I respect the crap out of Valve for this stuff, though. It's not that they're skating to where the puck is headed, it's that they are the ones with the puck. And the numbers bear it out; it's like they're hearing everyone say "we want this thing!" and they can glance down at their clipboard and be like "well actually it appears you want this"
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Gabe Newell comments on Valve's move from Half-Life to multiplayer games
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Oveja Negra
Member
Yeah, I can't understand that level of pessimism.
Valve is what it is thanks to the Half-Life franchise, even if after it they produced other games or platform (Steam) that made much more money.
This is a franchise that has tons and tons of fans, and let's not forget that also has been critically acclaimed.
I'm in the same boat as others here, Valve just wants to release a product as perfect as possible, and that means they are looking for an innovative playability, a new much powerful engine, and maybe to take advantage of "new" peripherals, like Oculus Rift, who knows.
But for sure, we'll see Half-Life 3, I have no doubts about it.
Did you just ignore what his job is and thought you wouldnt get called on it?
eyeball_kid
Member
Correctamundo. Well, sure I'd love a new single-player IP from them. Portal is about all we get anymore, and that premise has about run its course. And yes, there are elements of Valve's other titles which have creative elements, obviously. But they are not artistic works in the way the Half-Life series is. They are not trying to tell stories, because in multiplayer games the players create the stories.
Blast Processing
Member
The Ultimate Troll: Valve releases L4D3 with a cover done in the style of the first two, but with the undead hand showing three fingers, and the color filter is orange this time.
someone please shop this
FloatingDivider
Member
I don't enjoy their multiplayer games, or their brand of F2P bullshittery. I do appreciate that their F2P economic model is not a one way affair and some value is maintained or even gained from playing -- I just don't enjoy shopping and as a result I don't enjoy games where half of the draw is interacting with a virtual storefront. I love their singleplayer games though so I hope they eventually decide to make some more.
I'm happy with the direction Valve is heading. They continue to make excellent multiplayer experiences and I have spent more hours in Left 4 Dead 1/2, TF2, CS:GO, and Dota 2 (each individually) than all single-player games from last gen combined.
If HL3 does happen then I'm sure it will just be a showcase for Source 2.
If HL3 does happen then I'm sure it will just be a showcase for Source 2.
angular graphics
Banned
Laidlaw has been working on Dota 2 for year(s?).
Miles Quaritch
Member
Half Life 3 to be a competitive multiplayer game with a narrative ala Titanfall?
Yeah I know, there's like 3 main writers for Dota 2 I think, but still.
angular graphics
Banned
Well then you know he wouldn't answer yes. And his name is in the HL3 group of the JIRA thingy.
Right. Dota, more zombie retreads, and hats are really the last bastion of creative expression.
The way Valve has treated Half-life is sad, and their structure ensures we won't see more unless enough of them take interest in it.
Well, strictly speaking, on the literal definition of 'value' he's not wrong.
A game like Half-life or Portal 2 can only sell and make money a finite amount of time before they exhaust the amount of people willing to purchase it, while games like Dota 2 and TF2 never stop providing income as long as they keep making content and keep maintaining the garden, so to speak.
The real sad thing about all this is that Valve is moving away from this "sacred private corporation who will do what they want when they want how they want and we will all reap the benefits of their infinite creative freedom along with their near infinite financial freedom", and into regular AAA publisher BS of always worrying about making more and more money every quarter to satisfy investors.
Makes me wonder if Valve isn't planning an IPO...
Calm Killer
In all media, only true fans who consume every book, film, game, or pog collection deserve to know what's going on.
So basically he is saying that we are making half life 3, but there are only two people really interested in making it on any given day. The larger group has said you're dumb for working on half life 3. You are wasting your time! While Tom and Jeff continue to work on it in the corner. Gotch ya. Half life 3. Releasing 2045.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Yes. The game itself? Not really. It's solid. Innovative though.. no.. it built off a very solid base... and didn't try to re-invent it completely.
Keyword try. There's not enough narrative driven FPS out there. The world needs more Stalker, Metro:LL, and yes, even Bioshock. I'd put Singularity in there too, even though it missed beat great.. but it was in that style.
SP focused narrative-driven FPS are in no way a over-saturated genre.
I'd say their recent output was "safe". If Gaben took anything away from his time at Microsoft is that it's easier to buy ideas than come up with them on your own.
For all the talk of internal innovation.. and how Valve is this sorta petri dish of creativity... where the fuck is it?
I guess we get that weird looking controller.
I just cannot believe that. That is so antithetical to Valve's corporate practices, and those practices have surely been too successful for Valve's upper management to want to risk it by making a quick buck on an IPO.
BasilZero
Member
LOL!
The announcement of HL3 by itself would destroy the internet, cant imagine the extra damage if it was announced as a MMO XD.
Valve will disentegrate before they go public, according to Gabe. But they are fundamentally falling into the same trap that a lot of big publishers do by chasing after the low hanging fruit. Half Life 3 is the sacred cow that the company is built on. Why would you want to attempt that unless you were 100% sure you could pull it off? Dota 2 seems like a really well received game, but a MOBA is not risky by any stretch of the imagination.
I feel like Valve (and by that I mean the developers who have free reign over what they do) is hesitant to take creative risks now that they are able to do absolutely whatever they want.
I hope I am wrong. I hope they see this as a giant artistic challenge and one worthy of tackling. I'd love to see HL3 and L4D3 ship alongside a major SteamOS/Steam Machine release. But given the odyssey HL2 went through, and the surely even stranger tale that is HL3, that doesn't seem likely.
No one is really suggesting that Valve is losing their identity or turning into something awful. It's just that the impetus that fueled them originally is no longer there, as Steam is a revenue firehose. So devs are free to tackle whatever they want, whenever they want. This results in sporadic but well received releases. Will they ever decide to tackle HL3? The JIRA thing is far from confirmation. Devs have been in and out of that group for years. Source 2 is coming but what will be the game that ships first?
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
It seems like... I don't know, irresponsible perhaps the word?, to continually subject Half Life players to this uncertainty-ness of the Half Life games. I mean, if the 2nd episode was ended conclusively or Valve went bankrupt then it would be understandable, but none of that in this case here.
At least give something to the Half Life players to ensure them that they didn't waste their time on playing games with a half-assed story that didn't even finish properly.
It's like Telltale Games only released 4 episodes of Walking Dead Season 1 and stopped there without the final episode.
At least give something to the Half Life players to ensure them that they didn't waste their time on playing games with a half-assed story that didn't even finish properly.
It's like Telltale Games only released 4 episodes of Walking Dead Season 1 and stopped there without the final episode.
Just because one doesn't ike MP games doesn't make the Innovation Valve brings to them "safe" or "uncreative". Valve have been ahead of the curve in their MP titles because their games have features that are ahead of the competition.
Making a half life sequel is just as safe and on well treaded ground as any big publisher IP.
Making a half life sequel is just as safe and on well treaded ground as any big publisher IP.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
CS:GO, dota2, L4D2 and Portal 2.
Those were very safe games.. and hardly innovative on the gameplay front.
...also who gives a shit if Half-Life is safe... it wasn't fucking finished. How hard is that part to understand? There was 3 planned episodes.. they didn't finish the 3rd part.
They started a trilogy. They didn't finish said trilogy.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
I thinking after 6 years people are allowed to mope all they want.
that1dude24
Member
dota 2 source 2 cmon you can do it
SteveWinwood
Member
im gonna mope about no new startropics and you cant stop me
im allowed
im allowed
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Comparing the next HL game to Startropics? Really? Valve has been talking about Episode 3 being released soon and the end of their episodic model since 2007. i guess their plans got interrupted once they saw LoL and that moba money. They are going to do whatever makes the most money. If partnering with Cutco would make them more money than Dota 2 they would drop everything for a new MLM approach.
edit:
Sept 25, 2007
Valve: Episodic game plan may not last
Valve to evaluate development processes once Episode Three is in the bag, Gabe Newell tells CVG
Pureauthor
Member
If Valve didn't want people to bitch about HL3 maybe they shouldn't have left the Half-Life series dangling on a massive fucking cliffhanger.
Not even a HL fan but Valve didn't handle the series right.
Not even a HL fan but Valve didn't handle the series right.
Sapphire Dreams
Member
I won't believe until I see the official announcement. Job listings are not reliable because it's been few months and maybe that project has changed or worse, cancelled.
SteveWinwood
Member
civilstrife
Member
Seems like you've never actually played their games.
Their FTP games are the only FTP games done right.
Really ? Well fuck.
SteveWinwood
Member
He left pretty recently (like less than a month ago).
Eh. Laidlaw was asked years ago if story concerns were holding the game back, he answered in the negative, saying that the overarching story beats are all hammered out. It's a question of the game being compelling enough to develop and play that's more holding it back.
valve has always been a very mp centric developer. They made half-life which had half-life death match and team fortress classic, then they bought counter-strike and red orchestra. Half life 2 released with counter strike source and a few episodes later and team fortress 2. Throw left 4 dead into the mix, and multiplayer has always been a big part of who they are.
SteveWinwood
Member
id rather have the people who dont want to do it be forced and deliver something mediocre i mean come on
we deserve it
Dictator93
Member
Nah dude. HL3 is in development.
But not the way you think it is.
Some other studio is making a game, and it is amazing using totally unseen game mechanics. Valve will then buy this studio and game idea, incorporate it into valve, and then make it into HL3 (but with additional Hat support).
I wish I was kidding, but I am pretty sure valve does this allllll the time
They want to leave their options open to making it but don't want to actually commit, most likely.