I mean they have continuously been developing Steam as a platform, it's really awesome compared to what it used to be.
Could they put more effort into making games/better support systems/more creative endeavors? Sure, but then they'd have less money to spend on their families and knife collections. Oh, and Dota.
I imagine there are several money-gargling development black holes going on inside Valve where they do some half-assed stuff and then go "eh, fuck it" and scrap the whole thing.
Their whole company culture seems to be "nobody wants to do the boring bits, so we'll just put the whole project on hold".
I mean DoTA2 and the International alone brings in a shit ton of money.
Like so the prize pool this year was 24 million. 1.5 million of that is just Valve putting upfront money. The rest is from people buying compendiums. Its like ~25% of compendium sales go to that prize pull so they made like $75 million on just compendium sales. I mean minus cost of running and stuff TI was probably like $50 million in profit alone.
0
ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
I have a client who communicates exclusively via Microsoft Word.
If she has something to tell me, I’ll receive an email with nothing in the body, but a Word doc attached. That’s where she writes her message.
Whenever she wants to email me a photo, she does so via an empty Word doc with said photo set as its background.
But my favorite thing was the first time I witnessed her visiting a website. She had me spell the URL (“W… W… W… dot…”) and with my own two eyes I watched her type it into Word, made it a hyperlink, and Ctrl click it to go there.
I was so fascinated I didn’t even say anything.
0
LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
They need an actual chain of command for that to happen. Look I am I pretty liberal pro worker but the do what you want no bosses or titles only works in a small business where it's literally everyone's dream to accomplish X.
Valve now has giant buckets of cash and resources so everyone is chasing their own dreams that may be shot down by gabe but they're allowed to keep doing that thing.
Humans don't need an iron fist but they do need structure to accomplish goals.
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
I wonder if GabeN has a money bin.
+1
LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
If valve was doing poorly Gabe would change shit. He's a very smart man. Valve is doing very well so he isn't compelled to change shit.
Valve isn't benevolent because their steam policies are not pro customer at all, but I believe Gabe is probably a good guy that believes in his fairytale corporate structure. Smart talent and IP acquisitions have lead to massive success but they can't rest on their laurels forever.
The atrophy of the Halflife franchise both Gordon's story and Portal is a mistake that will eventually catch up with them.
And when Gabe dies or retires...Lordy. Valve could become a powerhouse with a more traditional leader or an even more vicious EA.
If valve was doing poorly Gabe would change shit. He's a very smart man. Valve is doing very well so he isn't compelled to change shit.
Valve isn't benevolent because their steam policies are not pro customer at all, but I believe Gabe is probably a good guy that believes in his fairytale corporate structure. Smart talent and IP acquisitions have lead to massive success but they can't rest on their laurels forever.
The atrophy of the Halflife franchise both Gordon's story and Portal is a mistake that will eventually catch up with them.
And when Gabe dies or retires...Lordy. Valve could become a powerhouse with a more traditional leader or an even more vicious EA.
Do not trust in benevolent kings for their children are always tyrants.
Although based on my Twitter it seems like they are all pretty fairly anti NFL now which absolutely fucking boggles my mind.
It's a fucking cult of personality it is terrifying
It is.
But at the same most of the country still prefers their football to the orange colored man thing. At the same time I am not a fan of the NFL for the whole fact it is basically a blood sport so I guess I get a nice snub at Trump and also maybe poke the NFL to cripple their players a little less if ratings fall?
The second won't happen I know.
0
ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
$58 power bill this month
so nice to live in a house with insulation in the walls
so nice to live in a house with insulation in the walls
plus windows that were probably put in in this century
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
+1
LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
edited September 2017
That said I love steam but recognize the problem with my games being locked in a vault the company has to give me access to. I'm not naive to that. I know GoG exists and occasionally bite on a gog sale but god damn it steam is just too convenient.
I guess it's because for me they're just video games that I prolly won't play again at a certain point so I don't fret over the day valve goes fins up or full evil.
That said I totally get anti steam folks. I get it. I just am apathetic and have enough disposable income not to care.
I spent $30 on an iPhone game I really like last night.
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
The bullshit surrounding Jeri Ellsworth's departure from Valve was all I needed to know about their structure and why its all bullshit.
tl;dr cliques, scared to be apart of a failed project and not willing to hire grunts for grunt work.
No structure and cliques form. It's inevitable. Gabe is just too idealistic but the buck stops at him and all of their out the door product has made $$$$$$ so convincing him otherwise is laughable.
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
lets say it is 70/30 for most folks.
valve keeps 30%.
they have 1.2 billion dollars per year after the first cut.
I assume they easily spend at least 200 mil on salary, real estate, data center / bandwidth utilization, promotionals like DOTA championships, etc.
So while they don't have a billion a year to play with, they probably, after uncle sam, clear 500million in profit.
Which is fucking amazing for a company that barely makes anything and just acts as the storefront for others.
syndalis on
SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
+3
ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
The bullshit surrounding Jeri Ellsworth's departure from Valve was all I needed to know about their structure and why its all bullshit.
tl;dr cliques, scared to be apart of a failed project and not willing to hire grunts for grunt work.
No structure and cliques form. It's inevitable. Gabe is just too idealistic but the buck stops at him and all of their out the door product has made $$$$$$ so convincing him otherwise is laughable.
i also don't think it's unique to valve; at any organization there are going to be in-groups and politics to navigate
i would be very, very surprised if you found any kind of ideal setting in game development; the indies are maybe better from a work relations perspective, but those also aren't making 10 digits in revenue most of the time
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
I kind of "hmmmmmmmmmmm" a lot when companies hide behind dividend payouts as "not having profits" though. So even if GabeN eats 3/4 of that extra profit with his bank account as an executive payout, it still feels disingenuous to say "yeah we only made 50k in profits this year" like some companies pretend they do.
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
If valve was doing poorly Gabe would change shit. He's a very smart man. Valve is doing very well so he isn't compelled to change shit.
Valve isn't benevolent because their steam policies are not pro customer at all, but I believe Gabe is probably a good guy that believes in his fairytale corporate structure. Smart talent and IP acquisitions have lead to massive success but they can't rest on their laurels forever.
The atrophy of the Halflife franchise both Gordon's story and Portal is a mistake that will eventually catch up with them.
And when Gabe dies or retires...Lordy. Valve could become a powerhouse with a more traditional leader or an even more vicious EA.
Do not trust in benevolent kings for their children are always tyrants.
True, I can't think of anybody who earns "The Great" whose immediate successors don't screw it up
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
lets say it is 70/30 for most folks.
valve keeps 30%.
they have 1.2 billion dollars per year after the first cut.
I assume they easily spend at least 200 mil on salary, real estate, data center / bandwidth utilization, promotionals like DOTA championships, etc.
So while they don't have a billion a year to play with, they probably, after uncle sam, clear 500million in profit.
Which is fucking amazing for a company that barely makes anything and just acts as the storefront for others.
They actually make money on TI. The pay out on that is actually from a percentage of sales of a specific item.
The other majors and stuff are not prize supported by valve but by individual leagues and sponsors. Really only Blizzard with the new OW/HoTS/Hearthstone stuff and League are the games where prize support is from the company.
Also remember Valve gets kick backs from Counter Strike tourneys as well.
The bullshit surrounding Jeri Ellsworth's departure from Valve was all I needed to know about their structure and why its all bullshit.
tl;dr cliques, scared to be apart of a failed project and not willing to hire grunts for grunt work.
No structure and cliques form. It's inevitable. Gabe is just too idealistic but the buck stops at him and all of their out the door product has made $$$$$$ so convincing him otherwise is laughable.
i also don't think it's unique to valve; at any organization there are going to be in-groups and politics to navigate
i would be very, very surprised if you found any kind of ideal setting in game development; the indies are maybe better from a work relations perspective, but those also aren't making 10 digits in revenue most of the time
Would a professional or informal structure make this decrease? You're definitely right about cliques showing up regardless.
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
lets say it is 70/30 for most folks.
valve keeps 30%.
they have 1.2 billion dollars per year after the first cut.
I assume they easily spend at least 200 mil on salary, real estate, data center / bandwidth utilization, promotionals like DOTA championships, etc.
So while they don't have a billion a year to play with, they probably, after uncle sam, clear 500million in profit.
Which is fucking amazing for a company that barely makes anything and just acts as the storefront for others.
That also assumes that all of that money is payout to game developers, and ignores how much money they generate from CS:GO, DOTA, and TF2's markets, which is 100% profit for them.
That "4 billion in revenue" is likely just from what they make from acting as that storefront, their actual revenue is probably another 1-2 billion on top of that maybe?
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
0
ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
Posts
*sigh*
Could they put more effort into making games/better support systems/more creative endeavors? Sure, but then they'd have less money to spend on their families and knife collections. Oh, and Dota.
Their whole company culture seems to be "nobody wants to do the boring bits, so we'll just put the whole project on hold".
Like so the prize pool this year was 24 million. 1.5 million of that is just Valve putting upfront money. The rest is from people buying compendiums. Its like ~25% of compendium sales go to that prize pull so they made like $75 million on just compendium sales. I mean minus cost of running and stuff TI was probably like $50 million in profit alone.
@Hakkekage was that you i was hearing in the background asking @BEAST! if he fucked it up for us again?
it actually wasn't his fault like 80 of the times we failed
Valve now has giant buckets of cash and resources so everyone is chasing their own dreams that may be shot down by gabe but they're allowed to keep doing that thing.
Humans don't need an iron fist but they do need structure to accomplish goals.
It's pretty high.
We don't know for sure. It is a private company so they don't have to really release shit.
Their total revenue was almost 4 billion, which they did release.
So, probably at least 1 billion in profit.
I wonder if GabeN has a money bin.
Valve isn't benevolent because their steam policies are not pro customer at all, but I believe Gabe is probably a good guy that believes in his fairytale corporate structure. Smart talent and IP acquisitions have lead to massive success but they can't rest on their laurels forever.
The atrophy of the Halflife franchise both Gordon's story and Portal is a mistake that will eventually catch up with them.
And when Gabe dies or retires...Lordy. Valve could become a powerhouse with a more traditional leader or an even more vicious EA.
It's a fucking cult of personality it is terrifying
Do not trust in benevolent kings for their children are always tyrants.
It is.
But at the same most of the country still prefers their football to the orange colored man thing. At the same time I am not a fan of the NFL for the whole fact it is basically a blood sport so I guess I get a nice snub at Trump and also maybe poke the NFL to cripple their players a little less if ratings fall?
The second won't happen I know.
so nice to live in a house with insulation in the walls
plus windows that were probably put in in this century
I guess it's because for me they're just video games that I prolly won't play again at a certain point so I don't fret over the day valve goes fins up or full evil.
That said I totally get anti steam folks. I get it. I just am apathetic and have enough disposable income not to care.
I spent $30 on an iPhone game I really like last night.
Err...I would expect a lot of pass through monies in their revenue stream. A 25% profit on revenue feels like it would be pretty high when they only keep 30% of that revenue.
(I'm assuming that revenue is all money spent on steam and then needs to cover payouts to the developers of the games.)
yeah, i have two that need replacing still but all the others are brand new
i was definitely to blame my fair share of times
that fucking psion on the left in the second to last group was the main cause of wipes due to inside team...that invisible to me piece of shit
tl;dr cliques, scared to be apart of a failed project and not willing to hire grunts for grunt work.
Also in the winter.
But this summer was brutal considering we had a few weeks with multiple days where the heat index was around 105-110.
So if anyone wants to play today LET ME KNOW
No structure and cliques form. It's inevitable. Gabe is just too idealistic but the buck stops at him and all of their out the door product has made $$$$$$ so convincing him otherwise is laughable.
lets say it is 70/30 for most folks.
valve keeps 30%.
they have 1.2 billion dollars per year after the first cut.
I assume they easily spend at least 200 mil on salary, real estate, data center / bandwidth utilization, promotionals like DOTA championships, etc.
So while they don't have a billion a year to play with, they probably, after uncle sam, clear 500million in profit.
Which is fucking amazing for a company that barely makes anything and just acts as the storefront for others.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Unless you fly it the wrong way round and upside down because it's rotationally symmetrical
i also don't think it's unique to valve; at any organization there are going to be in-groups and politics to navigate
i would be very, very surprised if you found any kind of ideal setting in game development; the indies are maybe better from a work relations perspective, but those also aren't making 10 digits in revenue most of the time
I kind of "hmmmmmmmmmmm" a lot when companies hide behind dividend payouts as "not having profits" though. So even if GabeN eats 3/4 of that extra profit with his bank account as an executive payout, it still feels disingenuous to say "yeah we only made 50k in profits this year" like some companies pretend they do.
True, I can't think of anybody who earns "The Great" whose immediate successors don't screw it up
They actually make money on TI. The pay out on that is actually from a percentage of sales of a specific item.
The other majors and stuff are not prize supported by valve but by individual leagues and sponsors. Really only Blizzard with the new OW/HoTS/Hearthstone stuff and League are the games where prize support is from the company.
Also remember Valve gets kick backs from Counter Strike tourneys as well.
Would a professional or informal structure make this decrease? You're definitely right about cliques showing up regardless.
That also assumes that all of that money is payout to game developers, and ignores how much money they generate from CS:GO, DOTA, and TF2's markets, which is 100% profit for them.
That "4 billion in revenue" is likely just from what they make from acting as that storefront, their actual revenue is probably another 1-2 billion on top of that maybe?
Wait wat?
I mean not amazing
What's the word
Disappointing
(It's me)
@Abdhyius @BeNarwhal @OnTheLastCastle let's start a Dental Emergency Club
I'd love it if you took a look at my art and my PATREON!