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[Necromanti]

They seem to have gone beyond simply being a video game developer as time went on. They have services like Steam and extremely successful multiplayer games that are constantly being updated. They've made forays into hardware development with the Vive and the Steam controller, not to mention the Steam machines (with the SteamOS) and Link. It's unfortunate for me since I've always enjoyed their single player-oriented titles, but I have come to not expect that much from them on that front anymore. I guess I can't blame them.

 

[Forsaken82]

Had a friend talk to me about this today and it made have a long think about this company as a studio.

Looking back at the entire list of games coming out of Valve, Half-Life is probably the only successful IP that was created internally (probably missing a few minor ones). Counter-Strike (mod of HL), Team Fortress, Portal, Left 4 Dead, all games or concepts from teams/individuals that were hired on.

Valve isn't a developer, it's a talent scout with a huge online storefront. It's a studio with next to 0 actual internal created concepts that reach release. So, why do we actually want games from them?

This is like saying "why do we keep hoping for games from Sony" or "From Microsoft" or "From Nintendo"

Valve has basically becoming an indie publisher that happens to turn most of the indie projects into well polished AAA titles, so until Valve stops releasing well developed titles, I will keep hoping for them...

With that said... I agree with you.. Since HL2: Episode 2, valve has not internally developed a title for some time (unless you consider all the sequels to titles developed by external studios that become a valve incubator studio internal)

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Their multiplayer games are also franchises they bought the rights to.

Let us not pretend that CS and Dota, their most sucessful game right now, was created by Valve.

Who gives a shit? Rights to an IP or franchise does not guarantee a quality game. They still have to make it.

 

[Vibranium]

I'd like them to try their hand at a Deus Ex style first person game. I think they their engines do really well with FP controls and gameplay.

That would work well too. A Valve game with choice and consequence would be interesting.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

Because Half-life is good and it ended on a cliffhanger.

...

Also, I believe in Gabe.

 

[Plasmid]

Because the day Valve releases another game it will destroy all the communities. Valve has basically been vacuuming in all that cash from steam to make the greatest game in history.

Spoiler

we can only hope

 

[Aselith]

Not at all what's happening in this thread. Take that shit elsewhere. I'm saying they don't actually MAKE things internally. Like no concept for a game is born in their walls. They hire people for their IP.

Birthing a concept and making things are two separate things. Valve absolutely makes things, they just don't originate them. They are incredibly good at taking a promising concept and making it way better than the teams the hire could ever make them which is why we want games from them.

We've seen some of their teams break out and try to do their own version and it's always just not as good.

Frankly, everyone has ideas and it's the people that can make that a real and good thing that are the true craftsmen.

 

[MikeDown]

It has only been two years since their last release. So you want them to drop support fro three of the largest games on the market? Okay, sure.

 

[Ricerocket]

I expect them to try and repeat what they did with Steam when it launched. Steam was shit, no one liked it, but HL Source was forced on people and you needed Steam to play. It was rough but look where they are now after sticking to it. They definitely have something cooked up to push whatever business they have now (steamOS?)

 

[Raiden]

Im still convinced Half Life 3 is coming and will blow us away.

 

[Speely]

Birthing a concept and making things are two separate things. Valve absolutely makes things, they just don't originate them. They are incredibly good at taking a promising concept and making it way better than the teams the hire could ever make them which is why we want games from them.

We've seen some of their teams break out and try to do their own version and it's always just not as good.

Frankly, everyone has ideas and it's the people that can make that a real and good thing that are the true craftsmen.

Truth. There are plenty of great ideas out there, and not restricting themselves to only those ideas internally created means that they can focus their incredible resources and development environment/tools on making the best ideas they can be.

That's why I want Valve games. Not because I think they are conceptual geniuses with prolific ideas, but because they know a good idea when they see it and know what it takes to make it a great game.

 

[Tagyhag]

Because they will still make games and people assume that if a company doesn't make any games in a year or two it means that they're never making a game ever again.

I have no idea where this shit came from, it's probably due to the Call of Duty gamers.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Valve puts out plenty of stuff...just not Half Life.

 

[Angry Fork]

I wish there were enough people there who wanted to make a big new single player game, whether it's Half Life or Portal 3. It feels like Portal 2 is going to be the last SP game we get from them. I really hope not but everything Gabe has said suggests they only want to make things with persistent online shit that can be monetized with cosmetic stuff.

As for Valve being a "talent agency" or something, I never understood this criticism. Every big developer hires people. I think it's better that Valve lifts people straight from the community with no professional experience as it gives ordinary people a chance rather than only looking at people who only have experience at previous big studios.

 

[questionmark]

Never forget.

I would never forget such an amazing game. I desperately hope we'll get a Ricochet 2 some day.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

When Valve formed, they were formed by people who weren't Valve employees at the time. So really, even the company itself is stolen.

 

[kodecraft]

you must be limber as hell with all that stretching you doin bro

Lmao.

 

[FunBoy]

I think valve is a lotto scratch card company these days.

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

Their last single player game was released over 4 and a half years ago.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Had a friend talk to me about this today and it made have a long think about this company as a studio.

Looking back at the entire list of games coming out of Valve, Half-Life is probably the only successful IP that was created internally (probably missing a few minor ones). Counter-Strike (mod of HL), Team Fortress, Portal, Left 4 Dead, all games or concepts from teams/individuals that were hired on.

Valve isn't a developer, it's a talent scout with a huge online storefront. It's a studio with next to 0 actual internal created concepts that reach release. So, why do we actually want games from them?

Because all of the game you listed were amazing?
Who the fuck cares whether they were internally created or not? I don't. You say that as if it were a bad thing, yet it produced some of the best games ever.

 

[Auto-Reply]

I don't see how this is a valid argument against wanting more games made by them (or by people they hired, doesn't make a difference in the end)

 

[Prophet Steve]

Because you are just regurgitating a statement that has been made over and over by all kinds of people that make no sense at all.

Far from the most difficult thing about creating a game is coming up with a concept. You know what is? Actually developing the game. And they do that, even when they at times have gotten the concept or part of the game from somewhere else.

They developed TF2, they developed DOTA 2, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Half-Life series, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2. Why should I care about that they have gotten the concepts from somewhere else if they have done such a terrific job in actually developing the games? You are completely trivializing the actual process of game development. If a studio is capable of outputting and developing some of the best games in the industry, I don't care about where they have gotten the concept from.

Besides that, you say they are a talent scout. So they are gathering talent. So they have talent. So why wouldn't we want them to utilize that talent in creating games? They are now a part of Valve internally. What the hell do you think has happened with all of them? Suddenly they don't seem to count because they have been hired together with a concept ro something? Where is the logic in that?

 

[BlastProcessing]

Not at all what's happening in this thread. Take that shit elsewhere. I'm saying they don't actually MAKE things internally. Like no concept for a game is born in their walls. They hire people for their IP.

This really shows an ignorance of what making a game actually entails. Concepts are easy; execution is everything. Basically every dev I know has a lifetime's worth of ideas stored up. Problem solving, balance, iteration, and polish are 99% of making a game. It's a grind.

Incidentally, these are things that Valve has proven to be quite good at. If bringing in people with good ideas and giving them resources were all it took, every publisher would be on easy street.

 

[HellofaMouse]

imo theres no reason to be THAT hyped about the next valve game.

no doubt its gonna be a good game, but its just gonna be another good game in a year of countless good games, and nothing more. We already have enough people working on good games. we dont need valve amongst them because its higly unlikely that theyre gonna bring anyhing new to the table, theyre not videogame gods.

dont expect them to release a new game and be it the be all end all of videogames for the next 10 to 15 years, they already did that with the first half life. lightning doesnt strike twice.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Because all of the game you listed were amazing?
Who the fuck cares whether they were internally created or not? I don't. You say that as if it were a bad thing, yet it produced some of the best games ever.

This. DOTA2 and cs go are amazing games. I am sure whatever else they are cooking up will also be awesome. I mean not hoping for a valve game? That is just insane to me, Valve is a god tier developer in whatever they do.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

imo theres no reason to be THAT hyped about the next valve game.

no doubt its gonna be a good game, but its just gonna be another good game in a year of countless good games, and nothing more. We already have enough people working on good games. we dont need valve amongst them because its higly unlikely that theyre gonna bring anyhing new to the table, theyre not videogame gods.

dont expect them to release a new game and be it the be all end all of videogames for the next 10 to 15 years, they already did that with the first half life. lightning doesnt strike twice.

By that logic nobody should be excited for any studio to make a new game though.

 

[ashecitism]

Valve is in the process of transforming into a services studio, and I think a lot of us who value single-player games--who were fans of Valve because they made great single-player games, are feeling left out.

People can be all "oh, they made left 4 dead 2" or "oh, they made dota 2" or whatever all they want, but it's clear that Valve is in the process/has already phased out these big, retail AAA games that they were making, and it seems like they're more into multiplayer, microtransaction-heavy games.

This is a company that wants to profit off of crowdsourcing, right? You can't crowdsource a SP campaign the way you can an MP game. A hat doesn't do anything in TF2. Making a gun in HL2 would change the whole dynamic.

So when people get all bitchy and go "of course valve does too make games," well, no, they're making services these days.

Yeah, they fully embraced services these last years. Everything they released from features to updates has been with the mindset "let's release it in whatever state and we'll take it from there based on feedback". Even their hardware project is like that. The dedicated an update page for their controller, haha.

With that said I have no doubts we'll see SP game from them again (will they launch in a proper state opposed to half-baked like everything else from Valve nowadays is another question). Smaller ones for the Vive for ex. I'm more concerned about bigger ones. I'm not sure they have the bandwidth for that. For ex UC4 has 300 people working on it. That's almost the entirety of Valve. I think nowadays the requirements for an SP game has to be around 100-150 people the least? That's half of the company, and they have multiple things on their plate.

 

[Prophet Steve]

imo theres no reason to be THAT hyped about the next valve game.

no doubt its gonna be a good game, but its just gonna be another good game in a year of countless good games, and nothing more. We already have enough people working on good games. we dont need valve amongst them because its higly unlikely that theyre gonna bring anyhing new to the table, theyre not videogame gods.

dont expect them to release a new game and be it the be all end all of videogames for the next 10 to 15 years, they already did that with the first half life. lightning doesnt strike twice.

You have missed those two recent Valve games topping the most played games at Steam for a long time?

 

[Haunted]

Brad Muir just started at Valve and he's a pretty damn good game designer and experienced director.


Though it's entirely possible that he'll only work on Dota 2 balance patches. :lol

 

[Hylian7]

Why do people keep reiterating this narrative that "Valve isn't a developer" because they pick up modders and make their mods into full games. Are everything they have done with Counter-Strike, Dota, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and all those games not actually games suddenly? A ton more work goes into a game than just an idea. Just because they picked up the original creator of it does not mean they are the only one working on it.

Valve still consistently updates Dota 2, CSGO, and TF2. All of those are games people play more in the long run, and the content updates help keep things fresh, even if they are just balance changes or hats.

Also we know that L4D3 and HL3 are both being worked on to some degree. Whether that degree is "Alyx Vance model finished...that's it." or "Game is 90% done, just waiting on the right time to announce and polish.", who really knows at this point.

 

[HellofaMouse]

By that logic nobody should be excited for any studio to make a new game though.

no, just dont treat it like the secondcoming of jesus.

You have missed those two recent Valve games topping the most played games at Steam for a long time?

dota2 is just another moba, not even their own ip, and been around since w3.
counter strike was also a mod, valve didnt come up with it, also been around since the first half life.

their popularity has nothing to do with what im saying.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

It's amazing that Valve releases nothing but top quality games, some of the best ever made, but because they haven't released one in a while everyone just washes their hands of them. Not like Dota and CS:GO are two of the best competitive multiplayer games out right now or anything.

IMO most AAA pubs push out the same game with a couple of extra features every two years and everyone loves them for it.

 

[Hylian7]

no, just dont treat it like the secondcoming of jesus.



dota2 is just another moba, not even their own ip, and been around since w3.
counter strike was also a mod, valve didnt come up with it, also been around since the first half life.

their popularity has nothing to do with what im saying.

Valve picked up the developers of both Counter-Strike and Dota. It's their IP now.

Dota 2 is a very different game than WC3 Dota with all the Valve polish. A ton of stuff in WC3 Dota was made of workarounds due to the WC3 engine. Dota 2 is go through all of that. One of the best examples of this is the heroes Spectre and Broodmother. For those not aware, both of these heroes have abilities that allow them to walk on unpathable terrain (trees, cliffs, etc.). In WC3 Dota, you have to click very small distances in front of the hero to move through unpathable terrain because otherwise, WC3 tries to path normally assuming you can't move through trees and cliffs. In Dota 2 this does not apply and pathing works as it should.

 

[Aselith]

no, just dont treat it like the secondcoming of jesus.

Have you lost the faith, brother? Could you spare a moment to talk about Gaben?

 

[GlamFM]

Brad Muir just started at Valve and he's a pretty damn good game designer and experienced director.


Though it's entirely possible that he'll only work on Dota 2 balance patches. :lol

He´s also a huuuuge DOTA fan - it´s not unlikely at all he´s there to work on DOTA related.. stuff.

 

[BMX Bandit]

Why do people keep reiterating this narrative that "Valve isn't a developer" because they pick up modders and make their mods into full games. Are everything they have done with Counter-Strike, Dota, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and all those games not actually games suddenly? A ton more work goes into a game than just an idea. Just because they picked up the original creator of it does not mean they are the only one working on it.

Valve still consistently updates Dota 2, CSGO, and TF2. All of those are games people play more in the long run, and the content updates help keep things fresh, even if they are just balance changes or hats.

Also we know that L4D3 and HL3 are both being worked on to some degree. Whether that degree is "Alyx Vance model finished...that's it." or "Game is 90% done, just waiting on the right time to announce and polish.", who really knows at this point.

This reply is laughable and why people have to keep bringing it up. Make their mods full games? Tell me how Team Fortress on Quake wasn't a full game compared to Team Fortress 2. Tell me how Counter-Strike on Halflife wasn't a full game compared to CS:Go.

 

[WrenchNinja]

At point did CSGO become amazing? I remember when it came out and people were just whatever about it and went back to 1.6. Like what year? What happened to the game that caused a resurgence?

 

[Arkanius]

ITT: People who don't understand development.

By the reasoning some people are using here, Narbanacular Drop is the same exact game as Portal 1, except for the name.

Valve basically did a zip job. God damn those posers!

 

[Stevey]

Because Half Life is the best SP FPS series ever made.

 

[Arkanius]

At point did CSGO become amazing? I remember when it came out and people were just whatever about it and went back to 1.6. Like what year? What happened to the game that caused a resurgence?

Valve decided to salvage the game after Hidden Path messed up with it. They started balancing it, doing updates, nurturing the small following that existed. It suddendly grew and grew and now it's an e-sports force on the rise.

It completely overthrew all the other CS variants that existed before in terms of playerbase and balance.

 

[Yukinari]

Valve is too busy trying to find ways to make money off existing games.

Theyre lucky ive invested so much time into TF2.

 

[BMX Bandit]

ITT: People who don't understand development.

By the reasoning some people are using here, Narbanacular Drop is the same exact game as Portal 1, except for the name.

Valve basically did a zip job. God damn those posers!

You realize Valve bought that team, right? Exactly like the OP is saying? It isn't "Valve basically did a zip job." It's: Valve buys other developers and funds their development process under the 'Valve' name. Just like team fortress and counter strike and left dead and dota.

 

[Arkanius]

You realize Valve bought that team, right? Exactly like the OP is saying? It isn't "Valve basically did a zip job." It's: Valve buys other developers and funds their development process under the 'Valve' name. Just like team fortress and counter strike and left dead and dota.

And you think Portal 1 and 2 was made with just those 8 developers ?
Also if they are now valve developers why can't it be considered a valve game? This is insane really.

 

[Hylian7]

This reply is laughable and why people have to keep bringing it up. Make their mods full games? Tell me how Team Fortress on Quake wasn't a full game compared to Team Fortress 2. Tell me how Counter-Strike on Halflife wasn't a full game compared to CS:Go.

You and I have different definitions of the term "full game" then.

TF on Quake and CS on Half-Life were exactly what they claimed to be: mods. Yes they made a lot of new assets, changed the gameplay up, created naps, and other things, but at the end of the day they couldn't do everything a full studio would do to just make that game. It was still a mod of the original game at the end of the day. TF2 took on a very different art style, with music, sounds, models, props, weapons, maps, and more. The game was straight up created at "Team Fortress 2".

Maybe the term I was looking for was " standalone game" if you would rather go with that.

 

[OmegaDL50]

I think their silence speaks volumes. People should have let that project go years ago. I did and it feels good.

Besides, after how many years have passed, I would think at this point any sort of expectations of another Half-Life game after this long would never be met anyways.

EDIT: Before my post is taken out of context .I am not saying Valve is incapable of making another great Half-Life game. What I am saying however once an announcement ever becomes public, the hype for such a product far so long since the previous installment would be so high that those grandiose expectations people would have for such a game would unlikely match the hype generated of such an announcement in the first place.

 

[Hylian7]

You realize Valve bought that team, right? Exactly like the OP is saying? It isn't "Valve basically did a zip job." It's: Valve buys other developers and funds their development process under the 'Valve' name. Just like team fortress and counter strike and left dead and dota.

I don't know if you were aware, but unless you consider being hired as "bought out", these developers for the most part weren't exactly pulling in cash for their mods.

Like other posters said, there is no way only the modders work on the Valve version. Just look at TF2 or Dota 2. Do you really think 2-3 people created that? Looking at Dota as an example, they need artists, composers, voice actors, game designers (where Icefrog and Eul come in), programmers, and even more than that.

 

[Prophet Steve]

no, just dont treat it like the secondcoming of jesus.



dota2 is just another moba, not even their own ip, and been around since w3.
counter strike was also a mod, valve didnt come up with it, also been around since the first half life.

their popularity has nothing to do with what im saying.

DOTA 2 being another moba or IP only tells that it isn't an original idea. Counter-Strike is also not an original idea no. Doesn't mean they haven't done work on it.

What does it matter that it isn't their own IP? Do you think all we developers do is create a concept and from then on it is smooth sailing?

CS:GO is literally the best example I've ever seen of how developer support can help a community flourish. It wasn't received well at launch and it was unpopular but after continued support it has been growing larger and larger.

The IP doesn't have to do anything with that. It would have died if it wasn't for the talent in Valve that turned things around.

EDIT:

There we go. How exactly is Valve's work irrelevant in this?

 

[T.E.D]

Believe.....

 

[BMX Bandit]

And you think Portal 1 and 2 was made with just those 8 developers ?
Also if they are now valve developers why can't it be considered a valve game? This is insane really.

Not what I'm saying at all. It is a Valve game. Would it exist at all without the original team? No. It wouldn't. Portal is also different than say Tf/cs. They grabbed it very early on. Tf/cs were very much developed and complete ideas when Valve acquired them.

You and I have different definitions of the term "full game" then.

TF on Quake and CS on Half-Life were exactly what they claimed to be: mods. Yes they made a lot of new assets, changed the gameplay up, created naps, and other things, but at the end of the day they couldn't do everything a full studio would do to just make that game. It was still a mod of the original game at the end of the day. TF2 took on a very different art style, with music, sounds, models, props, weapons, maps, and more. The game was straight up created at "Team Fortress 2".

Maybe the term I was looking for was " standalone game" if you would rather go with that.

So Team Fortress did everything Team Fortress 2(as you proceeded to list out)did but was sold to you as a product so it is more of a game.

 

[HellofaMouse]

DOTA 2 being another moba or IP only tells that it isn't an original idea. Counter-Strike is also not an original idea no. Doesn't mean they haven't done work on it.

What does it matter that it isn't their own IP? Do you think all we developers do is create a concept and from then on it is smooth sailing

no i think just the opposite and was trying to explain that but u guys seem to aggressively miss my point.

i already said valves next game will prolly be a polished, well made game. all im saying is that theyre not gonna revolutionize gaming with their next game, that was half life and it was a once in a lifetime thing. dota2s not that kind of game, neither is csgo, not even portal, and their next game wont be either. telling me how popular and polished their games adds nothing to this conversation, you are just repeating what i already said in the begining.

the hype around hl3 is ridiculous, so is the hype around valves abilities as a developer.