Valve pursued by EA for over a possible $1 billion

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Yup, the time between Portal, Left 4 Dead, Alien Swarm, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, CS:GO and DOTA2 were 10 years... *love those stupid comments*

None of which are theirs. Exactly my point, every title in this list was someone else's, bought in by Valve to cash on. Actually each one except AS is a sequel. Exactly the sort of things EA is hated for, yet if Valve does it it's suddenly okay.

Valve only has two games of their own design. HL and HL2.

Yes there is NOOOOOOO diference between picking up modders and recent graduates and offering jobs at a unique company than buying up a company, firing some people (George Fan, Popcap Games) making them rush out sequels (Dragon Age 2, Bioware) and closing them down (Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic...)

Yep, no difference at all.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Heaven forbid. Such a takeover would be a death knell for gaming and possibly the last nail in the coffin of PC gaming in particular. They destroyed BioWare's quality standard and reputation within 2 years. Valve is too different from other devs tho, the way people find their place within the company, "Valve Time" and their uncompromising standard of quality are unmatched anywhere else in the industry, possibly excepting Bethesda.

 

[Krantos]

If EA bought them, why would EA see any reason to interfere with what is obviously very successful?

Um, because they've done it in the past.

See, I said the same exact thing when EA bought BioWare. "That's no big deal," Spake I, "BioWare is a huge name in the industry. What they're doing works. EA would be stupid to mess with that."

Fast forward to today....

If it DID happen (which it won't, Newell has gone on record saying he'd rather see the company dismantled than sold), my money is that EA would fold Steam into Origin, and make Steam adopt their practices rather than the other way around. What we (I) love about Valve would be gone.

History speaks for itself, I'm afraid. No company has been better off once they've been acquired by EA. They've either deteriorated (BioWare, Maxis, etc.), or completely shut down (Pandemic, Bullfrog, Westwood, etc.).

I'm not enough of a business guru to tell you why it happens, but the pattern is pretty clear.

 

[UltraPic]

Valve doesnt have deadlines. They only publish thier games when they come to an agreement that theyve made thier game or expansion as good as they can make it without community feedback, this also happens to be why Valve rarely if ever actually releases a game.

They don't release games often because they are still busy patching the buggy messes they have already released.

 

[Krantos]

Just curious, if EA did have the means to buy Valve, could Valve actually say "Fuck Off"?

yes, because Valve is privately owned. Gabe Newell still holds the keys to the castle, as it were. He'd have to agree to the deal. He's gone on record saying he'd sooner see Valve dismantled.

Now after Newell is no longer at the helm (hey, he's gonna want to retire eventually)? That's another story.

 

[gigastar]

Valve doesnt have deadlines. They only publish thier games when they come to an agreement that theyve made thier game or expansion as good as they can make it without community feedback, this also happens to be why Valve rarely if ever actually releases a game.

They don't release games often because they are still busy patching the buggy messes they have already released.

Dont mistake bugs for trying to play games on an old machine.

 

[Andre Rapp]

Apparently reported by the New York Times, it seems that EA has been pursuing Valve for almost a year.

Scary thought since I was just talking to a friend way back about how one of the worst things that could happen to the game industry was if EA ever brought Valve.

You dissipated Westwood.

You killed Pandemic

You nearly destroyed Bioware.

Now you want Valve?

Back the frack off, EA

Thoughts?

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/10/report-ea-sought-to-acquire-valve

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name
also, EA does not even have the capital to make a purchase anywhere near as big as Valve

 

[Andre Rapp]

Just curious, if EA did have the means to buy Valve, could Valve actually say "Fuck Off"?

yes, because Valve is privately owned. Gabe Newell still holds the keys to the castle, as it were. He'd have to agree to the deal. He's gone on record saying he'd sooner see Valve dismantled.

Now after Newell is no longer at the helm (hey, he's gonna want to retire eventually)? That's another story.

when the day comes for him to retire, they will release HL3, and in them there will be a total of five golden hats. they shall win a ture of Valve, and one lucky individual shall inherit the company and take up Gabe's title as the Santa of the internet.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name

So EA is Reaper tech? a Dragons tooth where gaming companies get impaled, have everything that was good in them sucked out and replaced with crap before being let loose?

 

[Signa]

Why is this some massive issue?

Valve make billions of dollars by being the biggest game retailer on the planet.

If EA bought them, why would EA see any reason to interfere with what is obviously very successful? Valve isn't a developer, it's a retailer.

EA wouldn't use them to make games. They'd use them to sell games. Kind of like what Valve is already doing. You can count on a company to follow the money. And if Steam is already raking in money hand over fist, EA wouldn't even dare stop that.

But this wouldn't happen. Valve doesn't have a CEO or Board of Directors who all hold stock and put the sale of a company to a vote. Valve is owned entirely by Gabe Newell. He doesn't have a board or stockholders to answer to. The sale of the company would be his absolute decision.

I think you're underestimating what Valve does for us as a gaming community, and overestimating what good EA does. I know you're no fan of Valve, but their respect for their customers is something that is almost unseen in today's corporate world. Yes, they want that respect to earn money, but there's nothing wrong with earning that money through more ways than just offering a service or product that no one else can.

EA on the other hand sees no value in their customers. They only see the value in their products, and if those products don't display that value, they shut them down without a second thought. Since EA isn't smart enough to value their customers, they would make every effort to start squeezing Valve's fandom for as much cash as they are willing to shell out. You might see some echos of what Valve did under EA, like constant TF2 updates, but items probably would become more expensive, and updates would include more unbalanced items. I mean, you'd hope they would just leave Valve alone to do their work, but all their other studios have suffered because of the demands they make. Bioware is only the most recent example.

 

[Andre Rapp]

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name

So EA is Reaper tech? a Dragons tooth where gaming companies get impaled, have everything that was good in them sucked out and replaced with crap before being let loose?

yes, that is exactly how EA works

 

[Sean Hollyman]

So basically, 'If you can't beat them, buy them.'

EA probably just wants rid of Steam so Origin is supreme.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Valve would unemploy themselves and start a new company, leaving EA with IPs their fanbases would only hate EA for capitalising on.

 

[Savber]

I changed up the subject matter while posting the original quote from NYT for clarification.

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name
also, EA does not even have the capital to make a purchase anywhere near as big as Valve

I still think Bioware has it despite the last 18 months with Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3...

They're in decline but they're not dead just yet. Despite what people said, ME3 just wasn't the third strike that people made it out to be. Sure the ending was bad but the rest was still top-notch stuff despite the toned-down RPG elements (in my opinion).

DA3 is kinda the game I'm watching. No preorders until I read user reviews but I'm not counting Bioware out just yet.

 

[Andre Rapp]

I changed up the subject matter while posting the original quote from NYT for clarification.

NEARLY?
they obliterated Bioware, nothing remains but a mindless husk and a brand name
also, EA does not even have the capital to make a purchase anywhere near as big as Valve

I still think Bioware has it despite the last 18 months with Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3...

They're in decline but they're not dead just yet. Despite what people said, ME3 just wasn't the third strike that people made it out to be. Sure the ending was bad but the rest was still top-notch stuff despite the toned-down RPG elements (in my opinion).

DA3 is kinda the game I'm watching. No preorders until I read user reviews but I'm not counting Bioware out just yet.

ME2 was the sign, dragon age 2 was the diagnosis, ME3 was the death and TOR was post mortum twitching