GabeN is one of those guys who’ll likely die a hero. Whoever comes after him has a chance of selling out and enshittifying everything he built though.
In addition to everything said, I’m pretty sure it was Oculus and John Carmack who did most of the work on getting VR to where it is.
Half-Life: Alyx is still the best FPS VR game I’ve played. Great story, environment, production values, variety, everything.
Yeah, I’ve played it using my Oculus Quest 1, too. It is the most game-like VR game, as opposed to most VR games that are more mini-games. But I’ve definitely spent more time in those mini-games than Alyx.
he’s like the willy wonka of video games
oh and this is my 200th comment here on this lemmy instance. seriously!
“No one does sales”
Sure. Don’t even need to get past the first line. I send my regards to OP.
Eh, its true that no-one does sales like Valve. Even while the sales aren’t as good as they used to be, Steam pretty much forced the market to move on what a “good” discount was. Calling it a nice move to save you money is a joke but they really did bring prices down in the whole market.
I know this novel strategy that Valve employs might be difficult to conceptualize for people whose thinking only extends as far as “company evil, success bad”, so let me summarize it in a format that is easier to understand:
I receive: half-decent product
You receive: my money
end of story
The sad thing is that them having a half decent product is something special in this world
How would you like to see it improved?
The world? Don’t get me started.
Steam? It’s alright, I guess. I just wish “sell decent product, get money” would be the norm, not this ensure try fixation circus we have
This is such a controversial person to discuss. On one hand, loot boxes, the steam market for trading, and a lot of gambling and profiteering going on. At the same time, all of the OP comments are also true.
Out of all the billionaires, I dislike gaben the least. The net good he’s done for gaming may not balance the scales entirely, but at least there’s a discussion to be had whether what gaben has done is for the better, or for the worse. Which is more than I can say about most billionaires I know of.
Hot take: …but it’s just fucking gaming tho… He’s not fucking with manifesting some bullshit ideology throughout the world, he’s not trying to leave his mark on history… And if he is, it’s as a chill dude who gave us all a better alternative to piracy.
Gabe was already wealthy with Microsoft money when he founded Valve, so when his new private startup found success he didn’t feel the pressure to go public, expand, dilute, and cash out. He made the judgement call that they already had enough talent internally to keep playing the hits while keeping all the profit for themselves, and he was right. I’m sure a little bit a business ideology reinforces Gabe’s long-term outlook for Valve, but he’s ultimately enabled by a happy intersection of pre-existing wealth, great timing, and careful hiring choices.
he’s not trying to leave his mark on history
He kind of is, but in the way old-school millionaires did - he has purchased a MASSIVE yacht and turned it into an ocean-floor research laboratory, either donated it to a university, or just allows researchers to use it.
I mean, he is developing the brain chip with his Starfish Neuroscience company but its supposed to be minimally invasive and let’s be real if its between his and Elon Musks (which is NOT minimally invasive and requires surgical implantation) I’m definitely going with his.
I wouldn’t say at this point its all about gaming though. Valve is, but not necessarily Gabe. Which I don’t mind but I could understand how some people wouldn’t like it.
Hard pass
Fair. But its important to point out this won’t be one that goes inside you it will be one that you put on the outside of your head that interacts with brain impulses, at least according to them.
If I was someone with limited mobility or some other sort of handicap I would do that before I got the one that goes inside my skull. But that’s just me.
Can I put it on my dick instead?
You can put almost anything on your dick, its the secret the elite don’t want you to know about!
You know, I think those are inevitable … any potentially evil technology shown in sci-fi will eventually be created irl; it’s like some kind of rule (trust me). Given this, the future is a duality: it’s either GabeN or a random billionaire. I want this potentially-abusive technology with devil that I know.
I remember back around 2010 period, maybe a bit after that, Valve and reddit were both hiring economists. We can see exactly why, now.
I’m pretty reluctant to be this flattening towards Gabe Newell and Valve.
Once Google was seen as one of the good companies. “Googling” became synonimous with searching on the internet. Most if not all competitors went bankrupt. When Google was accused of monopolistic behavior, its fans treated it as an attack on “perfection”. Google Chrome was a fast browser requiring less memory than its competitors. People saw them owning YouTube as a good thing. The most common form of toxicity towards new users in the Linux community was only providing lmgtfy links to them (I did get the occasional custom WinXP ISO torrent link too). Even their motto was don’t be evil.
And then came the YouTube content ID system. And then they were reluctant to throw off the far-right from their platform for breaking their ToS during Gamergate. Then they dropped the motto. Then they put ads into the Google search results. Then they let the far-right control their platform before the 2024 elections. And also they’re pushing AI hard.
Will Gabe Newell stick to his ideas, or get an anyeurism and join the Trump oligarchs?
How do you write all this and fail to mention that search doesn’t even fucking work anymore?
I’m not arguing with you. But internet searching aDOEA NOT WORK ANYMROE.
Not perfect, but better than Google.
It is fair to compare Google to Valve only in a category of “once been good”. Other than that, 2 different companies with 2 different mottos.
So, you are afraid to have an opinion in case future events make it invalid?
How do you support literally anything with this mindset?
Elon Musk might be haunted by the three spirits of not being racist this christmas and give away all his possessions. Nonetheless, I’m happy to call him wanker today, because it’s an accurate representation of reality at present.
Thing is Valve is a private company with a flat structure and shared ownership that encourages moving between departments.
Basically, it’s just a club of people doing whatever they want and they happen to all love videogames.
Forgot about steam’s forced DRM on purchases. Forgot about their inconsistent policing of content in games they sell. Forgot about steam not wanting accounts to be inherited when you pass away. Forgot about their 30% cut for small devs while bigger devs get a smaller cut. Forgot about a lot of things.
Forgot about steam’s forced DRM on purchases.
Not a thing.
Also, are you complaining that smaller devs get a bigger cut than larger devs? That’s certainly an interesting gripe…
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tbf the way it’s worded sucks and does sound that way if you don’t already know what it’s supposed to mean. which i didn’t until i scrolled down. why so hostile?
are you complaining that smaller devs get a bigger cut than larger devs? That’s certainly an interesting gripe…
Smaller devs have to pay 30% of their revenues to steam. If a game sells well enough, their revenue share increases and steam takes a smaller cut, 25 or even 20%. This greatly benefits publishers of big games and unfairly punishes smaller developers. I think that’s a perfectly fair gripe.
Don’t read this as a general defence of steam but I do want to correct a factual mistake: there is no forced DRM on steam.
Plenty of games are released on steam which do not rely on the steam client to be started and are in fact DRM-free. They can be backed up, and played on any machine without steam installed.
Some examples are Cyberpunk2077, the System Shock remake, Shadow tactics, and most of the devolver digital catalogue. The issue I personally have is that steam itself does not declare the difference anywhere in the store front, but at least it is always accurately catalogued on the lovely pcgamingwiki.
Usually accurately displayed on the PCGamingWiki, at least. I’ve tested games that it listed as having SteamDRM and discovered that they’re actually DRM free. My experience is that new entries on Steam are likely to be listed as using SteamDRM. People usually just assume it’s active when they’re making the initial page.
Yeah I think that’s a more reasonable assumption. Presumably the new page template comes with the steam info pre-filled and has to be confirmed manually before someone then can correct the entry.
Still love that they even have this info nicely organized at all!
Yeah, would be nice if they added a DRM disclaimer like they did with AI
It’s easy to forget when you see the competition.
There’s not steam added drm, for games that the developer didn’t add drm to you van just go to the games folder and launch the executable.
For a good chunk of games without drm they’re even portable, ie you can copy the game’s folder to a flashdrive and run it anywhere or give people working copies.
My guy, Steam is DRM
I understand what you’re saying, but it’s literally not. DRM is very specifically code added to games to prevent them from being copied and shared. Words mean things, ya know
No. It literally is. It is specifically Digital Rights Management. You are using the colloquial term, not the literal. Words do mean things.
You have no capacity to access these products via any other system than Steam. You have no means to redistribute, modify, etc. except for what Steam forwards to you. This is no different than Netflix. It is no different than Spotify.
Denuvo is also a DRM solution, that is leveraged to prevent tampering and reverse engineering. This is because Steam’s DRM guarantees do not rise to the level desired by many publishers. These DRM solutions are more consumer hostile, sure, but it’s ignorant to suggest Steam does not perform a portion of these duties as well.
You have to log into steam to be able to launch any game you own on steam. As opposed to launching the game standalone.
This is the gateway you have to cross to access what you paid for.
That’s the management of digital rights, right there. It’s not complicated.
Seems I need to update my definition, polled some friends (I didn’t vote) and this was the result
You can still launch games you’ve downloaded without steam preventing it unless the game has developer added code preventing it, but if people consider having to use the storefront to buy and download them drm, then it seems I should update my word usage
Unless the game has DRM built in by the developer, you can just fucking launch the game standalone my yin
That’s what I said in the earlier comment
Steam isn’t preventing you from launching shit
It’s not complicated
Sorry for being a snarky jerk, but it’s literally what I said earlier, you can just go to the game folder and launch the executable. Steam doesn’t prevent it, it’s not stopping you from doing anything.
All of the Valve employees are making bank. I don’t think they’ll be changing their core values any time soon even if he dies.
Ok GabeN junior
Also, steam deck and steam machines aren’t sold at a loss
The steam deck was sold at a loss
The steam machine doesn’t have a price yet
Got a source for that? Best I can find are “implications”, like Gaben saying the deck’s pricing is “very aggresive” and that the parts used sum up to roughly 1k dollars
You really need to learn how to learn about shit without people having to spoon feed you like a baby.
Newell said, “Price point was secondary and painful. But that was pretty clearly a critical aspect to it.”
The implication is that Valve would be selling the Steam Deck at a loss.
I mention “best I can find are implications”, I ask for a source and you paste the article bit that literally states "the implication "
Are you saying you want to harm these steam decks?!
I’d say Zuckerberg’s $77B disaster is not a forced mistake but a self-influcted wound. If anything, it’s the Cambridge Analytica scandal that pushed him towards the rebrand they would have been better off without.
As a fan of TF2, I’ll quote another greentext: “does nothing, competition keeps shooting themself in the foot.” It was about Overwatch vs TF2, but it’s mostly similar.
Lets pray valve never goes public
Why would they?
The fuck do they need investors for?
Gaben and steam are not perfect, but are monumentally better than what we would be stuck with on sony-soft
Nintendo too. look, I love their creative, but holy hell have they become exceptionally money grabby.
Nintendo has used up all there goodwill, for me personally. Sucks.
They’re succeeding by not actively running their platform into the ground, which is somehow inspiring and disappointing at the same time
succeeding by not actively running their platform into the ground
As someone who began to use Steam from 2007, and play their games since 2000 - they not only made their platform better over years, they also now branching out lately. Their hardware is either the best in price/performance or outright innovative.
They are not “succeeding by not actively running their platform into the ground”, they succeeding in actually providing a good service and getting better the more time passes. All that while all competition does is to attempt to expand their user base without actually providing a good service.
Just thought that if not Valve, we’d be stuck in the same shithole streaming services been lately.
That’s because they’re a privately owned company. They can decide when to prioritize long term profits over short term profits.
Most of their competition are publicity traded companies that have no such luxury. They have to make next quarter’s number higher no matter what.
The very core of pretty much every enshittification you can put a finger on
All that’s between you and success is a consistent and reasonable performance, but seemingly everyone else in the world is too greedy to pull this off.
That’s because they’re a privately owned company. They can decide when to prioritize long term profits over short term profits.
Most of their competition are publicity traded companies that have no such luxury. They have to make next quarter’s number higher no matter what.
How does it taste? The cock of a Gabe?
