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[SteveWinwood]

They need to fire whoever turned the Steam software into a bloated piece of shit.

Opt into the beta client. Just today they updated it and it's like 10x faster. It doesn't freeze up simply by clicking on it anymore.

 

[Gemüsepizza]

I just realized that we could already have Half-Life 4 if they haven't screwed up:

2004 - Half-Life 2
2006 - Half-Life 2: Episode 1
2007 - Half-Life 2: Episode 2
2010 - Half-Life 3
2013 - Half-Life 4

Either Valve is a real mess or Gabe just don't cares. Probably both. It makes you really appreciate what big companies like Ubisoft / EA do, they actually release games of popular series on a regular basis.

 

[grimshawish]

And what is their source?

They identified serious layoffs when we knew only about one.
We now know this is much more and more outside of just hardware/android.

I'll go with them over you thanks. Their sources are their sources and those sources have held up to the actual facts so far.

 

[HK-47]

L4D2 was made by Valve and even L4D was heavily supervised. Giving Turtle Rock credit is like giving credit to the myriad of awful development houses that made good games for Nintendo. It's not a coincidence their one standout game occurred when it did.

The fuck are you talking about? They have only ever worked on Valve projects.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Either Valve is a real mess or Gabe just don't cares.

Valve doesn't just make things because they feel obliged to. They make things because they're inspired to as a group.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

If Valve wants to get out of making games, fine, I guess. I'll miss them, as they've made some of my favorite games of all time, but Steam is a great service and if they want to devote more of their time to it and other non-game projects, I can deal. But they can't just leave Half Life where it is now, with that ridiculously tense cliffhanger. That needs to be resolved in some form. It's just cruel otherwise.

Either way, Gabe needs to make some sort of announcement about what's happening. People are losing their minds.

Man, I just read your tag-post, both original/Borat and amended versions, you deserve a Pulitzer or something!

 

[caffeware]

...

 

[Takamura-San]

Should I start backing up my steam games?

 

[cheststrongwell]

Opt into the beta client. Just today they updated it and it's like 10x faster. It doesn't freeze up simply by clicking on it anymore.

Sweet. I used it a few months ago and didn't like it. Will try the new version.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Opt into the beta client. Just today they updated it and it's like 10x faster. It doesn't freeze up simply by clicking on it anymore.

Holy shit, I need to give this a try.

 

[Squirts Macintosh]

Valve finally realized that what gamers really want is Kinect 2.0 and there is nothing they can do to stay afloat come Holiday 2013.

 

[Jintor]

Huh

 

[Grief.exe]

I just realized that we could already have Half-Life 4 if they haven't screwed up:

2004 - Half-Life 2
2006 - Half-Life 2: Episode 1
2007 - Half-Life 2: Episode 2
2010 - Half-Life 3
2013 - Half-Life 4

Either Valve is a real mess or Gabe just don't cares.

Or 3rd alternative, which is the true one.

They figured they wanted to truly innovate the genre if they were going to release Half Life 3. Having failed to come up with anything groundbreaking, they shelved the release for later.

I have a feeling it will make an appearance with the next generation source engine.

 

[Draft]

A company firing people for bad performance reviews is a pretty harsh company. My job puts a bad employee on an action plan and gives them some time to improve.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

Opt into the beta client. Just today they updated it and it's like 10x faster. It doesn't freeze up simply by clicking on it anymore.

Really now? Wonder if they finally fixed whatever is making my client freeze for 5 minutes upon startup along with removing some of the general bloat. Damn program was gettin too big for its britches.

 

[NervousXtian]

Uhh,

Left 4 dead
Left 4 dead 2
Portal 2
DOTA 2
TF2 events and expansions?

how the fuck 5 huge games in 7 years are "the occasional project"? like WHAT THE FUCK?!

The ones they don't care about don't count obviously. Especially Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Totally didn't count.



Don't forget Counter-Strike: GO too!

Once again, they have released a game a year for the last 5 years.

You guys can keep arguing that and ignore the counterpoints to it. The argument people are making is that internally developed games just really haven't been announced or came out since Portal 2 and Dota2.

CS:GO is pretty much an HD upgrade to CS, offering very little new.. and L4D was bought already far in to development and L4D2 honestly felt like DLC to me, even though I like the game.

..and looking at what Portal 2 is.. and what Dota2 is.. and nothing else even being talked about.. it's easy to say that Valve just isn't focusing on big internal development of games... especially these days if one isn't interested in Dota2 at all.

 

[HK-47]

They identified serious layoffs when we knew only about one.
We now know this is much more and more outside of just hardware/android.

I'll go with them over you thanks. Their sources are their sources and those sources have held up to the actual facts so far.

They said that people were fired from the hardware section. Not that they shut it down. We dont know if these people worked on steambox or alternate controllers or what. You are pretending you know more than you actually do.

 

[Pumpkins]

Why would they get rid of such vital people?

Sounds incredibly fishy, maybe they're being moved to a new start-up supported by Valve. Possibly Steambox related?

 

[SteveWinwood]

They said that people were fired from the hardware section. Not that they shut it down. We dont know if these people worked on steambox or alternate controllers or what. You are pretending you know more than you actually do.

Nah man it's gamasutra. He got it all from them and their 4 words of direct quotes.

 

[grimshawish]

You are pretending you know more than you actually do.

I've never pretended anything; just suggested reasonings and thoughts.
Shall we shut the thread down and end all discussion?

 

[faceless007]

Should I start backing up my steam games?

You should have been doing that anyway. /paranoid

 

[Opiate]

I just don't think we can make any conclusions without more information.

It sounds, vaguely, like Valve is making a strategic shift of some kind. They could be abandoning the Steam Box, sure. Or they could be changing it in some significant way that required a new perspective. Or maybe there is no change on that front at all.

We don't know how many people were fired and how many people were let go -- two different things with two different implications. We simply don't know enough to draw conclusions, so I've simply stayed out of this thread and waited for more information until I can say "I think I can see what's happening here."

Of course, that approach is boring, even if it is (or may be) reasonable, so feel free to keep spinning the wheels.

 

[cheststrongwell]

Holy shit! The beta really is a ton faster. Thanks, SteveWinwood!

 

[SteveWinwood]

Holy shit! The beta really is a ton faster.

Told ya!

 

[Baconsammy]

Valve doesn't just make things because they feel obliged to. They make things because they're inspired to as a group.

If they're that tight-knit why were these poor performers allowed to skate for so long?

 

[angular graphics]

If they're that tight-knit why were these poor performers allowed to skate for so long?

Why do you assume their performance was poor all along?

 

[TheOddOne]

His job at Valve:

Credit to superannuation, again.

 

[dave is ok]

Valve threads are the best/worst.

 

[bomma_man]

I just realized that we could already have Half-Life 4 if they haven't screwed up:

2004 - Half-Life 2
2006 - Half-Life 2: Episode 1
2007 - Half-Life 2: Episode 2
2010 - Half-Life 3
2013 - Half-Life 4

Either Valve is a real mess or Gabe just don't cares. Probably both. It makes you really appreciate what big companies like Ubisoft / EA do, they actually release games of popular series on a regular basis.

Maybe they don't want to make it until they think they have the ideas to do it justice? Just a thought.

 

[Wallach]

Holy shit! The beta really is a ton faster. Thanks, SteveWinwood!

Wow, you're not kidding. Thank god, the Steam client had really turned to shit in the past year.

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

Valve to stop being third party to concentrate on their new console.

ex-valve employees to make new company - tap.

i don't know what im talking about.

 

[SpinningBirdKick]

The layoffs just look like refocusing business strategy.

Concentrating on what's important now rather than "wouldn't it be nice if..." gambles that spare cash could be frittered away on.

I can't see the Android stuff being a core area for example.

 

[Baconsammy]

Why do you assume their performance was poor all along?

Because I imagine there would be a peer review if a strong performer started performing poorly enough to get fired all of a sudden. My opinion is that this isn't a normal round of firing. Just a guess like everyone else, though.

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

Man, I just read your tag-post, both original/Borat and amended versions, you deserve a Pulitzer or something!

Thank you. You are correct.

 

[FStop7]

The fuck are you talking about?

This could be used so many times throughout this thread.

 

[Row]

Really goes to show how little respect this industry gets. When things were tough the government had no problem bailing out car manufacturers who pump out nothing but inefficient gas guzzling suv's or banks who steal their customers money as everyday business, but an interactive entertainment company that leads in its industry and provides joy to millions out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. Nothing. The suits don't care so no bailout for Valve, even though they deserve it more than the others. Hopefully those who lost their jobs find work soon.

Thanks Obama

 

[alexandros]

What a fun day this is, I just love all the speculation and intrigue

 

[Twilight Princess]

isnt valve making a shit ton of money selling hats? if there're any problems, money aint one of them.

 

[water_wendi]

I posted this in the other thread, but feel it's relevant:

lol

 

[NervousXtian]

Because they like games like Dota 2 and Tf2 and with the great content creation model, free high quality games and constant updates?

MP only games. If that's your thing, more power to you.

It's not the Valve I used to love.

Or 3rd alternative, which is the true one.

They figured they wanted to truly innovate the genre if they were going to release Half Life 3. Having failed to come up with anything groundbreaking, they shelved the release for later.

I have a feeling it will make an appearance with the next generation source engine.

Yeah, I guess.. but honestly I don't think most gamers really gave a shit about HL Ep3 being some truly innovated game, we just wanted the story to continue.

It's been half a decade at this point. Technology has advanced considerably.

It's a disappointing as a fan of the series, especially where it left off.

 

[domlolz]

Either Valve is a real mess or Gabe just don't cares. Probably both. It makes you really appreciate what big companies like Ubisoft / EA do, they actually release games of popular series on a regular basis.

haha, not mentioning anything to do with quality, yea lol. lets make massive assumptions.

Valve threads are the best/worst.

seriously, you have the people who have convinced themselves that valve arent the typical capitalist organisation and are really surprised when typical stuff like this happens and then you have the people who have been waiting for valve to put a foot wrong to start saying how right they are about valve and how this is it for them.

this is typical of every other company in the industry

we have no idea what is going on so people are just going wild coming up with stupid crap

 

[grimshawish]

It's a disappointing as a fan of the series, especially where it left off.

Even if it comes back now; I hope Valve let real time pass in game.
It'd be too weird returning to that same spot and nothing having changed.

 

[domlolz]

MP only games. If that's your thing, more power to you.

It's not the Valve I used to love.

Portal 2, two years ago...

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Really goes to show how little respect this industry gets. When things were tough the government had no problem bailing out car manufacturers who pump out nothing but inefficient gas guzzling suv's or banks who steal their customers money as everyday business, but an interactive entertainment company that leads in its industry and provides joy to millions out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. Nothing. The suits don't care so no bailout for Valve, even though they deserve it more than the others. Hopefully those who lost their jobs find work soon.

Thanks Obama

This thread has been more fun than a Nintendo Direct

 

[MEATfast]

Really goes to show how little respect this industry gets. When things were tough the government had no problem bailing out car manufacturers who pump out nothing but inefficient gas guzzling suv's or banks who steal their customers money as everyday business, but an interactive entertainment company that leads in its industry and provides joy to millions out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. Nothing. The suits don't care so no bailout for Valve, even though they deserve it more than the others. Hopefully those who lost their jobs find work soon.

Thanks Obama

Almost got me.

 

[Sothpaw]

Really goes to show how little respect this industry gets. When things were tough the government had no problem bailing out car manufacturers who pump out nothing but inefficient gas guzzling suv's or banks who steal their customers money as everyday business, but an interactive entertainment company that leads in its industry and provides joy to millions out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. Nothing. The suits don't care so no bailout for Valve, even though they deserve it more than the others. Hopefully those who lost their jobs find work soon.

Thanks Obama

I want some of the drugs this guy is on!

Edit: unless trolling then well played

 

[Fruitbat Factory]

They probably left to work on a new project together. Not something that I haven't seen before.

 

[Venfayth]

I'm watching Valve carefully..

 

[antitrop]

Really goes to show how little respect this industry gets. When things were tough the government had no problem bailing out car manufacturers who pump out nothing but inefficient gas guzzling suv's or banks who steal their customers money as everyday business, but an interactive entertainment company that leads in its industry and provides joy to millions out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. Nothing. The suits don't care so no bailout for Valve, even though they deserve it more than the others. Hopefully those who lost their jobs find work soon.

Thanks Obama

 

[angular graphics]

Credit goes to superannuation:

I have no idea why I'm still up at 3:58AM. Tomorrow is going to be a rough one.

Later:

What a crazy day it has been. #fb

I think they knew the next day was some kind of performance review day? That was going to be rough/tough?