- makingStuffForFun ( @makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml ) 114•5 months ago
Valve is an online store first and foremost. Apples and oranges. The rest are playing catchup, as they’ve seen gabe get rich and fat, and they want in on that.
- john89 ( @john89@lemmy.ca ) 2•5 months ago
Valve is a multi-faceted company with its hands in many pies.
- Echo Dot ( @echodot@feddit.uk ) 1•5 months ago
New euphemism for fat.
- Blackmist ( @Blackmist@feddit.uk ) 36•5 months ago
Well that explains why they don’t make many games.
- john89 ( @john89@lemmy.ca ) 3•5 months ago
I heard half life alyx was pretty good. I also heard rumors that they’re making a TF2 successor. Also, didn’t a new counter-strike just come out?
Still, you have a point. Artifact was a disgusting trend-chasing cashgrab. They still haven’t commented on Half life 3, which is despicable behavior imo.
- Charzard4261 ( @Charzard4261@programming.dev ) 5•5 months ago
Don’t let any TF2 fan hear you call Deadlock its successor. It appears to be Overwatch gameplay mixed with Moba style map layouts.
But yeah HL:A was indeed amazing.
- Blackmist ( @Blackmist@feddit.uk ) 4•5 months ago
Alyx is great. Probably the closest thing to Half Life 3 we’re going to get. But even that’s four years old now.
- Zetta ( @Zetta@mander.xyz ) 2•5 months ago
I think we’ll get more half life but not for 5 - 10 years
- Zetta ( @Zetta@mander.xyz ) 2•5 months ago
Half life alyx was great, and they are not making a TF2 successor. They are making an overwatch looking game, TF2 will be better still and I will continue to play TF2. (I’m the TF2 fan the comment below said not to let hear you, the only video game I play is TF2)
- john89 ( @john89@lemmy.ca ) 19•5 months ago
You legitimately don’t need a lot of employees to make a good product or have a successful company.
I genuinely believe a lot of the bloat in modern companies comes from hiring people just to hire them, not because they add any significant value to either the company or customers.
- whoisearth ( @whoisearth@lemmy.ca ) 21•5 months ago
I want to add to this that valve is also very clearly an anomaly in todays business environment. They are not striving for infinite growth but methodical, strategic steady growth.
- theitalianweeb ( @theitalianweeb@feddit.it ) 8•5 months ago
That in my mind is how you grow a company, maximising returns for investors is a good idea only for the investors, it deviates the company from the objective which is providing a solution to a problem. It seems to me that Valve despite all the criticism it receives for the high fee on the sales of copies is doing a terrific job on resolving that problem. Also, extending the market to Linux is not a monetary driven decision at all, but it buys back the fidelity of many customers which gain a new feature without any repercussion on stock prices, which are non existent since there aren’t any investors to obey to. The hope is that Gabe will continue on this way and when the problem of passing the baton will present itself, it will be dealt with the future of the company and the industry at large in mind.
- averyminya ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 6•5 months ago
It seems to me that Valve despite all the criticism it receives for the high fee on the sales of copies is doing a terrific job on resolving that problem.
The only issue I have with this is that Valve seems to be the only company that gets this critique, yet they seem to provide way more services for said 30% fee.
Apple started charging 30% on everything over two decades ago with iTunes, which continued into their app store in 2008. They only recently started a “small business program” that is application based, reportedly unresponsive to the users, and by default still charges 30% to app developers making under $1m in revenue. So, instead of making it based on how much you earn, they force you to apply and ignore you, effectively still making it a 30% base rate. IMO, sort of predatory since they don’t really advertise the program. I feel like if it mattered to them, they would automatically apply the rate to >$1m revenue, instead of making it per-app (or dev account) application based and letting users sit in limbo wondering if they were accepted or not.
Google takes 30% as well, also having introduced a 15% on the first million of revenue for subscription based payments, so if I understand correctly, it’s not even individual sales getting that lowered rate. Oh, but don’t worry, in case you were worried music streaming services can go as low as 10% rates, so if you have a datacenter that you can stream licensed music to app users over well hey, you’re in luck little guy!
Microsoft actually moved down from 30% entirely to 12%, it looks like. They don’t really offer much, so good on them for that. Know your worth, am I right? But it’s only for PC sales, which seems kind of odd considering the hassle it can be to apply and develop for the Xbox. So, not as good, but still alright. Meanwhile, Sony and Nintendo… (30%). Hm, odd that it never seems to be raised as an issue for the consoles, oh well.
All of these were pushed by Epic who was mad they couldn’t make more money off their mobile game, except Microsoft which I think just followed suit. But from the backend when you look at what each of these services offer for their costs… It’s a bit laughable that Valve is the one getting critiqued for this point when they offer at least double the amount of services to the publisher/developer. In short, these fees cover the cost of a bunch of background junk as well as to generate some revenue for the store selling it, but don’t offer much else in terms of support for the users or the developers. Meanwhile the Steam Overlay can completely change your controller scheme, use community templates, access to per-game notes, all of which can be transparently overlaid on your game if you want, and the Steam Workshop for internal modding/community content, in addition to whatever other peripheral things like cloud saving, in-home/remote streaming and remote play together, the recently added recording feature, and generating as many Steam keys as the dev wants for certain purposes.
I just do a double take everytime I see it not being directed at the companies that actually do seem to be abusing their fees and don’t offer nearly as much feature presence. Like Valve seems to be attempting to innovate, even if they are just taking ideas from things like Moonlight, and Parsec. They didn’t lock it down either, you can jank it up by playing Non-Steam games or emulated games via Remote Play Together with your friends. Ever wanted to relive the days of DoubleDash? Did Slippi not exist in this timeline and you wanted to play Smash Melee with a friend?
Like, there’s things to complain about for Valve. But is the 30% for what they offer really unreasonable, especially when compared to current competitors? I personally don’t think so. If Epic wants to start making their launcher as fully fledged as Steam is then we can talk. Until then, when I see this argument presented I have a hard time reading it as anything but “big Valve bad” with the subtle implication that Epic is the saving grace of the gaming industry. Otherwise, Epic is able to offer 12% because they don’t host nearly as much for the user, and have had to actively rely on Valve for things like community support, VR support, and don’t have basic things like repair game installations, or re-installing a game in its folder (you know, to prevent having to redownload 90+gb every time their launcher breaks the game). It’s also hard to see them as a good guy when they also have had shady practices, such as not paying out devs per claim during the “Free Claim” giveaways, but rather only upon when the user actually downloads the game. In addition to that, they just throw tons of money at you to make it exclusive, then they ghost you and good luck getting any actual support from them if you need something.
Tl;Dr hypocrisy of picking what 30% fees are okay and which are screwing over game developers, I look at it from the perspective of received services for said fee.
P.S. to OP of comment, I am merely responding to you, I know your comment isn’t saying that Valve or any of these companies are at fault for it. Franky, I don’t think 30% is an issue if the fee that’s taken has fair returns for it, and I think this whole fandango is only an “issue” at all because of mad old Tim Sweeny.
- theitalianweeb ( @theitalianweeb@feddit.it ) 2•5 months ago
I meant terrific in a positive way, if that’s the issue. I’m still learning English, if I expressed myself in the wrong manner I hope the message gets across. I’m saying that Valve is doing a good job providing extensive services to developers, since it means less of a burden for developers in programming and implementing features. A launcher isn’t only a place to make available for download your product, as Sweeney seems to understand it.
- averyminya ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 1•5 months ago
Oh no at all! As I said I was merely responding :)
- Blackmist ( @Blackmist@feddit.uk ) 3•5 months ago
They’re not beholden to investors, so the company can be exactly as big as Gabe thinks he can manage.
- NaoPb ( @NaoPb@eviltoast.org ) 18•5 months ago
And one of their employes doesn’t have depth perception.
- bitfucker ( @bitfucker@programming.dev ) 10•5 months ago
I personally think that if valve with their size managed to make a game and maintain their infrastructure for other publishers to use, wtf did the competitor do this whole time?
- john89 ( @john89@lemmy.ca ) 13•5 months ago
wtf did the competitor do this whole time?
It’s definitely a cultural problem. Companies like EA are completely clueless on the needs or desires of the average gamer. Their idea is to shape those needs and desires how they see fit. It’s why they spend so much on advertising and viral marketing rather than making good products.
- onlinepersona ( @onlinepersona@programming.dev ) 5•5 months ago
Pay their management big bucks aka distribute money to the least qualified.
- JackbyDev ( @JackbyDev@programming.dev ) 9•5 months ago
This is like comparing Spotify and Taylor Swift.
- AAA ( @AAA@feddit.org ) 8•5 months ago
Well, they don’t develop any games. You don’t require a lot of people to run a store.
“Their” last game, Counter Strike Global Offensive, is 12 years old, and was developed by a contractor: Hidden Path Entertainment. Ony then Valve took over to maintain it. And anyone familiar with the current situation around the game (CS2) knows how much “development” is going on there.
- KillingTimeItself ( @KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 12•5 months ago
ok well this is just wrong.
HLA definitely counts, and CS2 IS the current game their working on and making.
HLA was also an extrememly popular game.
- AAA ( @AAA@feddit.org ) 1•5 months ago
My bad with HLA. But CS2 is a glorified engine update, and is not even near the features CSGO had. In the current state the game is a mess.
Sure they are working on it. All 3 three developers. Which is exactly my point. It’s impossible to compare valve to the other studios, because valve isn’t making games anymore. They just happen to own some eternal IPs where the fan base (myself included) eats their shit.
- KillingTimeItself ( @KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 2•5 months ago
its a little more than an engine update, and you’re forgetting that a game engine is like 80% of the game itself.
It also updates maps, and map textures, which is another like 10% of the game, and the rest would be like, actual gameplay, which CS players don’t want to change, and uh, i believe they did.
Even when they did make games (portal) for example, they literally contracted a uni team that was making it for a project.
- AAA ( @AAA@feddit.org ) 1•5 months ago
In another comment you say yourself they are not developing games. What’s your point? You’re just arguing to argue now.
CS 2 and is missing key features, a working anticheat included, and is not getting any meaningful content for months (the missing features included).
- KillingTimeItself ( @KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 1•5 months ago
In another comment you say yourself they are not developing games.
i did?
If you’re talking about the comparison to a triple A game studio, yeah they aren’t a triple A game studio, they aren’t making a fucking witcher 4. This is like comparing fucking BMW to some guy who creates gokarts in his spare time because he thinks it’s fun.
Regardless, an indie game team of about 3 people can produce a really good game. I’m surprised you seem to think valve isn’t more than a small indie team managing more than one game.
Every game ever is missing a working anticheat. They’re probably not doing large content releases because their busy working on the fucking anticheat :)
- KillingTimeItself ( @KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 6•5 months ago
a non game development company not developing games is smaller than a game development company that develops games?
That’s weird…
- Echo Dot ( @echodot@feddit.uk ) 1•5 months ago
I’m pretty sure my local pub has fewer employees than EA as well I’m just not really sure what the relevance of it is.
- KillingTimeItself ( @KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 1•5 months ago
funny, huh?
- wieson ( @wieson@feddit.org ) 2•5 months ago
Alligatoah looking ahh
- ILikeBoobies ( @ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ) 1•5 months ago
If they’re looking at employee count then I worry that Valve isn’t going to lose this
- Echo Dot ( @echodot@feddit.uk ) 1•5 months ago
Who on Earth is surprised by that. Primarily a store front most of their staff will be customer support.
- blindsight ( @blindsight@beehaw.org ) 1•5 months ago
I don’t think they have many employees in customer support; I think they outsource almost all of that work.