EA and Valve are Pretty Similar
- Thread starter Brendan Stepladder
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As I see it, Valve wants money just as much as EA. They're not philanthropists. They want our cash to continue making more products and generally stay in business i.e. the primary concern of any and all commercial enterprises.
They simply understand their audience a lot better than EA, so they're quite a bit smarter on how to get that money. They do things that make us happy, so it doesn't feel like they're trying to empty our pockets, while at the same time ensuring our loyalty and support.
PS: don't think I dislike Valve. In fact, I admire them a lot. Both for their products and for their clever business strategies.
They simply understand their audience a lot better than EA, so they're quite a bit smarter on how to get that money. They do things that make us happy, so it doesn't feel like they're trying to empty our pockets, while at the same time ensuring our loyalty and support.
PS: don't think I dislike Valve. In fact, I admire them a lot. Both for their products and for their clever business strategies.
The key difference is that EA makes so many poor quality, over budgeted, poorly planned/scheduled sequels out of their franchises that they just end up running them into the ground, while Valve takes a ludicrous amount of time to come out with sequels but tends to do a good job of it.
Also EA charges for DLC while valve usually does not, in fact, Valve has a tendency to continue developing content for their games free of charge for years after they are released (hats don't count), while EA charges for extra content the day their games come out.
Also EA charges for DLC while valve usually does not, in fact, Valve has a tendency to continue developing content for their games free of charge for years after they are released (hats don't count), while EA charges for extra content the day their games come out.
Valve has only release other peoples stuff. Portal ..Started as a mod...Counter Strike ...same. Not to mention the blatant disrespect and down right mean spirited way they troll us about Half life.. In a lot of ways Valve is worse than Ea at least EA does not try and Fake who they are we all know EA are jerks,Valve have been tricking us into thinking they are a good company for years.
I think the biggest difference ... wait scratch that...
The biggest difference to GAMERS is that Valve don't have the same "We're only doing what we have to why are you complaining" attitude that EA does. Valve's attitude is usually more along the lines of "Ok, you don't like this... what did you want us to do?" Even if they don't always follow through, it at least makes us feel better than the corporate ass covering that are most of EA's press releases. So even though there are slightly suspicious practices at Valve (bundling Left 4 Dead DLC originally intended to be free as Left 4 Dead 2, hopelessly long development cycles, Portal 2 (a short game) costing the same as a full priced game) they do enough good to come out as Karmaticly ahead in gamer's eyes, whereas EA seems to only do the bad, and more of it. Also, Valve *are* game developers. EA *owns* game developers. It's a huge difference.
Also captcha: Him and Her
Yes captcha, the difference is that big.
PS:
The biggest difference to GAMERS is that Valve don't have the same "We're only doing what we have to why are you complaining" attitude that EA does. Valve's attitude is usually more along the lines of "Ok, you don't like this... what did you want us to do?" Even if they don't always follow through, it at least makes us feel better than the corporate ass covering that are most of EA's press releases. So even though there are slightly suspicious practices at Valve (bundling Left 4 Dead DLC originally intended to be free as Left 4 Dead 2, hopelessly long development cycles, Portal 2 (a short game) costing the same as a full priced game) they do enough good to come out as Karmaticly ahead in gamer's eyes, whereas EA seems to only do the bad, and more of it. Also, Valve *are* game developers. EA *owns* game developers. It's a huge difference.
Also captcha: Him and Her
Yes captcha, the difference is that big.
PS:
+10 reputation for knowing about Black Books.Octorok said:
People really need to get realistic about Valve.
They have less than 300 employees. The number that work on games is probably significant less. They aren't under the thumb of a publisher, so they don't have to crank out shovelware and unfinished games to meet deadlines. That being said, considering their size, they get quite a bit done.
Moreover, as anyone with a bit of logic has deduced by this point, Valve is, and by all means should be, holding off to the next generation for Half-life 3.
They have less than 300 employees. The number that work on games is probably significant less. They aren't under the thumb of a publisher, so they don't have to crank out shovelware and unfinished games to meet deadlines. That being said, considering their size, they get quite a bit done.
Moreover, as anyone with a bit of logic has deduced by this point, Valve is, and by all means should be, holding off to the next generation for Half-life 3.
I wanted to launch into a rabid rant about the evils of EA and defend the Valve Gods from such heresy.
Now I feel a little disappointed. :c
Now I feel a little disappointed. :c
There is humour in the OP but it seems lost in the incoherence of it all. What point are you trying to prove?The Lazy Blacksmith said:
At least the fireworks in the posts will be interesting.erttheking said:
Which part of this was the funny part? I can't help but think the op was trying to make a joke but for some reason has no concept of what humor is. Anyway mindlessly baiting people (including me) with an obviously leading title has worked, enjoy your thread.
What I find incredibly amusing is that Valve don't WANT to work on Half-Life 3, and I don't blame them.
The hype for this game is amazing to watch / read. But I will point out...
Fable was hyped up by the human hyperbole machine Peter Molyneux. And the game was good but didn't live up to the hype.
Then we had Duke Nukem Forever... And we all know how that turned out.
Spore the transcendental Life Generator that... wasn't.
Portal 2 the great sequel to a truly amazing game, hyped on release but it wasn't as memorable as the first one.
Face it guys, your worship over this franchise damages it.
And before you preach about the Nintendo franchises, save your breath. I respect how well you jump to the tune of the word Mario. Not the theme song, but his name. Zelda? I'm sure is a great game series, but it has never drawn me in. I'll happily play their 'esque' games.
The hype for this game is amazing to watch / read. But I will point out...
Fable was hyped up by the human hyperbole machine Peter Molyneux. And the game was good but didn't live up to the hype.
Then we had Duke Nukem Forever... And we all know how that turned out.
Spore the transcendental Life Generator that... wasn't.
Portal 2 the great sequel to a truly amazing game, hyped on release but it wasn't as memorable as the first one.
Face it guys, your worship over this franchise damages it.
And before you preach about the Nintendo franchises, save your breath. I respect how well you jump to the tune of the word Mario. Not the theme song, but his name. Zelda? I'm sure is a great game series, but it has never drawn me in. I'll happily play their 'esque' games.
Eh, the main difference between the two companies, PR aside, is that Valve are devs while EA do pretty much nothing but publishing. Valve actually make games and understand games as a medium whereas to EA there are just a revenue source. It wasn't always like that but unfortunately thats where its ended up.
I wouldn't say that Valve is driven solely by a love of videogames, obviously money is a major priority but at least they have something other than contempt for the industry and its audience unlike EA.
That's my take at least. I don't really know any of this for sure, after all I don't work at Valve or EA but thats the impression I get from their respective attitudes and business practises.
I wouldn't say that Valve is driven solely by a love of videogames, obviously money is a major priority but at least they have something other than contempt for the industry and its audience unlike EA.
That's my take at least. I don't really know any of this for sure, after all I don't work at Valve or EA but thats the impression I get from their respective attitudes and business practises.
The Lazy Blacksmith said:
...Anyway, in all honesty I've never really given two shits about Half-Life as a series. Sure the games were fun, but I've never really defined the totality of my gaming experience around them. If episode 3 goes the way of DNF before/after Gearbox picked it, the only thing I'd probably remember it by would be the inevitable fanboy bitching about how it could still be released/never lived up to everyone's incredible standards.
Valve offers discounts, doesn't piecemeal every conceivable bit of their services, and has a better repertoire of games compared to EA, so they do alright by me as far as the Steam vs. Origin debacle goes (although I won't fault EA for trying to compete with Steam, wouldn't want Valve to get complacent now would we?).
Wrong. Valve hires people who use their tech (In the case of Counter Strike), or have good ideas, and assists them, and helps them sell their product. There's a reason they don't get sued by the people who's ideas they've used: They've supported independant development.TaintedSaint said:
-Narbacular Drop (The "original portal"). Developers were employed by Valve, and created Portal. Not a stolen idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(video_game)
-Developers of the original Counter Strike mod: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minh_Le
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Cliffe
Both employed by Valve, and they were using Valve's Half Life tech originally.
Valve doesn't steal their ideas: They pay people for their ideas and give them jobs. Which is part of the reason these people were making games in the first place.
Yes, there's not yet been an episode 3. So? They're not obliged to give it to us. Claiming otherwise is the wrong sort of entitled. And their "Trolling" is more light hearted joking with fans who're pestering them. No-one in their right mind is getting offended over it.
EA.... buys out functional developers and collapses them or turns them into shovelware developers.
There's lists elsewhere, I'm not going exhaustively to do it here. Jimquisition mentioned some in his EA episode here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5946-Why-Do-People-Hate-EA, or, from the Wikipedia page of their acquisitions: DICE Canada, Origin Systems, EA Chicago (NuFX), and Pandemic Studios. All shutdown by EA.They sign dodgy intellectual property deals to own IPs seperate to the developers, leaving the developers no rights to their own properties, while Valve has no seperation between publishing and development, structure wise.
They're not alike at all.
People don't like EA because:
-They kill franchises
-They kill developers
-They homogenise games in the interest of "broadening their audience"
-They make stupid business decisions based around childish ideas where they try to take on franchises they've got no chance with, but still does it, seemingly expecting to succeed, without any acknowledgement of the fact they should be making enjoyable games for money, rather than trying to mimic popular games to try to get some of their profits. And in doing so, they don't do anything about some of their few original ideas (Mirror's Edge, Brutal Legend, heck, even Spore, anyone?)
-They make offensively stupid ad campaigns (Dead Space 2, Dante's Inferno) which degrade their target audience, and just serves to offend those who've only a peripheral knowledge of gaming, giving yet more fuel to the Fox News and Jack Thompsons of the world.
Just to name a few.
It's not a case of everyone being a jerk and Valve hiding it: It's a case of everyone's out to make money, but EA does it by mimicking more popular titles, and insulting their consumers (Like their nonsense about intellectual property devaluing), while Valve does it by selling games which are likeable and original, with their proprietary online sale system which regularly gives people massive discounts.
Valve isn't doing the same things and simply hiding it: They're not doing the same things. Yes, Valve does the occassional bad or stupid thing. And we notice it. They just do it with less frequency than EA (To be honest, with Riccitello at the helm, I'm suprised EA exists at all), which constantly makes these mistakes. Just look at recently: They've managed to annoy people with more pre-order DLC, more bastardising of their franchises (Dead Space), telling consumers they should pay more, just because, and that's in the last few weeks.
Being blatently a dick doesn't make you less of a dick. It makes you a dick. Which is EA in a nutshell: blatently dicks.
Which isn't really a problem for me, per se. It's going to be, and has been, a problem for their bottom line, but if they want to act that way, it's their choice.
