dragonbane
Member
I mean you always mention the financial side of things and sure its a business and that matters most. But there are also real human beings working there and as someone said on a much earlier page, passion projects are a thing. Even in this industry. Projects that dont necessarily make perfect sense financially, but they are still done to keep people happy, gain PR points and not get rusty creatively. Half Life 3 is not even close to being risky at all but still has the prestigious edge. Sure you can argue back and forth that Valve doesnt need it financially and its true, but I would just hope that the passion and talent there would have naturally made the push to make it happen. You can tell from their talent bleeding that probably something higher up is stopping it and it does make at least some of their most talented devs unhappy. And thats pretty dumb if you ask me to let that happen even if you dont need those devs anymore to make your MP gamesYour statement is almost contradictory. For a game to sell 10M to be "successful" suggests high risk. I don't dispute that HL2:EP3 could have attained that, but answer this:
If your bank promised you an interest rate of 15% p.a, would you invest your money there, or would you invest in stocks if it meant you could earn 20% p.a. but earn nothing and lose your initial investment?
At this point, I picture Gabe as Mr Burns when he had so much money he was hallucinating germs that affected his health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEVsUAMsQ0
Essentially the numbers agree with you but I would think if even a giant money grabbing publisher like Ubisoft can show a human side from time to time in greenlighting such a game as Beyond Good & Evil 2 I would just hope Valve could do the same