I'm beginning to hate Valve.

[thom_cat_]

Well this is all just ridiculous. How about you just put HL3 to the side for a moment, seeing as it's probably being polished to the utmost satisfaction and play some Dota2, or perhaps accrue some steam trading cards, it's not like they're sitting on their arse. They've said the episode format didn't work, and they're not going to tell you when a release is coming until they're done, done. Why would you hate them for making fantastic content and taking their time to polish it all to perfection? Seems rather silly to me.

Valve's issue for me isn't an issue I really have a problem with. They follow the money. When they released the Orange Box, Portal and TF 2 became huge hits, so they churned massive resources into that, turning one into a FTP multiplayer extravaganza while suckering people into microtransactions for hats and guns. meanwhile Portal has became a video game culture icon.

Follow that up with two arcade style Zombie Games back to back that turned out huge sales, they finally had the cash to do what they wanted...

Which was a counter strike revival, an Alien top down shooter no one plays, and Dota 2. Half life just is not important to valve economically when they are churning out other money makers.

That's just totally untrue. VALVe's structure works so people put work into games they like and are interested in making. People go to work on HL, and they're not going to release something small because everyone wants to add their bit and everyone wants to push their content into it. The reason they appear to follow the money is because they follow what they like, and what they like, is what the community tends to like. Because they are essentially a community of gamers themselves. They're fucking loaded, they didn't have to make L4D to get money... they have two and a half billion dollars in estimated equity.

 

[Falsename]

Valve's issue for me isn't an issue I really have a problem with. They follow the money. When they released the Orange Box, Portal and TF 2 became huge hits, so they churned massive resources into that, turning one into a FTP multiplayer extravaganza while suckering people into microtransactions for hats and guns. meanwhile Portal has became a video game culture icon.

Follow that up with two arcade style Zombie Games back to back that turned out huge sales, they finally had the cash to do what they wanted...

Which was a counter strike revival, an Alien top down shooter no one plays, and Dota 2. Half life just is not important to valve economically when they are churning out other money makers.

What he said.

You'd think they'd have enough money now to support a few other projects. Episode 3 amongst those potential projects. I find it hard to imagine why on God's green Earth they thought to do a remake of Counter Strike rather than finish off a game that's spent many many years in the making. Halo came out a few years after Half Life 1, and they're up to their fourth game, and three spin offs! The Half Life series has about.... two and a half games.

Shame on you Valve. You have the money, how about supporting your fans with it? It's not like steam's going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Falsename]

What you mean a privately held company isn't under any obligation to please the whiny shits that comprise its fanbase? Oh man, mindblowing.

Valve doesn't have a single obligation other than to itself. Game development is not even close to a priority for Valve now since its found a much more cost-effective means of making money. If that pisses you off, fine. Don't give them money. In the mean time, they'll do whatever the fuck they want.

Not true. Everyone who has made themselves successful owes it to the people that got them there.

It's easy to disregard criticism by claiming it was the most 'financially successful' method to take. But you can sure blame them for disegarding their fans and some of the fundaments that they abandoned to make money.

It would be like America turning to communism and stating "Don't blame us. We had someone do the numbers and this way is more financially secure. Logic!". Logic works to a vast degree, but always consider loyalty when considering the most 'logical path'.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

snip

Not trying to "win points." Just pointing out a fallacy when I see it. If you didn't mean for it as a counter-argument then I'm just confused to as why you brought it up at all.

You argued that people we're trying to justify their "fanboy-ism." I was pointing out the perceived ridiculousness of the complaint "bad communication makes me angry."

 

[JPArbiter]

the two people that quoted me both said Valve is loaded. how do we know? Valve is a private company if i recall correctly, they are not required to publish their paperwork to anybody but the IRS. for all we know their overhead from maintaining Steam and employing people is so ridiculously high that they are running on slim margins and next to no cash on hand.

money from unit sales don't go to the bank and stay there. the power bills and employees need to be paid.

 

[karamazovnew]

Instead of complaining, the OP could realize just how easy it would've been for Valve to just release a crap FPS, call it Half-Life 3: No Connection"", make a ton of money, then flee to Brazil and live on a mountain of tits and icecream. Rather than doing that, they've made original games which probably use up more bandwidth than chinese gold farmers. They've also created Steam which has kept afloat hundreds of small devs, helped the indie market and they're pushing for an evolution of VR helmets. Of all the gaming companies EVER, they've done the most for the gaming industry.

Hating them because you don't have your 12 hour long Half Life 3 dusty box is... go to your room, and think about what you've done.

 

[TheRookie8]

With regards to your recent edit, the manner in which a company communicates with the public is left ultimately up to the organization in question, and not to the fans. It may help an organization gain support from the fans, but this tactic is usually implemented because of a fear that the fans could be alienated.

Specific to Valve, they can choose not to communicate, they can choose to have very long development cycles, and they can choose which games will be made, because thus far, each release has been met with a healthy response. There is no danger or adversity for Valve, and so there is little reason for them to change.

You can make it out like they look down on fans and organizations with feelings of superiority, as your assessment makes them appear, and you can call into question their business tactics, but the fact that they remain and have a general support from the public reduces the likelihood they will change their structure.

 

[Kathinka]

really? that's what you get mad about? when there is so many legitimate reasons to hate valve for, their million billion mindless fansheep, the fact that they use convenience and congeniality to mask the fact that access to YOUR property is provided at their discretion and under the circumstances that they deem right, the fact that the games that you legally buy in some places they won't let you play a few kilometers west of there, that they just replace the dollar symbol in prices with a ? and thus almost double the price..out of all those, you pick the complaint that you went with? really?

 

[Spearmaster]

What he said.

You'd think they'd have enough money now to support a few other projects. Episode 3 amongst those potential projects. I find it hard to imagine why on God's green Earth they thought to do a remake of Counter Strike rather than finish off a game that's spent many many years in the making. Halo came out a few years after Half Life 1, and they're up to their fourth game, and three spin offs! The Half Life series has about.... two and a half games.

Shame on you Valve. You have the money, how about supporting your fans with it? It's not like steam's going anywhere anytime soon.

And look at the industry changing effect all those Halo sequels had on gaming... Oh wait they didn't, they were stagnate. People have forgotten most of them and they brought nothing new to the industry.

Quality over quantity for valve, nobody cares about the Halo sequels other than the newest and its fading from peoples minds even faster than the last one but people are still talking about Half-life and Half-life 2, even Half-life 3 though it doesn't exist. Its because Half-life games had impact on the industry and I'm sure Valve wants whatever Half-life 3 there will be to be just as impacting if not more, that is what they are giving their fans.

IMO I would want Half-life 3 to be a better sequel than Halo 3 was...

 

[Frozengale]

I don't like Valve because they're corporate scum;
- Systematic sales so you check their store daily

Those sons of bitches! Providing me with a steady stream of sales so that I have a better chance of getting games that I want at a discount! Making some games so cheap that many games that I would never give a second thought I actually buy and ENJOY! ENJOYMENT! Can you believe that they actually made me enjoy something? VALVE IS HORRIBLE!

- Allowing price gouging (GMG stood up to 2K Games; Valve handed them the key)

See I might agree here if it weren't for the fact that you just got mad at Valve for all their sales and low prices. But then I would also like to point out that Valve doesn't set the prices. They get a say sure, but ultimately it comes down to the publishers. Valve can't even put their games on sale UNLESS THE PUBLISHER SAYS THEY CAN! Valve sure can pressure them into putting it on sale but they can't force them to. I mean the reason AUS has such high game prices even on Steam is because publishers won't sell the game for 40 bucks cheaper online then in a Brick and Mortar because then Brick and Mortar would just not stock the game and refuse to do business with the publisher. If you really have a problem with price gouging take it up with the publishers. As for Valve's self published games... I have never seen a ridiculously high price on those things, they are almost always really cheap really fast. Skyrim for instance is still 30 bucks and Portal 2 is only 20. They came out around the same time.

- Putting the big picture button next to the close button so there's a strong chance you will experience it regardless of whether or not you want to

Really... this is your complaint? That one button is near another? It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Big Picture is a type of maximize and so putting it near the other Maximize Minimize buttons would make sense. Nah logic is a horrible thing, lets not use it here. I like your explanation better of them trying to force us to experience it.

- Community all over the bloody place; this isn't WoW you're not selling me a subscription based on how attached I am to the people there

.... WHAT! You are mad because they have social integration? I don't know maybe you have no friends on Steam, but I do and I personally love the social integration. It helps me keep in touch with some of my long distance friends and I prefer it over texting, e-mail, skype, or most forms of communication because Steam is always silently running in my background. Also I like being able to see what my friends are playing, it means I can find a game we can play together. I seriously don't see how social integration is a horrible horrible thing.

- Steam DRM getting shoved down more games; ArmA 3, metro: LL, Far Cry 3, and more. The crap doesn't work; it lets pirates play with legitimate customers

Okay. Fair enough. DRM is annoying and even Steam DRM can be bad.

- Steam sell keys for games they don't actually have keys for. Star Wars: Empire at War, multiple times.

Okay. Fair enough again. My only counter is that Steam Customer Support will usually settle this issue within a week or so. It's a inconvenience at best. It's not like they take your money and run. They could write some scripts to keep better track of how many keys they have, though they would still have to requisition more from the Publisher. But yeah legitimate complaint.

- Hiring psychologists to get as much money as they can from us

Oh no... market research.... no one does that... how horrible of them
I really hope you never ever ever look into what other companies do.

Quite frankly Origin is better in terms of speed, not shoving community down my throat, automatically going to my games page, not making the games menu a list so I feel like I need to fill up a page, and it doesn't have achievements.

You do realize you can set which window Steam opens on right? Also Origin usually takes me to the store when I open it. I really don't understand how Steam "Shoves community down people's throats". I am so confused by that statement, give examples. Also once again you just need to mess with settings for community. You can completely disable it in game. This takes 2 seconds. Not even joking just look in Settings, I don't know why people never check Settings when something annoys them.

It doesn't have achievements? OH TRULY IT IS A VALHALLA FOR GAMERS! What kinds of reason is that for being better? I happen to like achievements. If you don't like achievements then don't bother with them. If you don't want the achievement boxes popping up then once again, say it with me this time, "Check the Settings".

Your post baffles and confuses me, good sir.

 

[Dastardly]

I know that's akin to sacrilege among gamers, but I was just playing Half-Life and it occurred to me that it has been 5 years since Episode 2 came out. 5 years. The entire thing they said about releasing them in episodic format was so that we wouldn't have to wait so long. Well that was fucking bullshit.

Maybe, but I'm not seeing how I can be upset about a game that has not been made, for which I have not paid money, nor have I been asked to pay money. It's not the least bit comparable to, say, people upset about a game that was released and was sub-par in quality in some way -- see, they've paid $60 for a product that turns out wasn't worth $60. Or folks that fund a Kickstarter that never happens. They got swindled.

With Valve, we know from their history not to trust release timelines. But we also know they aren't going to release crappy, bug-filled games. That's a trade-off I will gladly make, because it doesn't cost me a dime.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

I know that's akin to sacrilege among gamers, but I was just playing Half-Life and it occurred to me that it has been 5 years since Episode 2 came out. 5 years. The entire thing they said about releasing them in episodic format was so that we wouldn't have to wait so long. Well that was fucking bullshit.

I've completely lost interest in Half Life. Sorry Valve but you got to keep the fire alive, I used to care about the story but not anymore. When I completed HL2 I was like an addict that had run out of drugs....now its all a giant meh.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I'm not a fan of their games... And that's the point. I don't think half life or portal are interesting games, and the way people idolise Valve really annoys me. My favourite devs, Bethesda and Bioware and Treyarch, create a fanbase by consistently delivering solid games. Valve seem like some mystical entity that occasionally drop games that their worshippers lap up, and somehow they're considered more prestigious than those other companies.

Your post baffles and confuses me, good sir.

To sum it up I think he's saying he doesn't like Steam and prefers Origin.

 

[Gameguy20100]

I'm not a fan of their games... And that's the point. I don't think half life or portal are interesting games, and the way people idolise Valve really annoys me. My favourite devs, Bethesda and Bioware and Treyarch, create a fanbase by consistently delivering solid games. Valve seem like some mystical entity that occasionally drop games that their worshippers lap up, and somehow they're considered more prestigious than those other companies.

Your post baffles and confuses me, good sir.

To sum it up I think he's saying he doesn't like Steam and prefers Origin.

You have just said Valve was not perfect.

Would you like to borrow my flame shield you WILL need it.

 

[Reven]

I'm not a fan of their games... And that's the point. I don't think half life or portal are interesting games, and the way people idolise Valve really annoys me. My favourite devs, Bethesda and Bioware and Treyarch, create a fanbase by consistently delivering solid games. Valve seem like some mystical entity that occasionally drop games that their worshippers lap up, and somehow they're considered more prestigious than those other companies.

Your post baffles and confuses me, good sir.

To sum it up I think he's saying he doesn't like Steam and prefers Origin.

You have just said Valve was not perfect.

Would you like to borrow my flame shield you WILL need it.

Honestly I'm not a Valve fanboy, nor much of a fan, i enjoy some of their games and services etc. But what I've noticed throughout this thread is people complaining about how fans are "rabid" and "fanboys" and etc. And honestly, the majority of the comments i see countering the OP seem reasonable, yes some SOME attacked his character, but the majority noted the lapses in logic and made their own arguments.

I then noticed that those that hate the fans instantly do what you just said "OH NOES GET DEH FLAMES SHIELD FOR SAYING VALVE NO PERFEKT!!!" Considering the majority of the posts going against the OP ACKNOWLEDGE that VALVe isnt perfect, it really does seem to me a case of haters dismissing and reasonable arguments as fanboys, and cherry picking quotes as proof. Honestly it's pretty annoying, especially because i find that most arguments between people on this site (though often boiling down to sense of taste) at least acknowledge each others arguments instead of instantly claiming anyone not on your side is a fanboy.

OT: I feel your argument isn't really fair, I see no indication of Valve having blatantly lied (at least to the degree of ACM), and past history has demonstrated that when developing Half Life sequals they take their time, there's nothing wrong with that, I see no reason you should be entitled to them rushing their product. Personally i have no interest in Half Life 3, but i think even those that do know that as they havent paid any money for it or were promised a release date, it seems like a rather silly reason to be mad IMO.

 

[fulano]

So, basically, Valve said they'd do something and then...they didn't do it. Ok, that's not good. But the world keeps spinning.

Why is it that Episode 3 is such a big deal? Valve has done great in other areas and, let's be real, it's just a fucking video game.

The whole thing boils down to some Rorschach-like extreme absolutism when it comes to right and wrong and gaming companies. Somebody wnated their Episode 3 -- didn't get it, wanted to know why -- wasn't told, got mad -- waited for news and kept getting madder as time went by without a peep, stopped caring about Episode 3 -- stayed mad.

So, wrong? Sure. And? Not even rant worthy.

 

[The Wooster]

To steal a comment about George R. R. Martin from Neil Gaiman:

Gabe Newell is not your *****.

This is a useful thing to know, perhaps a useful thing to point out when you find yourself thinking that possibly Gabe is, indeed, your *****, and should be out there coding what you want to play right now.

Valve deciding to delay a product until it's ready is the complete opposite of what Gearbox did with ACM. Valve promised that the updates would come "pretty frequently." Guess what? By Valve standards they have. Even if they weren't, comments from one developer, out of the dozens working at Valve, does not constitute advertising or a "promise."

 

[LOLITRON]

To steal a comment about George R. R. Martin from Neil Gaiman:

Gabe Newell is not your *****.

This is a useful thing to know, perhaps a useful thing to point out when you find yourself thinking that possibly Gabe is, indeed, your *****, and should be out there coding what you want to play right now.

Valve deciding to delay a product until it's ready is the complete opposite of what Gearbox did with ACM. Valve promised that the updates would come "pretty frequently." Guess what? By Valve standards they have. Even if they weren't, comments from one developer, out of the dozens working at Valve, does not constitute advertising or a "promise."

The product isn't delayed; it doesn't exist. They haven't made any mention to the public that I'm aware of that they're working on it or even plan to work on it. That said, terrible comparison. An author can hardly be compared to an entire corporation that's sole purpose is to develop and publish videogames. That's like comparing a school bully to the Nazis or Gandhi to PETA. Valve does in fact have a responsibility to please its consumers and while they're not obligated to work on whatever gamers want them to, it doesn't give them a free pass to lie to their market base -- just like EA, Activision, and every other corporation out there don't deserve a free pass.

The majority of people in this thread seem to argue that Valve is above this responsibility merely because they're Valve and they're known for releasing solid and bug free products. While I agree that's true, they've clearly made several promises in the past (not just with the release of Episode 3) that they haven't kept or even lied about (see my previous post for examples). That's something that anybody has the right to be upset about even if they do have a big track record of taking forever with their games (exceptions being L4D 2 and Portal 2).

Again, there is no confirmation of a future Episode 3 or Half Life 3 nor is there any indication that they're working on it. To be upset because they're not doing or planning to do what they said they were going to makes perfect sense to me. However, saying a corporation has no responsibility to keep their promises because they aren't anyone's ***** doesn't make sense to me. At all.

Edit:
On another note, love your webcomic. Thanks for all the laughs.