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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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I'm not one that usually calls for the "Hail Corporate" BS where people lick the boots of big companies. In fact, I typically am very anti-corporate in every way, but Valve is one company I honestly have very little problem giving my money to. They very rarely have any anti-consumer things that crop up and every one to memory they've taken feedback and course corrected very rapidly. I'm afraid for the day Gabe Newell dies or retires, though. Whoever takes over Valve is going to have some big shoes to fill.
I'm mad HL2 ended on a cliff hanger and I'm really mad at how they handled TF2. Overall though yeah valve gud.
I think that's better than how other companies handle game sequels though Just look at the state of the FIFA franchise
World of Warcraft is another example of corporate greed ruining a good product.
Command and Conquer PTSD intensive
Honestly, when I think of the word "corporate" with its negative baggage, the last entity I will think of is Valve. They've been consistent and good for the past decades thanks to Gabe Newell. If there is any rich tech mogul who should be celebrated more than Elon Musk or Bill Gates, it's Gabe.
Not in the least because Elon Musk is a complete idiot that has only managed to whittle literal billions of dollars just by being himself.
Every good company he has touched was either built from the ground up by someone else, like Tesla & PayPal and remains profitable in spite of his existence, or was built from the ground up by someone else and was subsequently ran into the ground - See Twitter.
Also most of his reported wealth is tied up in dubious stocks and unprofitable companies, the value of which would fall faster than the speed of gravity if he suddenly needed to access a significant amount value without a stock backed loan...
All hail Gabe
About the worst criticism I've heard is around policies involving refunds (very short but charming games can be played quickly and then refunded) and shitware games clogging up search results (often Unity/Unreal Engine skeleton games with a new logo slapped on).
The first one discourages a subset of indy games, but ones that should be taken seriously.
The second, I think, is more of a problem for reviewers hunting for hidden gems than the public at large. Steam decided long ago to lean into Sturgeon's Law of letting almost everything go through and let the good stuff rise to the top. The other way to go is a curated list where you've already cleared out the garbage, but with the understanding that some hidden gems might be caught, too. If you go for letting through everything, then you should have mechanisms for highlighting quality. Steam is pretty good at that overall, but I see how it could be a problem for reviewers. After all, they're exactly the people who need to be trolling the depths and finding those hidden gems.
I don't think most people even notice those skeleton games all over Steam. I would never have seen them if not for J Steph Sterling pointing them out.
Suffice it to say that if these are the biggest problems, they're doing pretty well.
There is the unregulated gambling market running off Counterstrike and Dota etc items that valve technically doesn't run, but does facilitate through its community market and does profit from. Probably the biggest problem I have with how the company operates.
That being said, generally I do agree.
A walking mascot that could, on a whim, fire anyone not complying with his vision.
His vision of becoming Cave Johnson