who does what.
Its not a terrible idea; I've often wondered why there is no 'Mall' where I can buy from different stores.
Disagree Steam will not stop growing in your version though. Its frankly a ridiculous claim. They need a small dedicated team. Thats it.
Why buy them? MS has most of what Steam has.
- Fast Servers
- A store
- A large userbase
- Developers
They'd maybe work together but there is not benefit in buying them whatsoever.
Haunted
Member
Sony most likely. Look out for SteamOS in Playstation 4
Gabe on sudoku watch?
Wow at the speculation, to be honest I'm just gonna guess that its people that didn't work out at the company, they didn't fit in just right. If they had problem with the freedom given or with working together, no idea. They most likely just decided that these people had hung around long enough and it was time to cut them down. Even if they shut down a project they would just let people do something else.
AlphaProspector
Member
I am going to use that line with my wife.
By community stores I mean this:
Anyone can create a storefront that sells games that have passed Valve's submission process (e.g. malware/virus testing etc) and added to the overall Steam catalog. When a game is sold on that user's storefront, the sale is split between 3 parties (all percentages are hypothetical and based on existing revenue splits, I have no idea what will happen with user stores since it's a new business model for digital):
The store owner (probably a small percentage, would imagine 1-5%?)
The developer/publisher (majority percentage, 70%)
Valve (25%-29%, similar to their existing cut but with the store owner's cut taken out)
I would imagine that pricing is still set by the creator of the goods (although it's possible that they could set a "minimum price" during a sale for example, and users can choose how much they bring it down in line with the minimum), so stores aren't competing on price but rather on the store experience. Someone may use TotalBiscuit's store because they simply want to support him, or use another store because the web interface they have created is impressive or interactive in some way, or another store because they have curated the store heavily so it only sells games they have written extensive reviews for (fans of that users style of writing or people of similar taste would then be literally financially rewarding that person for their work on the writing and management of the store).
I'll agree to disagree, I don't think it's possible to keep up with the amount of indie content coming onto PC, and missing out on the next hit because they have 4,000 other pieces of content to push through Steam first makes users, developers and Valve more and more frustrated. You can already see this on Greenlight, they can't get content out there fast enough and when they do a portion of the userbase is just saddened that a game they want didn't get cleared for another month.
thehillissilent
Member
Steam is merging with Origin. Greenlight becomes main entry system for all games. It will be automated using a digital copy of GabeN's brain. Valve is outsourcing Half-Life 3 development and it will be using Unity instead of the much delayed Source 2 engine. After Half Life 3 release, valve will stop making games and just create hats for TF2.
just kidding
Microsoft and Valve teaming up?
I would love to see that happen, for the meltdowns and for the awesome potential.
Hell, all the Halo's are still rumored to be coming to Steam, wouldn't be surprised if the Durango was always online if it had Steam on it.
But.....dat trashtalk! All of our cawing and oohing would have been for naught!
grimshawish
Banned
I like the store idea. Some kind of browser-esque interface would be good; local game companies could run their own as well (e.g. gamespot.store or hmv.store).
I understand your point and its probably fair. However I don't think its impossible for a Steam team to chose more games than are currently getting through. Especially when their successful on other platforms.
I also feel the 'Steam Mall' would benefit from a Steam Team just as much as the Steam Store; it just needs a group focused 100% on providing the service to really drive it.
brotkasten
Member
Nooo. I want Android support.
What support? The Steam app for Android looks and performs like it was ported over from iOS by some interns over a weekend.
MrTroubleMaker
Member
This looks like a move for acquisition, I hope not
They probably realized what a huge capital investment creating a conventional console is, even one based on PC hardware standards, and are looking into other solutions. I doubt they're abandoning the idea of a dedicated steam platform, though.
It sucks that people had to get fired over that, but my guess is that the people who were fired were not at all on board with a less-conventional approach, and were probably unwilling or unable to change in the direction that most other valve employees were more interested in going.
Also, Valve wouldn't move to get acquired, that would be dumb. A lot of the people work at Valve because they like working at Valve, and an acquisition would inevitably mean a change in the corporate culture.
It sucks that people had to get fired over that, but my guess is that the people who were fired were not at all on board with a less-conventional approach, and were probably unwilling or unable to change in the direction that most other valve employees were more interested in going.
Also, Valve wouldn't move to get acquired, that would be dumb. A lot of the people work at Valve because they like working at Valve, and an acquisition would inevitably mean a change in the corporate culture.
Rawket Lawnchair
Member
It's about time I start backing up my Steam library.
vagabondarts
Member
Microsoft secretly buys Steam? I would not be a happy camper.
BrokenEchelon
Banned
Only if Gabe agreed to that, which would instantly make him the Judas Iscariot of this industry for all time.
Indeed. It's never a good thing when people are fired or decide there is a philosophical split and they no longer fit a company's vision, but the unsubstantiated crazy talk about Valve going bankrupt or being acquired is absurd. It has zero evidence to back it up at this point. I can't believe people are taking it seriously.
There is no way Valve gets sold- it would wreck the culture, and Valve's culture IS what makes Valve what it is.
Agreeance that this sounds like them abandoning the hardware market plans they had and moving in a different direction.
In the consumer electronics space, guy was a wise sage.
I hate that so many people lost their jobs, but on the bright side, having worked in Valve makes a pretty good resumé, so they will have no problem landing on a next project.
The thing is I have been feeling that Valve is becoming too large for its own philosophy so I'm hoping that these "big decisions" were made towards making great games, other than expanding Steam more than it needs to.
The thing is I have been feeling that Valve is becoming too large for its own philosophy so I'm hoping that these "big decisions" were made towards making great games, other than expanding Steam more than it needs to.
In Gabe's recent speech didn't he say that Valve is the most profitable company per employee in the world? Yeah, I really don't see them having gone bankrupt and the cost of buying them would be pretty astronomical and I doubt that Gabe and the others would really entertain that idea.
He just wanted to increase that number.
Psychotext
Member
This looks like a move for acquisition, I hope not
They're not a publicly traded company so if they get purchased it'll be because the directors wanted it that way.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
edit: wrong thread sorry
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Gabe:"Holy shit! stop the steambox! fire everyone!"
Chittagong
Gold Member
All the merger options would make sweet megatons
Sony - finally good online store, community features, even more first party. No monies realistically though.
Microsoft - Steam finally on Windows 8 with live tiles and Metro UI full screen, also Windows Phone
EA - finally all my PC games are ithe same app again and I never need to see Origin again. Unlikely because other 3rd parties would boycott EA Steam.
Nintendo - (laughs)
Sony - finally good online store, community features, even more first party. No monies realistically though.
Microsoft - Steam finally on Windows 8 with live tiles and Metro UI full screen, also Windows Phone
EA - finally all my PC games are ithe same app again and I never need to see Origin again. Unlikely because other 3rd parties would boycott EA Steam.
Nintendo - (laughs)
What about Apple?
Baron_Calamity
Member
Everyone is probably over thinking it. Valve does whatever Valve does. Gabe could have woke up today and decided all the hardware development no longer interested him.
Graphics Horse
Member
Would be surprised if it was Sony but it was interesting that Valve were into the same things Sony was applying for parents, bio sensors, gaze tracking, touch pad.
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Microsoft getting interested in pc gaming again might not be a bad thing
balladofwindfishes
Member
The guy responsible for Gollum's face in LotR? Huh. Really want to know what the hell is going on over at Valve now.