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Valve Layoffs: Several (25?) cut as Valve makes 'large decisions' about its future
- Thread starter Kifimbo
- Start date
Zombie James
Banned
They had an Android department? Good luck to those getting laid off.
gravitybear
Member
waaaaaaaaaa I thought valve was ROLLING in it
shinobi602
Member
Aquamarine
Member
I wonder if this is fueled by a change in Valve's internal game development strategies.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Alf is back, in life form.
Goldenroad
Member
Collect 10 cats!
Kickass667
Banned
oh damn, an Android steam store would of been awesome. Good luck to those caught in the crossfire.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Android development? I guess that was for Steambox. Android would be basically the Steam app they made.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
This is what happens when you follow the Valve employee handbook.
nckillthegrimace
Member
It's good to get confirmation that Valve is just a cover for the Melmac Liberation Front.
Nabs
Member
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
Trouble in paradise for sure. Extremely unfortunate for everyone let go, hoping the best for them especially as it wasn't for "performance" reasons. I wish Valve would man up a bit and talk about the situation though. The fact that they barely discuss anything is maddening.
Fried Food
Banned
All the recent talks I've heard from Gabe indicate that they have been seriously considering company efficencies.
balladofwindfishes
Member
maybe the hardware plans weren't working, so they decided to cut that entire branch off?
The Dutch Slayer
Member
I really do not get this this I thought that Valve was the most stable place to work in the entire US work flow?
They do not over hire and have enough money to keep everyone on the payroll so what gives..................
They do not over hire and have enough money to keep everyone on the payroll so what gives..................
HoodWinked
Member
my thinking is that valve put some resources behind valvebox/android development gabe saw its lack of progress saw how much it was costing them and maybe didnt like the direction it was going and rather than letting this go on for years he smartly cut this off now maybe to focus more on its core market.
razgriz417
Member
thats my impression from this too
everyone.gif
We'll likely never going to know what went down, or at least not for a while. I doubt it was a product that's been specifically been mentioned as being developed. The linux steam box is still probably coming. This could mean they're just going with the outsourced method for steam boxes in the future, though, and not have their own model after the first.
If I were to throw out some crazy, uninformed speculation, perhaps Valve was developing an android phone and ended up canceling it. A "gaming" phone is definitely something I could see Valve at least looking at.
If I were to throw out some crazy, uninformed speculation, perhaps Valve was developing an android phone and ended up canceling it. A "gaming" phone is definitely something I could see Valve at least looking at.
Exactly what I think.
Making money on hardware is really difficult, I'm not surprised they couldn't make it work.
bernardobri
Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
About 400 people, this number is back in August 2012 http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/econ...nt-structure-fit-into-todays-corporate-world/
around 400 last time I checked, probably more than that now.
Happens. I'm sure these people are talented enough to find work elsewhere, best of luck to them.
Not riding the "everything valve does is awesome" train, I just think it's silly when people get too upset about layoffs. They're not wonderful for the people who receive them (I can tell you that), but they're sometimes necessary and part of a growing, changing business. Layoffs don't always mean something went wrong at the company.
Not riding the "everything valve does is awesome" train, I just think it's silly when people get too upset about layoffs. They're not wonderful for the people who receive them (I can tell you that), but they're sometimes necessary and part of a growing, changing business. Layoffs don't always mean something went wrong at the company.
They are. This doesn't have anything to do with money.
grimshawish
Banned
Good. Sorry but good. Valve needed to make some decisions and changes.
Hopefully they refocus around Steam and getting more releases in; if their worried about PC going the way of the Dodo then they need to set up protections for themselves by you know...releasing more games.
Though I wonder if a tech company is now backing Steam for a console.
I don't mind this as its clear Valve don't have the means to do it internally and it was foolish to put so much time and energy into it.
Hopefully they find reemployment, sounds very sudden.
Valve have a lot of costs to deal with. They only get a slice of everyone elses revenues. Digital is not a free service to run, it can be quite expensive.
Hopefully they refocus around Steam and getting more releases in; if their worried about PC going the way of the Dodo then they need to set up protections for themselves by you know...releasing more games.
Though I wonder if a tech company is now backing Steam for a console.
I don't mind this as its clear Valve don't have the means to do it internally and it was foolish to put so much time and energy into it.
Hopefully they find reemployment, sounds very sudden.
Valve have a lot of costs to deal with. They only get a slice of everyone elses revenues. Digital is not a free service to run, it can be quite expensive.
Blood Diamonds
Banned
Nintendo is buying Valve.
Over the past two years Valve has been rumored to be involved in hardware manufacturing (steambox), android development, creating new input devices including those based on eye movements, expansion of steam and drivers to linux, and more. It sounds like Gabe is reigning in some of this crazy to bring the company back into focus a bit. They have plenty of games to make (Dota 2 is still not out officially) and Steam still needs a tremendous amount of attention and expansion to keep up with rumored next-gen insanity.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do.
- Steve Jobs
- Steve Jobs