valve is gattaca.
You might have a point here but I remember reading somehwere that they started going in this direction right after they finished Half-Life 1 so their company philosophy isn't directly linked to their success with Steam even though it certainly helped. Don't hold me accountable for the anecdote it though.
It would not work for most people either.This shit would not work in most companies.
This is the direction Gabe (and Mike) steered the company in from its inception; a unique opportunity afforded to them because the company was (and still is, obviously) entirely self-funded. Unsurprisingly, this is mentioned in the Handbook.
Could you clarify/elaborate on this?
It's so dangerous.
You just need one person being a dick and things will go bad.
One question I have (haven't bothered to check in the document) is how do people fire people? Normally this is done by the persons superior but if such a person doesn't exist...
It would not work for most people either.
One question I have (haven't bothered to check in the document) is how do people fire people? Normally this is done by the persons superior but if such a person doesn't exist...
Okay now I wish I had programming skills.
This is the direction Gabe (and Mike) steered the company in from its inception; a unique opportunity afforded to them because the company was (and still is, obviously) entirely self-funded. Unsurprisingly, this is mentioned in the Handbook.
Honestly, what makes you think they aren't working at these things?Basically, if the handbook stressed how important the customers are ('the stewards of long-term relationship'), then why hasn't Valve done what many customers are asking for: either Half-Life 3/Episode 3 or something completely new and different from Valve?
Basically, if the handbook stressed how important the customers are ('the stewards of long-term relationship'), then why hasn't Valve done what many customers are asking for: either Half-Life 3/Episode 3 or something completely new and different from Valve? I don't even care if they hand off the Source Engine to another developer and have them make a new game or modify it a bit for their game (like how Epic does with their Unreal tech).
In terms of "Ricochet 2", we always have this problem that when we talk about things too far in advance, we end up changing our minds as we're going through and developing stuff, so as we're thinking through the giant story arc which is "Ricochet 2", you might get to a point where you're saying something is surprising us in a positive way and something is surprising us in a negative way, and, you know, we'd like to be super-transparent about the future of "Ricochet 2". The problem is, we think that the twists and turns that we're going through would probably drive people more crazy than just being silent about it, until we can be very crisp about what's happening next.
No, everybody who has worked on "Ricochet 2" continues to work on "Ricochet 2". *laughs*
I'm going to be applying to them in the next week. Hope something can come of it!
I'll apply there one day, when it makes sense for me to move. One of the very few companies I'd move to America for...
Not that I think Valve has actually abandoned Half-Life, I just think forcing their staff to work on Half-Life 3, regardless of consumer demand, is contrary to the very philosophy their business runs by. They live by their customers, but creativity is not their slave.
Valve: The company that knows how to make everyone question their life goals and job happiness.
I rarely ever read Employee Handbooks if I don't have to. I read Valve's.
Sounds like such an interesting and awesome place to work. Really wish I went into game design now...
Also explains why HL3 probably isn't really being worked on.
BigNastyCurve said:The only reason they can run their business this way is because of Steam.
How do you know?
Can't believe I listened to that podcast yesterday and never knew Ricochet 2 was code for HL3. I half tuned out on that part. I was like, "Who gives a fuck about Ricochet 2? I've got Ricochet 1 in my Steam library and I don't even know what it is. That's how little I care about that." :lol Above quotes certainly make a lot more sense now
I wonder how Valve appears to the non-traditional hires they make. Of course anyone in the games industry is going to understand the quirky cooperate culture displayed in the handbook, but the people outside of the geeky gaming medium could find it quite alien I imagine.
The internal workings of Valve are something of a riddle, there is a section which mentions Gabe's hiring of the Digipen guys and gals who worked on Portal in relation to occasions of Gabe making significant decisions in isolation, and frames it as a rare case. From what I've read that's not really true. The Final Hours of HL2 and Portal 2 both heavily indicate Gabe as being very much the ruler of the studio.
It would be interesting to know why whoever has been fired was fired. If they've really lost about ten employees in ten years, and the handbook suggests no one has been fired for making a mistake (implying people have been for other reasons), I'd be interested to hear what.
BigNastyCurve said:Fairly simple. Because their other revenue streams cannot sustain a business model like this.
Well Gooseman left, and there are two former employees who made some popular iOS app recently.I think we actually only know of 3 people who left Valve: Antonov, Swift and Harrington (if he counts) and I think at least Swift left by her own terms.
Stuff like Half-Life 3, as much as I desperately want it, reside in the realm of creativity and art, and the fact of the matter is you cannot force or rush good creative work. Customers desperately want Half-Life 3/Episode 3, but how do you make someone pour their creative mind into a project that they may not be passionate about? End result in cases like this is almost always something that feels forced, uninspired, and lacking the artistic integrity and passion that creators would normally pool into a project they're attached to.
Not that I think Valve has actually abandoned Half-Life, I just think forcing their staff to work on Half-Life 3, regardless of consumer demand, is contrary to the very philosophy their business runs by. They live by their customers, but creativity is not their slave.
I think we actually only know of 3 people who left Valve: Antonov, Swift and Harrington (if he counts) and I think at least Swift left by her own terms.
Yeah, the Gabe Newell entry in the glossary is pretty revealing about this.The internal workings of Valve are something of a riddle, there is a section which mentions Gabe's hiring of the Digipen guys and gals who worked on Portal in relation to occasions of Gabe making significant decisions in isolation, and frames it as a rare case. From what I've read that's not really true. The Final Hours of HL2 and Portal 2 both heavily indicate Gabe as being very much the ruler of the studio.
The only reason they can run their business this way is because of Steam.
Fairly simple. Because their other revenue streams cannot sustain a business model like this.
This seems more like a fear of an unknown than a rational statement based on facts.
Is there anything out there that suggests valve selling multiple millions of every game they release using this model is unsustainable?