Are Valve now hated like EA?

In that Batman movie that's not as good as Batman Returns, a man says "You either die a hero, or live long enough to be bad", Valve, traditionally, have been seen as a cool teacher, a hip fellow down with the kids allowing you to watch a VHS tape for the entire lesson.

Valves recently made a massive miscalculation on the modding front, which, for all intents and purposes, would have essentially turned pc gaming into microtransaction hell, while the community reaction was one of discontent, the Publishers media reaction was one of salivating at the opportunity to take a cut of money from content they need not bother to create.

Conceptually, Valve proposed the apocalypse.

With a current push towards a console like environment with the steam box, standardized control pad oriented games, Valve has once against proposed a reality in which pc gamers are ushered towards a console mentality.

Aside from all this, the once ground breaking developer, whom use to produce world changing 96% metacritics games, now seem primarily revolved around steam. With little to no interest in producing single player titles, or indeed, software.

Are Valve still the cool teacher, or should they be more closely maligned alongside EA and Ubisoft as a powerful,and great evil?

Nope

I love your threads. And no. I do hate Gaben for no Half life 3.

No, and I think Dota 2 proves it. The most in depth MOBA (with no attempt to appeal to casuals) out of the big four, and no pay to win to be found. If EA or any other major publisher were to manage Dota, that would not be the case.

I don't think so. In fact, I'm pretty sure most pc gamers really like Valve as a company. They've bought great games and a great service to pc gaming.

I don't see how they're any better than EA. They are drm kingpin's and promoters of games as a service.

What?

Standardised controls are now classed as console like... OK then. I will forget the Amiga ever existed.

PC has suffered because it wasn't standardised, I still remember the time when PC games were written for the sound and graphics card and you were at the mercy of the game devs if your hardware would even work, also you had to plug your joystick into the sound card. Those were fun times.

I would rather not go back to that shit thank you very much.

Not as long as Gabe Newell is in charge. The fanboys and weirdos love that guy for reasons I am not entirely sure of.

Also this. Best game out now.

Paid for mods was a big mistake and it definitely lost them Brownie points, until they saw the community reaction and canned the idea, asap. It'll now be passed to the console community for a re-launch but will struggle to ever gain a foothold should the subject arise again in PC land.

The Steam controller has been massively researched to be as close as a control pad can get to the precision of a mouse, not just a "that'll do" device that the dual stick controllers represent and their complete non-evolution. Will it be good? Only time will tell. The Steam box makes PC gaming more accessible to non enthusiasts, who are often scared that they may break something on their expensive hardware if they tinker and will not know how to fix it. Really not sure how or why that's a bad thing.

If Valve never release another game then that's up to them but they have done more for gaming than any other company, ever. Without Steam hundreds of indie developers would not exist or have anywhere to launch games and that's just on PC. There are loads of developers who got their start through Steam/Valve and now put content out on consoles as well.

They have given PC gamers great access to games at cheap prices, when they can. Publishers and developers still have a say in pricing though which is why there are new releases that come out at console prices, charged on publisher's store fronts (Activision and Ubisoft to name two).

All in they have been and still are the top of the pile.

TL:DR - nope

Did... did you actually say that Batman Returns was better than The Dark Knight?? Did you... seriously???? :/

As for Valve themself, I hardly think they're in any way comparable to EA or Activision.

Steam Refunds baby!

They haven't done much over the years except make a Linux based OS and Linux functionality for some Steam games and come out with a controller. All after trying to spread a campaign of fear that Windows 8 was going to be a closed system out to sabotage services like Steam. They've accomplished nothing remarkable for gaming in their endeavors.

We got the Orange Box which was a good first start to the gen. We got Portal 2 as well. We got Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. In the meantime Valve was supposed to be working on a new Source code tools for developers, and working on Half Life 2 Episode 3 or Half Life 3 in the process. Though, Steam really took off as the main digital retail for PC games, that was likely their bread and butter. I'm sure on some level they didn't need to make new games, not like developers that need to on a regular schedule to keep the lights on. In some sense, I don't blame them for not wanting to make new games.

Now it seems they get criticized for letting any asshole publish on Steam without some semblance of quality control.

No, EA still makes games. Valve just makes money.

Never thought I'd say this but right now, EA > Valve. Origin had a decent refund policy long before Steam Refunds.

@lamprey263: Steam themselves said they have a quality vs quantity issue. They even give games to GOG and have issued Steam refunds to help solve it.

@uninspiredcup:

Valve is making VR without motion sickness that will release faster than any other vr system

and they all did it without invading your privacy.

Valve is not the cool teacher, valve is the guy that saved multiplatform games on the pc and made halflife.

Yes.

@uninspiredcup said:

In that Batman movie that's not as good as Batman Returns, a man says "You either die a hero, or live long enough to be bad", Valve, traditionally, have been seen as a cool teacher, a hip fellow down with the kids allowing you to watch a VHS tape for the entire lesson.

Valves recently made a massive miscalculation on the modding front, which, for all intents and purposes, would have essentially turned pc gaming into microtransaction hell, while the community reaction was one of discontent, the Publishers media reaction was one of salivating at the opportunity to take a cut of money from content they need not bother to create.

Conceptually, Valve proposed the apocalypse.

With a current push towards a console like environment with the steam box, standardized control pad oriented games, Valve has once against proposed a reality in which pc gamers are ushered towards a console mentality.

Aside from all this, the once ground breaking developer, whom use to produce world changing 96% metacritics games, now seem primarily revolved around steam. With little to no interest in producing single player titles, or indeed, software.

Are Valve still the cool teacher, or should they be more closely maligned alongside EA and Ubisoft as a powerful,and great evil?

This is a new level of dumb for you...

Valve is not hated. I believe refunding has helped their image. However, it would be nice to have a fun Valve game again. Not too long ago screenshots for L4D3 was released and a former employee spilled the beans. Valve needs a great scoring game to solidify them going forward imo. L4D3 or Portal 3 could do so.

CS co creator says L4D3 looks great.

I'm not out there trying to vilify them, just saying that when they get brought up negatively, it's usually for something like allowing shitty games on their service. That and the occasional articles of account hacking and security compromises. Personally, I don't blame them totally for the shitty game thing, after all I think the people who complain about the shitty games should kick themselves in the ass for buying them in the first place.

Anyhow, they're a long shot away from being vilified like EA is, EA gets over-scrutinized for nearly everything they make... and, well, Valve doesn't make anything anymore.

When did valve stop making games?

Oh wait... 2 of their games, that get constant content updates are the biggest games on any platform minus a handful of other PC exceptions (mainly WoW and Leauge/woT) ...

they have the resources and talent to make some of the most ambitious and interesting games ever. Instead they pour resources into shaky hardware endeavors and some of the safest bets for making money imaginable (those two super-popular games you are talking about).

They have a fucked up internal management system that just doesn't work - go read some employee reviews on GlassDoor.

They are great at putting a consumer-friendly face on everything they do, but really, they are about the profit.

I'm honestly baffled as to why people still like them so much.

Im saddened that valve hasnt made a game in a long time, but I dont think anyome hates them. Even with the modding thing, I kinda understood where they were coming from, even if I disagree with them, but they were good and took it down after the community didn't like it

I see what you mean now, yeah they do have some pretty bad ones. People mainly dislike EA for destroying franchises if im not mistaken. Plus they get hated on for what they did in monopolizing the NFL license and taking away one of the greatest football games to ever be made.

Because they make incredibly good Multiplayer games with great support and modding?

Safe bets for making money? absolutely ... its what the gamers want... top quality versions of the best multiplayer games around. and to embrace their e-sports scenes..

Sorry, but thats far more impressive to far more people than ... Cinematic shooter #3487346283746 - Half-Life 3 - we have absolutely nothing new to add to the genre edition.

Hate to nit pick, but the top 3 games on Steam are Valve titles and all 3 get content updates. Dota 2, CS:GO, and TF2. Hell, L4D2 usually sits within the top 20 and it gets no official updates. That truly says 2 things about Valve games.

1. They aren't very demanding and potato's can run them.

2. They are fun as hell.

well i was thinking more along the lines of a new IP, not another Half-Life. Something fresh like Portal or L4D when those games launched. Instead of just making crowd-pleasers. That is what used to differentiate Valve from other devs, they would take risks. Now they are probably one of the most cautious developers in the industry.

Indeed.

But hey... they should focus all of their resources on a 10 hour Half-Life 3 campaign that will offer nothing to genre. Not allowed to develope hardware/software that extends gaming possibilities ... nope nope... gotta pump out those 10 hour cinematic games!

Are Valve now hated like EA?

They are not like EA but they are not like old Valve either. Portal 2 was the last Single Player AAA that they made 4 years ago. They didn't want to make that as well but due to passion of some employees, they decided to go for it.

So, it's safe to say that since the success of Team Fortress 2, LOL and other multiplayer competitive games, Valve has started to focus more on multiplayer games. The only thing that we hear from this billionaire company now is the announcement of new Dota 2 update.

Dota 2 is not the best thing I expect from a Company with a lot of money. Yes, it's very successful and e-sports people love it but still,,, it's not Portal or Half Life either. Thing about Blizzard is that despite milking WOW, they still actually make SP games by spending the money they've made through WOW. Valve just makes money through Steam and updates Dota 2.

As for Steam Machines. If it means bigger community and more profit for devs in return then I don't think that's a major issue here. There will always be games made to take advantage of Keyboard and Mouse.

@Cloud_imperium: As I mentioned in a previous post, it's no secret Valve has been working on L4D3 for awhile now, but your post made a light bulb turn on. I fully expect L4D3 to get the TF2/Dota/CS:GO treatment. Meaning, tradeable items, crates, keys, etc. etc. It's a business model they are extremely good at. I wouldn't doubt if L4D3 is like $20.

I dont think so.

First Person shooters were never a risk.... their biggest I.P was literally a safe upgrade to a known forumular that was destined to happen regardless.

@indzman: this the no half life 3, is bullshit.

Lazy devs would rather sit and rack in hat money , promoting multiplayer only crap then make their own single play games.

Screw u gaben.

@sherman-tank1: for me that sucks. I cant stand mobas or any genre that forces coop, with out having ai options as an alternative. I also hated warcraft 3 as an rts but loved wc2 and rise of nations, starcraft, empire eaeth, age of empires and conapny of heroes.

Real rts is dead and i hate that. Ita the mobas fault.

At least i still have new single player 4x games like civ5, Homm, kings bounty, Galactic civ 3, etc...

Again screw u gaben... release halflife 3 and all will be good in the world.

If sony can get out last guadian, ff7 remake and shenmue 3 to their system you can make a game that is 8 years over due.

If blizzard can releas diablo 3 a decade later,.there is no excuse.... besides greed and gaben stuffing his face instead of coding.

For me HL3 is just another game to add to the stack of loved franchises that are dead in the water. It's just a fact. I'm not going to cry about it, HL2 wasn't so good I couldn't go without it. Let it go.

valve is pc gaming to hate valve is to hate pc

The way they neglect Half-Life 3 and dismiss Counter-Strike...

Yes.

@intotheminx: I wonder if Valve will make L4D3 a SteamOS/PC exclusive since they're pretty much pro PC gaming and have their own OS and line of machines they need to promote. Porting CSGO to consoles was pretty damn pointless but L4D actually has some value on consoles.

No. Not like EA. But you'd be fooling yourself if you thought Valve wasn't just another money-hungry publisher.

Konami though... yeah, I'd say they are on EA's level.

That has crossed my mind as well. I'm not sure if it would be dumb or brilliant. I'm sure they would miss out on sales if they wen't the Steam OS route.

They still make games these days?

No for some reason TF hats are seen as a positive form of microtransaction. Thus Valve is still very much loved.

Pretty sure Aaron Eckhart didn't say that.

EA > Valve

Sooooo hyped for Mass Effect and Battlefront.

Only because you can sell them for steam credits. Just like those stupid card packs... why do some people pay money for this shit?

Valve are kinda boring to be honest.