elevator guy
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.
Harrington doesn't count because he just bought a boat and went sailing because he had so much money and that was what he wanted to do.
Apparently GAF likes to think making 1 game every 2 years (which sells ~3-4 million copies) means you can afford to give 250 employees an extra week-long fully comp'd holiday a year, have a free-form development environment free of pesky 'crunch' time and pay everyone much higher than average salaries.Fairly simple. Because their other revenue streams cannot sustain a business model like this.
You forgot, they also run Steam. Seriously, Steam is what's making them their money so that they can work on big luxury products AND have the work environment be sustainable and creative.Apparently GAF likes to think making 1 game every 2 years (which sells ~3-4 million copies) means you can afford to give 250 employees an extra week-long fully comp'd holiday a year, have a free-form development environment free of pesky 'crunch' time and pay everyone much higher than average salaries.
Someone should really go and tell all the other studios they're doing it wrong.
Apparently GAF likes to think making 1 game every 2 years (which sells ~3-4 million copies) means you can afford to give 250 employees an extra week-long fully comp'd holiday a year, have a free-form development environment free of pesky 'crunch' time and pay everyone much higher than average salaries.
Someone should really go and tell all the other studios they're doing it wrong.
Apparently GAF likes to think making 1 game every 2 years (which sells ~3-4 million copies) means you can afford to give 250 employees an extra week-long fully comp'd holiday a year, have a free-form development environment free of pesky 'crunch' time and pay everyone much higher than average salaries.
Someone should really go and tell all the other studios they're doing it wrong.
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).
My point is without knowing how someone working there feels (or can admit/discuss without breaching their NDA), if I were an employee of Valve, I would just feel like the company is a company for the Steam distribution platform and that's it. I'm sure Valve have prototypes/cool concepts that are being worked on but will never see the light of day because 'Valve knows what's best for their customers.' At the same time, I would like to believe that Valve is more than Steam and more than Half-Life/Portal/Team Fortress 2.
But that's from the outside looking in.
Funny you mention that, because Pixar is always the company I think of in terms of rival entertainment mediums. I'd always heard it was along those lines.Not even the top animation studios are at all like this.
You forgot, they also run Steam. Seriously, Steam is what's making them their money so that they can work on big luxury products AND have the work environment be sustainable and creative.
Hl2world only got infamy after hl2 came out. All the people that used to post there to figure out how to edit the leak then turned up their noses and blamed hl2world for pretty much everything.Looks pretty snazzy too.
Source to all this: www.flamehaus.com (of HL2world fame/infamy)
[EDIT] Here's the original posting of this stuff. http://www.flamehaus.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=163319&p=3637282#p3637282
They also net significant profits from avoiding publishers via distributing their own games digitally, and have an additional source of revenue in the TF2 item store.
The scope of Valve's business, number of employees, and variety in creative, internal projects is hinged on overall revenue which, yes, includes revenue from Steam. But the idea that Valve could not abide by this business philosophy without the comfort of a cut from Steam games is very silly. It ignores the fact is and always has been a privately owned, internally funded hugely successful games studio. They weren't pressed for cash before Steam and certainly weren't afterwards.
That's the point I was trying to make.You forgot, they also run Steam. Seriously, Steam is what's making them their money so that they can work on big luxury products AND have the work environment be sustainable and creative.
Oop, my bad. Must have skipped that. MobileGAF taking some getting used to.He didn't forget to mention Steam; it's just irrelevant to their particular discussion ("Could Valve's business model survive without Steam?")
That's the point I was trying to make.
Ultimately it doesn't really matter how Valve earns their money, but it does get very tiresome hearing gamers constantly sing their praises and wondering why other developers can't "be more like Valve".
Valve could do exactly what they have been doing in terms of game development without Steam. They would be less wealthy, but their games are relatively low budget, and high return.That's the point I was trying to make.
Ultimately it doesn't really matter how Valve earns their money, but it does get very tiresome hearing gamers constantly sing their praises and wondering why other developers can't "be more like Valve".
Sounds like a great place to work.
Not even the top animation studios are at all like this.
That's the point I was trying to make.
Ultimately it doesn't really matter how Valve earns their money, but it does get very tiresome hearing gamers constantly sing their praises and wondering why other developers can't "be more like Valve".
Well Gooseman left, and there are two former employees who made some popular iOS app recently.
Definitely.Basically sounds like a lot of startups except valve has stuck to their principles despite their sucess. Btw you know who would really hate it if this style became the norm? Producers and managers.
Yes, the app is Morfo, which is very popular, the other former-Valver is Mike Dussault.Kelly Bailey left a while back, which went completely under the radar. I think he was one of the two behind that app. A shame, considering his impact on the HL games (and Portal.)
It was also very Valve-like of them to make a shitty release version and then slowly creep up in terms of quality.Yes, the app is Morfo, which is very popular, the other former-Valver is Mike Dussault.
Kelly Bailey left a while back, which went completely under the radar. I think he was one of the two behind that app. A shame, considering his impact on the HL games (and Portal.)
Apparently GAF likes to think making 1 game every 2 years (which sells ~3-4 million copies) means you can afford to give 250 employees an extra week-long fully comp'd holiday a year, have a free-form development environment free of pesky 'crunch' time and pay everyone much higher than average salaries.
Someone should really go and tell all the other studios they're doing it wrong.
Skip to 26:10: http://www.podcast17.com/interviews/audio/mike-morasky/I listened to an interview with Mike Morasky who's one of Valve's composers at the moment, and he basically said that Kelly Bailey left to do his own thing, tour in a band or something.
This is what it's come to? Really?
I'm fucking a nerd. I love to geek out on gaming shit, but an employee handbook? Coming from me it's ironic, but some folks need to get a life...
I can't think of any other company that manages to do as much as Valve with only 250 employees.
...what?
This is what it's come to? Really?
I'm fucking a nerd. I love to geek out on gaming shit, but an employee handbook? Coming from me it's ironic, but some folks need to get a life...