No Hope for Valve To Make Future Games Anytime Soon

[Dragonbums]

I'm not talking about making a Half-Life 3 or anything similar.

I honestly think that the way the video game market is, they just aren't going to make any new games or new installments to their previous IPs in the foreseeable future.

I came to this conclusion because while waiting for my sister to decide which 3DS she wanted, I had small talk with a Gamestop employee about how so many games this generation and last generation are so choked up with shooters.

Then I realized that a good portion of Valve's IPs are shooters themselves. After the success of Half-Life, L4D, and TF2, a lot of game companies have found out what made those games so successful and put it into their own games with varying degrees of success.

We all know that the story of Portal is finished. There will be no more Portal games. Chell has officially escaped in Portal 2. That's it.

The Half-Life series- I want to say that they do INDEED have the final story for the series but the reason why they aren't really doing anything is because name brand alone isn't enough. They would have to do something wildly different to make the game standout gameplay and visual wise. Half-Life is a dark and gritty game. With a little splash of color here and there. Just like every other shooter out here in the market. Not to mention that every other shooter out there have taken bits and pieces of Half-Life's games and either enhanced those features and/or emulated them. Valve aren't followers. They are leaders, and I feel that until the shooter craze dies down, or they come up with something really innovative to shake up the genre I think we can say Half-Life 3 won't be happening in the near future...or at all.

As for TF2, it's huge. We all know that. While yes theoretically they are always working on the game, it's not like they are revamping anything in terms of graphics and engines. They are simply making updates here and there to keep the communities interest and letting the modders do the rest. I see no reason as to why they would implement a Team Fortress 3 when 2 is extremely profitable for them, and is an ever changing game.(And I like TF2 so no complaints here)

I guess that's all I really have to say to that. Valve is a business more than a developer now a days, running Steam and all that. It doesn't really bother me though. At least they are still alive and kicking with a lot of goodwill, and not some horrible husk of what it used to be.

captcha: lame duck


hahaha your funny

 

[shadowuser10141]

Dota 2 is releasing this summer.
http://www.valvetime.net/threads/updated-valve-is-planning-to-release-dota-2-this-summer.243565/

I honestly don't know where this "Valve doesn't make games" myth comes from.

 

[Fractral]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

 

[Dragonbums]

Dota 2 is releasing this summer.
http://www.valvetime.net/threads/updated-valve-is-planning-to-release-dota-2-this-summer.243565/

I honestly don't know where this "Valve doesn't make games" myth comes from.

Dota 2 was in Beta for years though.

I'm not going to exclude it, but their older franchises like Half Life and TF2- I'm just not holding out on them really making any new installments for a while.

 

[Dragonbums]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

Your right on that. They can make new IP, and DOTA as someone said above is their newest IP(?)

However to me it's like expecting Nintendo to make a shooter, or the folks behind CoD to make a platformer game. I'm not saying they can't pull it off, (they made Portal for blasted sakes) but they were the early studios that really gave the shooter genre a head start. Chances are, a lot of new ideas they have revolve around the shooter aspect which at the current moment is over bloated.

EDIT: On the subject of Portal, they don't have to focus on Chell that's true, but the whole story of Portal was about Chell. Focusing on other test subjects would require us to know what significance they would have on the general Portal story. It is very easy to just milk the franchise. Oh yeah, let's just focus on X subject here. Also what would be the point exactly? According to GLaDOS Chell is the only test subject to make it that far in the first place, and actually give her some trouble.
Unless the next Portal has something to do with Doug Rattman and his time being a wall rat within Aperture, I can't really see any significant point in focusing on other subjects unless they are simply self contained mini stories.

 

[Keoul]

Oh god with a title like that I thought it was a serious thing confirmed by valve!

We really have no idea WHAT they're gunna do for now, they could be making a game for all we know. But while I disagree that Valve won't be making any games, them not continuing their IP does seem pretty likely, HL3 has been hyped to hell and anything they produce probably won't live up to expectations, everything else seems pretty wrapped up.

So don't count them out just yet, they do have a full team of developers there don't they? I'm sure they're not ALL making hats for tf2!

 

[shadowuser10141]

Dota 2 is releasing this summer.
http://www.valvetime.net/threads/updated-valve-is-planning-to-release-dota-2-this-summer.243565/

I honestly don't know where this "Valve doesn't make games" myth comes from.

Dota 2 was in Beta for years though.

I'm not going to exclude it, but their older franchises like Half Life and TF2- I'm just not holding out on them really making any new installments for a while.

People have gotten used to annual mediocre sequels from publishers. Assassins Creed etc..
They now expect the same thing from Valve, but they don't do that.
Valve nurtures their existing online communities by providing them with new updates.

 

[Fractral]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

Your right on that. They can make new IP, and DOTA as someone said above is their newest IP(?)

However to me it's like expecting Nintendo to make a shooter, or the folks behind CoD to make a platformer game. I'm not saying they can't pull it off, (they made Portal for blasted sakes) but they were the early studios that really gave the shooter genre a head start. Chances are, a lot of new ideas they have revolve around the shooter aspect which at the current moment is over bloated.

That's true. It's quite sad really- you've got all these studios with so much talent and yet they won't branch out to try new genres. A valve built RPG could be something new and exciting with Valve's capacity for innovation and skill, but they don't seem interested at all.

 

[shadowuser10141]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

Your right on that. They can make new IP, and DOTA as someone said above is their newest IP(?)

However to me it's like expecting Nintendo to make a shooter, or the folks behind CoD to make a platformer game. I'm not saying they can't pull it off, (they made Portal for blasted sakes) but they were the early studios that really gave the shooter genre a head start. Chances are, a lot of new ideas they have revolve around the shooter aspect which at the current moment is over bloated.

That's true. It's quite sad really- you've got all these studios with so much talent and yet they won't branch out to try new genres. A valve built RPG could be something new and exciting with Valve's capacity for innovation and skill, but they don't seem interested at all.

Dota is a strategy game which is a new genre for Valve.

 

[Dragonbums]

Oh god with a title like that I thought it was a serious thing confirmed by valve!

We really have no idea WHAT they're gunna do for now, they could be making a game for all we know. But while I disagree that Valve won't be making any games, them not continuing their IP does seem pretty likely, HL3 has been hyped to hell and anything they produce probably won't live up to expectations, everything else seems pretty wrapped up.

So don't count them out just yet, they do have a full team of developers there don't they? I'm sure they're not ALL making hats for tf2!

Now that I look back at the title, that was pretty "sensational" I guess it's because I wrote this at 4:00 in the morning, and I'm far too tired.

I won't count them out on making any NEW IP's, but like I said earlier they are the studio that likes to implement shooter elements into their games (excluding DOTA2 and all that) which is a genre that people are so tired of, that they REALLY have to shake things up to make them stand out outside of brand name.
Of course nobody has any clue what the dev teams are doing outside of promotional updates for TF2, and fixing up for DOTA2. Then again they can take their sweet old time what with Steam giving them a bunch of money.

 

[Fractral]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

Your right on that. They can make new IP, and DOTA as someone said above is their newest IP(?)

However to me it's like expecting Nintendo to make a shooter, or the folks behind CoD to make a platformer game. I'm not saying they can't pull it off, (they made Portal for blasted sakes) but they were the early studios that really gave the shooter genre a head start. Chances are, a lot of new ideas they have revolve around the shooter aspect which at the current moment is over bloated.

That's true. It's quite sad really- you've got all these studios with so much talent and yet they won't branch out to try new genres. A valve built RPG could be something new and exciting with Valve's capacity for innovation and skill, but they don't seem interested at all.

Dota is a strategy game which is a new genre for Valve.

Kinda... kinda not. I'm not sure what it is, 'cause I hate MOBA games and I don't even know what the acronym stands for, but it sure isn't your standard strategy game. I don't count it as innovation anyway seeing as my friends assure me it's quite similar to LOL, and very similar to the original dota.

 

[shadowuser10141]

With regards to portal, a story ending has never been enough to stop someone from making a new game in the same IP. Who says it has to be based around chell? Who says it has to be set in the same universe at all? In all likelihood all that will be carried over is a portion of the gameplay, should another portal game be made.
And besides, you're ignoring the possibility of a new IP altogether. No reason why Valve couldn't make something new.

Your right on that. They can make new IP, and DOTA as someone said above is their newest IP(?)

However to me it's like expecting Nintendo to make a shooter, or the folks behind CoD to make a platformer game. I'm not saying they can't pull it off, (they made Portal for blasted sakes) but they were the early studios that really gave the shooter genre a head start. Chances are, a lot of new ideas they have revolve around the shooter aspect which at the current moment is over bloated.

That's true. It's quite sad really- you've got all these studios with so much talent and yet they won't branch out to try new genres. A valve built RPG could be something new and exciting with Valve's capacity for innovation and skill, but they don't seem interested at all.

Dota is a strategy game which is a new genre for Valve.

Kinda... kinda not. I'm not sure what it is, 'cause I hate MOBA games and I don't even know what the acronym stands for, but it sure isn't your standard strategy game. I don't count it as innovation anyway seeing as my friends assure me it's quite similar to LOL, and very similar to the original dota.

Valve calls it an Action RTS. MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena which could apply to anything.
It's a remake of the original Defense of the Ancients but as a game instead of a WC3 map.
Who care about "innovation"? Somebody hasn't been watching the Jimquisition.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7005-Innovation-Gamings-Snake-Oil

 

[Kopikatsu]

Unless I'm mistaken, hasn't Valve put out a game a year for the past...long while? It sure seems like they have.

Edit:

Half-Life 1998 First-person shooter (FPS) Windows, PlayStation 2, OS X, Linux
Team Fortress Classic 1999 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Opposing Force 1999 FPS expansion pack Windows, OS X, Linux
Deathmatch Classic 2000 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Ricochet 2000 Action game Windows, OS X, Linux
Counter-Strike 2000 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Blue Shift 2001 FPS expansion pack Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Decay 2001 FPS expansion pack PlayStation 2
Day of Defeat 2003 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero 2004 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Source 2004 First-person shooter Windows
Counter-Strike: Source 2004 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2 2004 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch 2004 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source 2005 First-person shooter Windows
Day of Defeat: Source 2005 First-person shooter Windows, OS X
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast 2005 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Episode One 2006 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Episode Two 2007 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Portal 2007 FPS puzzle game Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Team Fortress 2 2007 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Left 4 Dead 2008 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, OS X
Left 4 Dead 2 2009 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, Linux
Alien Swarm 2010 Top-down shooter Windows
Portal 2 2011 FPS puzzle game Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2012 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X
Dota 2 2013 Multiplayer online battle arena Windows, OS X

Yeah, pretty much at least one game a year for like fifteen years.

 

[Dragonbums]

Unless I'm mistaken, hasn't Valve put out a game a year for the past...long while? It sure seems like they have.

Edit:

Half-Life 1998 First-person shooter (FPS) Windows, PlayStation 2, OS X, Linux
Team Fortress Classic 1999 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Opposing Force 1999 FPS expansion pack Windows, OS X, Linux
Deathmatch Classic 2000 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Ricochet 2000 Action game Windows, OS X, Linux
Counter-Strike 2000 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Blue Shift 2001 FPS expansion pack Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Decay 2001 FPS expansion pack PlayStation 2
Day of Defeat 2003 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero 2004 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, OS X, Linux
Half-Life: Source 2004 First-person shooter Windows
Counter-Strike: Source 2004 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2 2004 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch 2004 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source 2005 First-person shooter Windows
Day of Defeat: Source 2005 First-person shooter Windows, OS X
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast 2005 First-person shooter Windows, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Episode One 2006 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Half-Life 2: Episode Two 2007 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Portal 2007 FPS puzzle game Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Team Fortress 2 2007 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux
Left 4 Dead 2008 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, OS X
Left 4 Dead 2 2009 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, Linux
Alien Swarm 2010 Top-down shooter Windows
Portal 2 2011 FPS puzzle game Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2012 First-person shooter Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, OS X
Dota 2 2013 Multiplayer online battle arena Windows, OS X

Yeah, pretty much at least one game a year for like fifteen years.

Huh. I wasn't aware of all of those titles. which is something seeing as how Vavle is pretty big and all. To be fair though I don't really count DOTA 2 on the simple fact that's it's been in very playable Beta for a long while now.
Perhaps I need to go on Steam more often.

 

[Aeshi]

Fine by me, given Valve's current direction I'm willing to bet by this point any new games they made would just be a Micro-transaction Store with no actual game attached

 

[DoPo]

Yeah, pretty much at least one game a year for like fifteen years.

Depends how you define "game"

Team Fortress Classic - mod for HL
Half-Life: Opposing Force - expansion for HL, developed by Gearbox
Deathmatch Classic - mod for HL
Ricochet - mod for HL, probably one of of the most boring ones, too.
Counter-Strike - mod for HL, later became more of a success
Half-Life: Blue Shift - expansion pack for HL, developed by Gearbox
Half-Life: Decay - expansion pack...thingie.
Day of Defeat - mod for HL
Half-Life: Source - a 1:1 port of HL to Source
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source - haven't played it but I think it's the same as HL:S
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast - one level tech demo

 

[Stavros Dimou]

with the money they've been making with steam they could even stop making games at all...
but not. they are not doing it. instead they keep making games. what they do now that they make that much money though is to take their time. they don't have a third party publisher whipping them to meet deadlines. their creativity is allowed to flourish,and they make use of it.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

- Portal 2 has had a major plot hook in the co-op campaign. Basically there's a whole bunch of test subjects available now, so Chell's escape doesn't really matter. It was never really about her, she was just a player stand-in for some random person fighting Glados and uncovering Aperture's secrets - those were the things that gave Portal character. As long as Valve still has ideas for what might be going on behind Aperture or how it could be changing right now (instead of just returning to status quo like with the ending of Portal 2), there's plenty of room for sequels.

- their shooters so far have always been pretty influential. TF2 going F2P initiated a whole wave of F2P games. L4D did the same thing with 4-people-co-op (tho the AI director kinda didn't catch on). HL2 did it with realism and proper storytelling. Back in the day Counter-Strike was basically what CoD is today to many people, just with more crazy surfmaps and zombie mods in which you push around furniture by shooting at it.

- HL2's age is an advantage and a disadvantage. Years of tuning ironsight textures have completely gone by it, meaning aspects of its gameplay could be very refreshing to the current shooter audience if polished and refurbished. Infinite regen health behind cover just can't give you that thrill of fighting for your life and every hit point, or that feeling of relief and happiness when you find a medkit. Obviously not everything can age well, so there's also disadvantages to take into consideration.
What I'd like to list as an additional advantage is that few games have caught up to HL2's level of storytelling, which includes big pieces as well as small like NPCs facing you and having more detailed facial expressions and eyes than most modern mocap.

Valve's pretty good at grabbing talented modders and taking their ideas to the fullest, I wouldn't worry them running out of creative juice any time soon. They just have, and have always had, very long development cycles since they're not pressured by money or publisher expectations. You know how usually you brainstorm but scrap like 90% of ideas because you think they're neat but less likely to succeed than others, too risky, or involve too many resource? Valve doesn't have those limitations, they test out all sorts of stupid stuff and sometimes find real gems.
Tho right now I imagine they're quite distracted by Steam stuff (getting Greenlight fixed up, overhaul of the community pages and profiles, marketplace etc) and DOTA2, which must be REALLY exciting for the team because it's so different from FPS AND a brand-new genre shaping right before their eyes - and they get to steer one of its major flag ships into whatever direction they see fit. That's a chance of a life time and you don't want to fuck it up.

TL;DR Valve hasn't disappointed so far or shown any signs of creative drain, so I just think they lack a sense of urgency without bills or publishers breathing down their neck.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

They've released at least one game every year for the past few years. The fact that they're not expanding on the sequels that people are expecting is probably what you're noticing.

They're doing what they want to do, and the polish in the games they have released reflects that. I'd much rather see them put out new interesting titles than be forced to release a sequel to a game that's become clear they don't want to make.

 

[rob_simple]

I think we all know Valve could release Half Life 3 tomorrow and have it be the most bog-standard CoD-clone on the market and it would still sell in the millions.