Valve pursued by EA for over a possible $1 billion

[jh322]

As long as Gabe Newell is around I'd like to think EA would never have a shot in hell; at least not for a piddly billion.

And if that ever did happen, it would be a merger not a buyout (ala Activison Blizzard, exact same scenario essentially) so we'd end up with something like that.

Activision and Blizzard were both already owned by Vivendi, a French media company. This was a merger of two companies that were already merged. They just didn't tell you all. Blew your mind?

 

[Johnny Impact]

I read the thread title as some sort of legal claim, like "the case of EA vs Valve."

I don't see Valve selling to anyone for any amount. They've got autonomy and they like it that way.

EA acquiring them is exactly the worst thing that could happen. Nothing crushes creative genius faster than having to meet deadline after unreasonable deadline imposed by corporate fatcats who don't understand anything about the job or the industry.

 

[Skratt]

If EA ever bought Valve, I would be completely crushed. Valve stands behind quality products and treats their customers [mostly] with respect. EA constantly [http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ea-project-ten-dollars-dlc,news-5797.html] shits [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117725-Origin-Boss-Says-Steam-Sales-Cheapen-Intellectual-Property] on their customers and employees in some of the most arrogant ways. Their culture is broken, their management and staff are loaded with assholes and if they buy Valve, they won't change to be like valve, they'll fire all the Valve staff and just keep doing EA business as usual - because it makes them money.

I won't go so far as to say the games are bad, but EA as a company is. I don't support EA. EA is a publisher. I support the developers. It's just a shame that EA owns their souls.

 

[Quazimofo]

Never gonna happen, eventually valve will buy EA.

at which point, the world will become so exponentially a better place, jesus himself will come back and give out high fives for the improvement in society and then de-pollute the oceans entirely while leaving with a comment of "keep up the good work, and i'll be back soon!"

 

[yuval152]

snip

It might actually happen soon, EA is losing money and valve is making alot.

 

[Quazimofo]

snip

It might actually happen soon, EA is losing money and valve is making alot.

then i look forward to high-fiving jesus.

i din't mean for it to sound like it wouldn't happen, i just meant to emphasize how awesome it would be should such a thing happen.

more than likely though, i feel activision would gobble them right up

 

[ThriKreen]

I'm not sure if you are that well of at reading comprehension yourself, after all you keep bringing up that article, which explains in detail how they killed Origin over time in their defense and now this...

All I have been saying was that blame was all around for the demise of Origin Systems, and that article supports it.

If you read that and still think it's all EA's fault, then, well...

What Valve did is hire a guy, he didn't want to relocate so they gave him his own studio, after that project was done with most of the employees relocated of their own free will to Valve mothership (you know the moving desk policy) and since only 1-2 people remained behind they closed it. Seeing as they showed interest in continuing the operation over there after all Valve gave them permission to use the same branding.

The point is that there's still a business decision of relocating and letting go and dissolving the remote studio of those that didn't want to move. It doesn't matter if it's 1 person or 100 (and they never stated how many stayed behind at TRS), it's still a result of lost jobs and an act of "our way or the highway".

Again, Valve does it as a business decision, that's OK.
EA does it as a business decision, OH NO THEY ARE EVIL INCARNATE.

Oh wait, there is one important distinction:

Valve does it as a business decision, for successful studio so they can push a sequel out the next year, that's OK.
EA does it as a business decision, for a studio making a string of bad releases to cut costs, OH NO THEY ARE EVIL INCARNATE.

I'm not really gonna respond to your BioWare FUD, since the results of the EA buyout should be obvious to everyone by now and BioWare Edmonton will be pretty much gone in a few years too.

Trans: I cannot refute anything someone with more in-depth knowledge of a game studio or game development says, so I will try to avoid it and casually dismiss it as FUD even though it's not actually FUD at all.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

snip.

thank you for that post, and keep on truckin, lord knows the corporate apologists are shoving the steel rod up their asses even further, so let's hope they run out of money soon from buying EA's crap while we actually use common sense as a consumer and pick and choose where we buy our games from based on customer service.

 

[Torrasque]

Gabe has tweeted before that he will see Valve dissolve before he sees it getting bought, and I support that whole heartedly.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I laugh uproariously at the arrogance of the proposal, but this only further reinforces my theory that EA is UTTERLY delusional.

As I've been saying for years, they're a company who acts like they have a monopoly, when they totally do not.

 

[corethax]

The Day EA Buys Valve is the day Hell freezes, pigs fly, and Half Life Episode 3 comes out.