Blue's News: Comments - Valve on Acquisiiton

Valve on Being Acquired

[Aug 05, 2008, 09:20 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

A Q&A with Valve's Lombardi Gamasutra from yesterday (thanks Ant and Play.tm) makes mention of Valve's openness to being acquired, though it seems like this is more an answer to a hypothetical question, rather than an indication that a deal for the developer is in the works. On being acquired Lombardi says they are "happy to have that conversation," but adds: "By the same token, the company's doing pretty well, and we're really happy with what we're doing, So we'll see. I mean, anything is possible." The remainder of that piece concentrates on heaping praise on Electronic Arts. The main body of the Q&A is posted separately on Gamasutra, focusing on Valve's acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios and progress on Left 4 Dead.

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41.	No subject	Aug 12, 2008, 02:27	Tanto Edge
	Yes, robbing people is not socially acceptable, herego you have to do it through a corporation.




	_________________________________________________ http://www.technocraftonline.com - My online repository of portfolio elements. Web design, 3D Characters for XSI, and game levels.

40.	Re: No subject	Aug 6, 2008, 13:46	DG
	Money is one of those things where no matter where you're at, you're always looking at the next rung up. No matter how much you've got, there's nothing wrong with wanting more, the issue is how you go about it.

39.	Re: ...	Aug 6, 2008, 08:44	dryden555
	"it bears pointing out that Valve co-founders Gabe and Mike Harrington had boatloads of money before forming Valve" Sorry, but Bill Gates is not a meaningful comparison to the execs at Valve! Do you realize just how wealthy Gates is? Valve execs are looking at options for a big payday and then early retirement. More power to them. If they dont like what options they see, they wont bite.

38.	Re: No subject	Aug 5, 2008, 21:41	Fang
	Interestingly, no one has mentioned Microsoft as a potential buyer... Given Valve's founders history with Microsoft, and Valve's commitment to the Windows platform and the 360, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some interest. They would have to merge Games for Windows Live and Steam, but given how GfW Live is going, that should be pretty easy. (ie. shut it down and switch everything over to Steam).

37.	Re: Valve	Aug 5, 2008, 21:35	kxmode
	More like... Drip, drip, drip, drip, EA turns the faucet ... ----- http://www.gamemusicjukebox.com/ Game p/reviewer for http://www.gameindustry.com/




	end-of-line

36.	Re: Valve	Aug 5, 2008, 19:44	Cutter
	R.I.P. Valve. Valve, O'Valve, we hardly knew ye. "I couldn't stay away. Curse your rockin' tits!" - Gerald Broflovski




	The Ballad of Gay Tony

35.	Unseen Forces	Aug 5, 2008, 18:31	FLY
	http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p293/JAD1176/EAValve2.jpg Hints&Quotes: We were told by G-Man to "prepare for unforeseen consequences." "some interesting offers for Gordon's services"... -G-Man "the highest bidder" -Dr. Breen talking about the theory that Gordon Freeman is hired out by G-Man. G-Man considers Alyx a worthy "investment". -See the new Fakefactory CM8 mod for more..ahem..details. "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world." -G-Man referring to you and how you can stop this OR let it stay it's course.

34.	Briefcase?	Aug 5, 2008, 18:28	FLY
	What's in the briefcase that G-Man has? This message was edited at Aug 5, 18:35.

33.	No subject	Aug 5, 2008, 18:15	Hump
	you have to have fucking rocks in your head if you are a successful developer and wish to go with a publicly traded company. How much money do you need FFS?




	---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Insert pretentious atheist rant here."

32.	...	Aug 5, 2008, 17:33	theyarecomingforyou
	it bears pointing out that Valve co-founders Gabe and Mike Harrington had boatloads of money before forming Valve Exactly. Valve is a successful company with a great reputation and an innovative business model (much like Blizard, though that's a worrying comparison). Its owners already have a lot of money and presumably a high quality of life, which means there isn't much benefit to selling up - it makes more sense to be doing something with their lives. Bill Gates worked for Microsoft for an incredibly long time considering that he was the richest man in the world... obviously money isn't all important (especially when you already have bucketloads). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn This message was edited at Aug 5, 17:34.




	Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz, n00bdog and Twonky" society CPU upgrade? Check. Graphics upgrade? Not sure. I can wait for DX11 or grab a second 4870 now... or do both. Hmmm.

31.	Re: No subject	Aug 5, 2008, 17:30	Dagok
	Earlier I was in the middle of posting the same thing Blue just posted, when the site went down and couldn't be bothered to repost. If Gabe wanted to ride off into the sunset with bags of money, he could have done that a long time ago. As for Moozilla...thanks for making it clear to everyone that you, like many others, didn't bother to read beyond the headline or the small quotes in the story. ---------------------------------------------------- Civilization Revolution, Grand Theft Auto IV, GRID PSN ID= Puscifer73 "Blues News" Steam Community... http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/




	Currently playing: WoW-WoTLK, Left 4 Dead, Nazi Zombies. Blues News- http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/

30.	Re: EA EA EA	Aug 5, 2008, 17:27	zirik
	And people laughed when I said EA is going to buy Valve your turn to laugh... laugh i said!

29.	Re: No subject	Aug 5, 2008, 17:20	Blue
	Mr Tact has it right. The top execs at Valve are scoping the most obvious way to score a huge pile of $$ now that they are in the 40-50's age bracket. Then they'll happily leave Valve within 6 months after the buyout. I can't say that this isn't the case, but it bears pointing out that Valve co-founders Gabe and Mike Harrington had boatloads of money before forming Valve as before that they were both low-numbered employees at Microsoft.




	Stephen "Blue" Heaslip Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life

28.	EA EA EA	Aug 5, 2008, 17:16	mOOzilla
	And people laughed when I said EA is going to buy Valve




	---- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQaj31Wtko

27.	Meh	Aug 5, 2008, 16:16	Fausticle
	I would like to see what would happen if EA bought up everything. Would it collapse under its own weight?




	~For every prayer HellSlayer makes to his nonexistent God, I shall eat a kitten.

26.	EA NO	Aug 5, 2008, 14:50	kxmode
	This is not good for competition if EA gets their paws on Steam. ----- http://www.gamemusicjukebox.com/ Game p/reviewer for http://www.gameindustry.com/




	end-of-line

25.	all I know is	Aug 5, 2008, 14:46	Verno
	I'd much rather use Steam than the "EA Link" or "EA Downloader", in fact I refuse to use the latter at all. I don't mind some EA products but they don't have a great track record for incorporating purchased technology into their products. They bought up some MMO technology and IPs, all of those are long dead. Their "portal" site has seen something like 5 different versions just in the past two years. EA Downloader/Link has gone through 4 major revisions and is still absolutely terrible compared to Steam. Doesn't leave room for a lot of confidence in a theoretical acquisition. I hope this is indeed all just hypothetical stuff.

24.	Re: Valve	Aug 5, 2008, 13:27	Tumbler
	What exactly do you think they are doing now? They just acquired Turtle Rock, all their games have been 1st party, most of which began as mod or third party development ideas and Valve bought/hired the staff/IP. So I'm sure Vale will thank you for suggesting to do exactly what they are already doing! In my opinion they are flirting with this direction and have not committed to it. They do offer many games through steam which is great but they have not gotten exclusive publishing rights for any large titles. I'd like them to change that and start picking up studios the same way the other publishers do in order to attract more customers and bring in more revenue. This is a choice that many business owners will face and it boils down to money. Do you want to continue risking the potential value of your company or sell what you have now and let someone else risk their money? The 2nd option involves less risk and less potential return in the future. The 1st option involves more risk and more portential reward in the future. The movie, "There Will Be Blood", had an excellent scene where that guy had to make a choice, sell his land to the oil company and make millions (a ton of money at that time) or do it all himself and make hundreds of millions. So many companies today choose to just get out and let someone else get all the money and that is a dead end street for the types of games I love. You see what EA and such does to the studios it picks up. There is no telling what will happen if Valve expands, they may fold and go under and never be seen again, they may grow into another EA, or they may grow into a great computer game company/publisher that we've never seen. But in business if you're not growing you're business, you're going out of business. Either keep growing or close up shop because it never stays the same. You have always got to adapt and keep moving. Take new risks, go after new customers. Staying with the same old stuff is why companies fail.




	Ironclad FANBOI! & Stardock too!

23.	Re: Goodbye Valve?	Aug 5, 2008, 13:21	DG
	EA buying Valve would be a crazy deal. They'd basically get the game IP's, game tech, some staff and the Steam technology. The game IP's aren't exactly fresh, I can't imagine there's much room for growth even with EA annualised versions. The game tech may offer some real value since they could take it to other EA titles, but it's not like they are leaps and bounds ahead. The leading men would leg it pronto, their only reason to sell is to retire or get capital to go it alone again (can't see that). All the other publishers would walk away from Steam if EA controlled it. They'd be left with the smaller guys who have done really well from it, and independent devs (who would walk soon as EA started upping their cut). EA already has EA Link and could anyway use Steam if it wanted. It's easy to imagine EA salivating over Valve and Steam but it'd be beyond kidding themselves to consider it anything other than an asset-stripping exercise - and one that they'd be paying quite the premium for. Though I suppose it's plausable for EA to buy Valve without or to spin off Steam. I doubt venture capitalists would be into the shrinking PC gaming market but someone with balls might be thinking use the tech for movies. Maybe existing people at Valve would continue Steam. That's plausable business, especially if as part of the deal EA dumps EA link and uses Steam. This message was edited at Aug 5, 13:30.

22.	Re: No subject	Aug 5, 2008, 13:13	SirKnight
	The day Valve is taken over by EA (or anyone like them really) is the day I stop buying Valve games.

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