Watch out Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Valve Corporation is willing to enter the hardware business if it's necessary to keep the industry's creative juices flowing. Half-Life 3 for SteamBox confirmed?
"If we have to sell hardware we will," co-founder and MD Gabe Newell commented to Penny Arcade in an interview (thanks IGN). "We have no reason to believe we're any good at it; it's more we think that we need to continue to have innovation, and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that's what we'll do."
In the event, Valve would incorporate lessons from its pioneering software development biz. "We're thinking of trying to figure out how to do the equivalent of the [Team Fortress] incremental approach in software design and try to figure out how would you get something similar to that in the hardware space as well.
Newell added later: "we just need to figure out how we can start giving these to customers and iterating on the design quickly enough without having to go off and buy ten million of them and then find out we did something mildly stupid and then having to throw them all away and start over."
Console manufacturers need to open their arms to the internet's possibilities, Newell urged, now that proprietary tech is less of a factor. "Internally developed proprietary graphics solutions on the consoles, they're all gone - everything in the console space is coming from the PC now, and I think that we really need to see the same thing in terms of just general attitudes about platforms."
"I would push them very hard to stop thinking of themselves as being a platform for everything that already exists and start betting on the inventiveness and the benefits that you would get by embracing a more open approach to the internet and game delivery and game business models and things like that."
What sort of machine would you like Valve to make? And more importantly, would Episode 3 be a launch game?
4 comments so far...
pauloselhombre on 20 Feb '12 said:
The problem is, any console Valve make would probably end up using Steam and as such would be a DRM riddled nightmare. No thanks.
SidTheSloth on 20 Feb '12 said:
They ironed out most of the issues with Steam years ago, it's pretty awesome now to be honest, loads of deals etc. IF you haven't tried it in a while i suggest you do because a lot has changed. I was put off by it a long time ago and my PC dedicated friends have shown me the error of my ways. Works well on both my mac and PC (well, bootcamp equivalent)
Grummy on 20 Feb '12 said:
They want to protect innovation and creativity, I can respect that and wholeheartedly support that, but moving into the hardware market is not the way to go about it. A steambox console could be interesting, but they could also adapt steam for direct to TV gaming and take the hardware out of it completely. Moving into the hardware market means they would have to deal with all the big name publishers and dev houses, EA, Acti etc are the corps that are using the mass marketing approach of selling rinse and repeat games for full price, they are harming the innovation and creativity that valve want to protect, developing a console and having to deal with them directly won't change that.
What Valve need to do is start taking a leaf out of Mojang and Notches book, start funding small and start up developers with little view to making huge profit, but a grander view to getting these new devs and their games in public. I swear, if I had a million quid to spare, I'd openly give some to a small indy studio who have a great idea for a game, but needed start up money, and I wouldn't ask for a lions share of the profits either, I'd simply ask to first take back the money I put in to the development, then take a 10% cut of the profits and let them take the rest. It might be a lot, it might not, but it'd be something, they'd have a game out there and have a chance and making another, perhaps even becoming self funded after that first game. Its a way to help this industry grow again. And the important thing is that gamers WILL support it. Minecraft is the obvious example, made from essentially no money to begin with, it took an open and honest developer with a great idea working with the gaming community to make it work, and it has, selling 5 million copies now and hasn't even hit Live yet. And to show he is true to his word, Notch hasn't just taken the money and run with it, he's offered to work with double fine to fund psychonauts 2. Speaking of double fine, they recently did something similar, had people pay money for them to make a point and click adventure. They wanted something like £100K and got about £1 million, because, again, gamers will support the industry when the industry is true and open with us. Even better than this, this weekend Mojang was running a 'make a game in 60 hours' deal. I'm not sure if people had to pay for it or not in the end, but it was well publicized and the trick was that they built the game taking the most and least popular game ideas voted for by gamers, then marrying them together. Notch ended up making an Egyptian Steampunk RTS shooter. It sounds ridiculous, but it actually works well. He never finished a full thing, but he get one level working-including 2 person multiplayer- and it was actually a lot of fun. THAT is what games development is about, working with the gamers, being innovative and creative. A cracking little game made in 60 hours, taking the money you get from promotion and sales of your game and using it to help others in the industry with their games and ideas, a thriving and growing community. If Valve want to protect all that is good and great about this industry, that is where they need to start.
CunningSmile on 21 Feb '12 said:
The biggest problem with a Valve made console is that they would announce it for 2013, delay it until 2014 and in 2015 deny all knowledge of ever having suggested it. But at least they would delay it with tongue in cheek jokes and haikus