• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microsoft will buy Valve or atleast Steam

You're talking to somebody who has been part of a business. Even a hands off owner has to attend meetings, deal with regulators, make important decisions etc. Owning a multi-billion dollar business, isn't stress free and sitting on your ass, regardless of successful the business is. So no, Gabe doesn't have a stress-free life. He has to make decisions every single day that can affect the livelihoods of 1000s of employees. For example, Steam Deck. There is no telling how many millions of dollars were invested in that. That isn't a chump change decision. Tons of stuff goes on behind the scenes that neither you nor I have any clue about.

I will agree with you on the likihood of MS buying Valve is very low.
Hundreds of employees. At last count, Valve is around 400 people.

Valve is also structured differently from a normal corporation. Very few people outside of the company itself know how exactly it's structured, but from what we know it's a lot flatter, which makes "the man at the top" a far less precarious position to be in.
 

V4skunk

Banned
Is DOTA2 still Valves biggest game on Steam btw?
I'd say Counterstrike is 1 mostly these days and it isn't free.
Dota2 is popular but it only has the player count of the other games you pay for these days! I'm sure at one point Dota2 would have like a 1.5 million more people playing than what was number 2.
I think next big game on steam will be Elden Ring.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Can you provide a link about that law? I read the public traded acquisitions law the other day and they are not required to file anything before an agreement. In fact the law says it's not recommended because that would change the share price and then change the amount a company has to pay the other.

If you want an example, when Microsoft bought Nuance, which also was a public traded company they only did a press release saying they entered a definitive agreement.
All credible points! I should have been more specific to what I was referring to in terms of the FTC stepping in to squash a deal or require additional filings and examinations (Tmobile and Sprint for example). Not that Steam has any impact on the public at all or creates any monopolistic concerns for the FTC (Steam is not a monopoly and MS wouldn't corner the PC market in terms of software sales if they bought them.)
 

LordPezix

Member
Anything can happen in business.

MS most likely does want to acquire Valve.

It would be a loss to consumers.

If MS doubled the market value of Valve, it could be a tempting offer.
 
Cannabis Marijuana GIF by MOODMAN
snoop dogg GIF
frog GIF



Area 51 Smoke GIF by Justin
The Simpsons Weed GIF
Blaze It Pot Leaf GIF by GIPHY Studios Originals
 

tony19957

Neo Member
From what I understand no one can just straight up buy Valve. Gabe made sure of that. The only way Microsoft can have control over Valve(not acquire) is by buying Gabe's shares and I highly doubt he is willing to do that since Steam keeps making money even if Valve did nothing else.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I really don't see this happening. If it did, I'd be genuinely shocked. Well, and pretty upset. We don't need all devs being bought by larger companies. Enough is enough, lmao.

Also, not to echo a number of comments, but Gabe really didn't care for MS. Sure, things can change, but man...
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I think it is quite interesting that in the OP's link to the interview with Gabe, Gabe signifies that he's thinking about his mortality - as he's sort of ran away to New Zealand for COVID protection where IIRC most of the flights are indirect through Australia into the country, and although I think he's completely wrong about the pandemic in thinking you can stop nature from reaching everywhere - because "nature finds a way" it does maybe suggest his priorities in life have massively changed, and for the long term.

Epic launching their own store, and Valve having tried their own Steam Machine - without success - probably means that they have plateaued with their earnings potential in the PC space now and have exposed that a Linux OS can't compete or replace Windows for gamers, no matter what spanner-in-the-works a new Windows version - like Win11's TPM/new-ish CPU, DX12 minimum specs - could be for Steam and Steam customers. Steam is always at the mercy of Windows.

When you look at what Epic's UE5 has to offer with nanite/lumen going forward to Epic Game exclusives, and the trend of up-and-coming PC gamers playing Epic's Fornite, and how far adrift Valve's engine is from Unity -never mind Unreal - you do start to wonder if Gabe and partners would rather sell up at this high point.

I don't think it will happen because Valve would probably cost twice or three times what Bethesda did, but if Microsoft did buy Valve, they could probably use Valve\Steam branding instead of Xbox in regions where they've previously struggled and gain market share.
 
I don't think this rumor is too far fetched honestly. If Gabe has no end-game left with Valve, there's no reason not to sell out. Microsoft would instantly become a much bigger player in the PC space and force Sony to re-think their current strategy.

I would imagine that Sony would simply align with Epic for their first party releases.
 

Bryank75

Banned
Assuming that they buy Valve what will happen to the Windows store?

My guess is that they would get rid of it and integrate Steam into windows.

They could just integrate Steam right into the windows OS..... a pop-up as you start, prompting you to sign up or automatically signing you in and other system level integration.

Maybe integrate achievements and Steam achievements.

Or have cross-promotions with Office and Gamepass.
 
They could just integrate Steam right into the windows OS..... a pop-up as you start, prompting you to sign up or automatically signing you in and other system level integration.

Maybe integrate achievements and Steam achievements.

Or have cross-promotions with Office and Gamepass.

Hmm or maybe have Gamepass work through Steam.
 

ClosBSAS

Member
If MS did this it would just be a waste. Look at all those studios MS brought and not one good console exclusive has hit the Series X yet.

The Xbox brand is running on hope and game pass at this point.
Lol and without games it's still running strong. Ms don't need Xbox division and they have said it plenty of times. They are here for games that's it. Their acquisitions will begin to flourish soon enough, like when all Bethesda games become exclusives and ur gonna be buying an Xbox to play elder scrolls
 

Bryank75

Banned
Lol and without games it's still running strong. Ms don't need Xbox division and they have said it plenty of times. They are here for games that's it. Their acquisitions will begin to flourish soon enough, like when all Bethesda games become exclusives and ur gonna be buying an Xbox to play elder scrolls

Huge assumption that people care that much. I certainly don't and nobody I know is going to buy a console for those games... even people that really liked Skyrim have said outright to me that they will not bother. There's just too many other games.... easily replaced.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
If MS did this it would just be a waste. Look at all those studios MS brought and not one good console exclusive has hit the Series X yet.

The Xbox brand is running on hope and game pass at this point.

Oh yes, doing horrible, successful launch of a new console, 30 studios working on games, gamepass gaining steam, tons of popular franchises set to release over the next 2 or 3 years, xcloud gaining steam, tons of cash.....

Keep telling yourself it's pure hope. Your post could win silliest post of the year.
 
Lol and without games it's still running strong. Ms don't need Xbox division and they have said it plenty of times. They are here for games that's it. Their acquisitions will begin to flourish soon enough, like when all Bethesda games become exclusives and ur gonna be buying an Xbox to play elder scrolls

Oh yes, doing horrible, successful launch of a new console, 30 studios working on games, gamepass gaining steam, tons of popular franchises set to release over the next 2 or 3 years, xcloud gaining steam, tons of cash.....

Keep telling yourself it's pure hope. Your post could win silliest post of the year.
I own a Series X and even I know the truth. I love the Xbox brand but everything is hope and gamepass at this point and I think we can all agree on that.

We HOPE these new games that the new studios are working on turns out good. We HOPE Halo infinite turns out good. Everything that comes outs of Phil’s mouth is “in the future” and we are still waiting for that “future”, buying valve isn’t going to change much of the narrative for them IMO because I doubt we will see a new half life or portal game anytime soon.

Game pass is a budget gamers dream but if you don’t have issues with buying the games you want or prefer to own your games it’s not a big deal especially without solid exclusive titles and new IP. They need to fix that issue first to ensure a solid future for game pass and the Xbox brand going forward, this deal would not solve that issue anytime soon because we all know how Valve is when it comes to putting out new games.
 
Last edited:

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I own a Series X and even I know the truth. I love the Xbox brand but everything is hope and gamepass at this point and I think we can all agree on that.

We HOPE these new games that the new studios are working on turns out good. We HOPE Halo infinite turns out good. Everything that comes outs of Phil’s mouth is “in the future” and we are still waiting for that “future”, buying value isn’t going to change much of the narrative for them IMO because I doubt we will see a new half life or portal game anytime soon.

Game pass is a budget gamers dream but if you don’t have issues with buying the games you want or prefer to own your games it’s not a big deal especially without solid exclusive titles and new IP. They need to fix that issue first to ensure a solid future for game pass and the Xbox brand going forward, this deal would not solve that issue anytime soon because we all know how Valve is when it comes to putting out new games.

Your seriously jaded. We just had an AAA release physchonauts (yes its that good) and flight sim. Forza 5 is a huge title for ms and it's out in 2 months. Halo is not going to be bad, at worst it's an 8 and a huge system seller. The doom/elder/starfield lineup is almost 100% sure to be great. Forza motorspirt and senua's saga II. Plus all of the great 3rd party games in the lineup planned.
They don't need valve to deliver for series X.
Maybe you should quit gaming for now.
 

nillapuddin

Member
It's not MS buying Valve for it's games


Its MS buying Valve so they can make Game pass PC even more marketable.



Gabe only cares about games and making products for games.

Maybe he trusts that Phil won't let him down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As others have alluded too, maybe Gabe wants to just ride off into the sunset finally, free of all decisions.
 
Damn... MS just buying everything up to compete... but this rumour is completely false, because the truth is...

Microsoft is buying the internet, on Wednesday, 1 month from now.
 
I think it is quite interesting that in the OP's link to the interview with Gabe, Gabe signifies that he's thinking about his mortality - as he's sort of ran away to New Zealand for COVID protection where IIRC most of the flights are indirect through Australia into the country, and although I think he's completely wrong about the pandemic in thinking you can stop nature from reaching everywhere - because "nature finds a way" it does maybe suggest his priorities in life have massively changed, and for the long term.

Epic launching their own store, and Valve having tried their own Steam Machine - without success - probably means that they have plateaued with their earnings potential in the PC space now and have exposed that a Linux OS can't compete or replace Windows for gamers, no matter what spanner-in-the-works a new Windows version - like Win11's TPM/new-ish CPU, DX12 minimum specs - could be for Steam and Steam customers. Steam is always at the mercy of Windows.

When you look at what Epic's UE5 has to offer with nanite/lumen going forward to Epic Game exclusives, and the trend of up-and-coming PC gamers playing Epic's Fornite, and how far adrift Valve's engine is from Unity -never mind Unreal - you do start to wonder if Gabe and partners would rather sell up at this high point.

I don't think it will happen because Valve would probably cost twice or three times what Bethesda did, but if Microsoft did buy Valve, they could probably use Valve\Steam branding instead of Xbox in regions where they've previously struggled and gain market share.
Hmm. Well it's far too early to say whether the Deck will succeed in bringing Linux gaming up.

But to have a bit of perspective, Valve have not made many games lately. All they have is the store. And, having nothing but the store, they have developed and shouldered the costs for manufacturing of, not just a high-end VR headset and who knows how many attendant technologies, but also an entire handheld console, nevermind that it's also a PC, that they sell at a loss or very near to it, with an entire software push across multiple fronts in a titanic undertaking to separate gaming from Windows dependency, all of which costs untold amounts of money, all without any promise of a significant return on investment. And they also have at least a few more games in development at the same time. And are doing who knows what kind of black-cauldron-sorcery work even deeper behind the scenes for AI and brain interfaces and whatnot.

I don't know economics, but to me it does not seem like their business is ailing. As in, at all. They never needed the extra profit from licensing the Source engine, and they've stopped relying on profits from selling their own games a long time ago. Normal gaming company metrics just don't really apply to Valve.
 
Your seriously jaded. We just had an AAA release physchonauts (yes its that good) and flight sim. Forza 5 is a huge title for ms and it's out in 2 months. Halo is not going to be bad, at worst it's an 8 and a huge system seller. The doom/elder/starfield lineup is almost 100% sure to be great. Forza motorspirt and senua's saga II. Plus all of the great 3rd party games in the lineup planned.
They don't need valve to deliver for series X.
Maybe you should quit gaming for now.
Psychonauts 2 isn’t a Xbox exclusive. Flight sim is a niche game and Forza is great but it’s one of the last solid series running for Xbox IMO. Nothing 343 has shown would indicate that Halo infinite will be a system seller lol. The PVP was solid from the small sample we got from the play test but “system seller” is a major reach given 343’s history and the shit show that has been that games development.

The latest Doom come out last year so I doubt we see a new one anytime soon and Starfield looks like it might be good but it is a big question mark right now.

Just because I don’t agree with you. I “should quit gaming” ? Very immature take but whatever, I am not going to defend Xbox when they have not proven anything yet outside of creating the game pass service. I own all consoles so it’s not a fanboy thing just my honest assessment of them right now.

They need new IP and better exclusive games and that is a fact. They are working on it with the new acquisitions but this new rumor doesn’t make any sense, if it is true imo.
 
Last edited:

Silver Wattle

Gold Member
I don't really see the negatives to this, steam hasn't changed much in several years, people talking about a PC gamer revolt are delusional, most people will get over it as they aren't Gabe fanboys.


MS on the other hand could introduce some positives, such as Xbox games developed for the steamdeck, investing more into steam features than they currently do(must be close to zero now?).
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
It's not MS buying Valve for it's games


Its MS buying Valve so they can make Game pass PC even more marketable.



Gabe only cares about games and making products for games.

Maybe he trusts that Phil won't let him down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As others have alluded too, maybe Gabe wants to just ride off into the sunset finally, free of all decisions.
If gabe only cares about games, why hasn't gabes company made any games for the better part of 15 years?

MS would buy Valve for Steam, not for their games. Big Picture mode would be changed to an Xbox Dashboard, and they'd now earn money on pretty much every PC game sold.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Psychonauts 2 isn’t a Xbox exclusive. Flight sim is a niche game and Forza is great but it’s one of the last solid series running for Xbox IMO. Nothing 343 has shown would indicate that Halo infinite will be a system seller lol. The PVP was solid from the small sample we got from the play test but “system seller” is a major reach given 343’s history and the shit show that has been that games development.

The latest Doom come out last year so I doubt we see a new one anytime soon and Starfield looks like it might be good but it is a big question mark right now.

Just because I don’t agree with you. I “should quit gaming” ? Very immature take but whatever, I am not going to defend Xbox when they have not proven anything yet outside of creating the game pass service. I own all consoles so it’s not a fanboy thing just my honest assessment of them right now.

They need new IP and better exclusive games and that is a fact. They are working on it with the new acquisitions but this new rumor doesn’t make any sense, if it is true imo.

The best version of pschonauts is exclusive, the PlayStation version is the ps4 pro version running at 1440p. Of course halo is a system seller, remind me again who made halo 5 and how many units it sold? Oh yeah......

It's been a year and a half since the last doom, the next one isn't that far off. Neither is wolfenstein. I suggested you quit gaming not due to a difference of opinion, bit rather what appears to be an xbox gamer who isn't looking foreward to xbox games, so why not take a break since your so convinced garbage is coming down the pipeline, like ms is suddenly desperate despite many well regarded studios working on all kinds of different games.

You say they need better studios "and that's a fact" but it's actually not.
 
Last edited:

PhoenixTank

Member
Assuming that they buy Valve what will happen to the Windows store?

My guess is that they would get rid of it and integrate Steam into windows.
Nah the gelatinous zero IQ cube that runs the Microsoft store would just envelop Steam instead of your better option.

To qualify that:
Apalled to see MS Flight Sim has so many issues just getting the damn thing to update via the Microsoft store. That is entirely their stack and every update seems to bring a new shit show.

Anyway this isn't happening. Not even Wednesday.
 

ClosBSAS

Member
Huge assumption that people care that much. I certainly don't and nobody I know is going to buy a console for those games... even people that really liked Skyrim have said outright to me that they will not bother. There's just too many other games.... easily replaced.
lol ull be buying an xbox for the new elder scrolls, dont worry. easy to say u dont care, but once everyone is playing it....either that or a PC...MS stays winning.
 
Just the whole idea of this is :

AgonizingNaturalJerboa-size_restricted.gif


I mean, there are very few companies I feel any "affinity" towards, but Valve is one. And there are few companies I loathe more than MS. What a match made in hell for me personally, if it were ever to happen.
 

Bryank75

Banned
I'd be more inclined to say Sega than Valve. Valve really have bottomless pit of money.

Sega wouldn't do anything for Xbox really.... it's more a wish borne from old Sega fans that migrated to Xbox rather than a shrewd business move.

It would pretty much kill several franchises, like Persona and SMT. Even Yakuza was made popular on PS.

They have some good PC focused studios but, it really doesn't match up in the bigger picture.

Valve is more, much more but is a wiser investment, given MSFT's overall strat.
 
Last edited:

DrAspirino

Banned
Sega wouldn't do anything for Xbox really.... it's more a wish borne from old Sega fans that migrated to Xbox rather than a shrewd business move.

It would pretty much kill several franchises, like Persona and SMT. Even Yakuza was made popular on PS.

They have some good PC focused studios but, it really doesn't match up in the bigger picture.

Valve is more, much more but is a wiser investment, given MSFT's overall strat.
I think it depends on what is Microsoft looking for at the moment. Right now, Valve's value reside in their omnipresence in gaming PCs and huge fan base, which would give Ms instant access to a big chunk of the PC gaming market.

On the other hand, you have Sega and WB Games, both of which costs half of what Valve's costs right now, but unlike Valve, have several (and I mean SEVERAL) famous IPs that would be instantly added to Microsoft already deep pool of IPs. Just as an example, if they choose to buy WB Games, they'd instantly have the exclusivity rights for every single DC superhero videogame.

So... for short-term profit, Valve would be the go-to purchase for Ms. For long-term profit, it would be WB Games / Sega.

Only time will tell which strategy will Microsoft pursue and which games we will have day-one on Gamepass from either company xD
 
Last edited:

Bryank75

Banned
I think it depends on what is Microsoft looking for at the moment. Right now, Valve's value reside in their omnipresence in gaming PCs and huge fan base, which would give Ms instant access to a big chunk of the PC gaming market.

On the other hand, you have Sega and WB Games, both of which costs half of what Valve's costs right now, but unlike Valve, have several (and I mean SEVERAL famous IPs that would be instantly added to Microsoft already deep pool of IPs. Just as an example, if they choose to buy WB Games, they'd instantly have the exclusivity rights for every single DC superhero videogame.

So... for short-term profit, Valve would be the go-to purchase for Ms. For long-term profit, it would be WB Games / Sega.

Only time will tell which strategy will Microsoft pursue and which games we will have day-one on Gamepass from either company xD

WB wouldn't come with DC rights.... they may get them for a certain time or guaranteed access for a few years but there is no chance that WB or the new entity will sell the actual rights.

As I said, there are huge issues with Sega.... if Sammy sold Sega, they would be left with only gambling and things that are not making money now due to covid. Several of the IP's are very dependent on PS or Nintendo communities too.

They could buy the more PC focused studios though...
 
Top Bottom