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Valve's Director of Business has left [GAF Rumor: TF2 Art Lead, SFM Head Gone, More]

been just informed from a friend of mine who knows them:

Moby Francke, the art lead of TF2, is gone

._.

tumblr_le3l4dmoFj1qe66alo1_1280.jpg

:(
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
Which we see where?

They're generating obscene amounts of revenue. We know this.
Revenue does not equate to profit. We have no clue about this.

I hate to say it but honestly on what?

I haven't seen a multi-million dollar project come out of Valve in a long time. The last big thing other than Greenlight was the revamped Steam(that was a long time coming) and Big Picture Mode.
 

Tobor

Member
Do we even know that the hardware people let go were working on the "Steambox"? Or how many hardware people Valve has? Maybe it was some other hardware initiative that stalled out? Hasn't Valve been talking about biometric controllers and stuff in the past? Maybe it was something weird like that?

That's what I was saying in the other thread. These questions are all swiftly pushed aside to continue assuming it's the worst case scenarios.
 
you don't think they make billions from taking a third of sales from games from companies that make billions?

it's not hard to all to imagine billions when you take a third of 2K, Bethesda and Activision's biggest hits...

And that's ignoring hats, which is a nice couple million.

I don't think they get a third of sales. I also think their margins get hit when they sell things in sales. I also don't think PC is a lead platform in sales of AAA games.

Hats make them good money but again its a community thing.
Valve make a lot of money but I don't know why everyone always acts like tens or hundreds of millions is not much money.

Valve have a lot of different expenses to run and I think their fair in the cut of the money.
If they charged a third, everyone would go to Origin.

Its not a third. I think they probably have revenues in the hundreds of millions; low hundreds but thats still a lot of fucking money.
 

Branduil

Member
Yeah I have to say this imaginary billions Valve make is just stupid.
They make money sure; but people massively overvalue them.

Do they really? If we compare Steam to a console, they have a similar player base, but they don't have to take a loss providing hardware, and they make money from every game sold just like console manufacturers.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Which we see where?

They're generating obscene amounts of revenue. We know this.
Revenue does not equate to profit. We have no clue about this.
Just a couple of years ago they were by far the highest profit per employee of any company in the industry, one of the highest of all US companies. They've expanded staff numbers, but they've also expanded their Steam userbase.

They'd need to hire thousands of people before they had to actually be concerned about their future on a financial level. The company being privately owned is why they haven't been forced to expand to the point of concern.

These departures aren't the result of money, there is no way they're belt tightening.

I'm sure there are lots of potentially good reasons for these changes, but considering it's apparently mostly the hardware staff, it just seems like Gabe has realized just how moronic the SteamBox concept is.
 

Robot Pants

Member
My friends uncle works at valve and he told him valve just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday.
I'm literally in tears. Valve was my favorite team of hat makers. Sad we will never see hl3 either. :( :( :(

RIP in peice valve
1994-2013
 
My friends uncle works at valve and he told him valve just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday.
I'm literally in tears. Valve was my favorite team of hat makers. Sad we will never see hl3 either. :( :( :(

RIP in peice valve
1994-2013

Valve can't be going under! My Steam backlog! I haven't even installed half the games I own!
 

Maztorre

Member
I don't think they get a third of sales. I also think their margins get hit when they sell things in sales. I also don't think PC is a lead platform in sales of AAA games.

Hats make them good money but again its a community thing.
Valve make a lot of money but I don't know why everyone always acts like tens or hundreds of millions is not much money.

Valve have a lot of different expenses to run and I think their fair in the cut of the money.
If they charged a third, everyone would go to Origin.

Its not a third. I think they probably have revenues in the hundreds of millions; low hundreds but thats still a lot of fucking money.

Every major digital store takes approx 30% cut of sales. XBLA, PSN, Steam, Origin, WiiU, the split is always around that figure.
 
I don't think they get a third of sales. I also think their margins get hit when they sell things in sales. I also don't think PC is a lead platform in sales of AAA games.

Hats make them good money but again its a community thing.
Valve make a lot of money but I don't know why everyone always acts like tens or hundreds of millions is not much money.

Valve have a lot of different expenses to run and I think their fair in the cut of the money.
If they charged a third, everyone would go to Origin.

Its not a third. I think they probably have revenues in the hundreds of millions; low hundreds but thats still a lot of fucking money.
And you're basing this all off of...

The exact opposite of what we're always told is true with no actual source other than I think?
 

Mudkips

Banned
But if the art lead for TF2 is gone....

This is probably all just speculation. I should just let things fall where they may.

Art lead for TF2 got fired it seems like.

THAT WAS THE MAN WHO DESIGNED THE HATS!

Valve makes the fans create content now.
They've almost completely outsourced their production to their customers at this point.

Edit: Lostconfused has the quote I was looking for.
 
Do they really? If we compare Steam to a console, they have a similar player base, but they don't have to take a loss providing hardware, and they make money from every game sold just like console manufacturers.

Which is why creating their own hardware always seemed kind of risky.
 
Between this and Halo showing up on Steam, I think the writing is on the wall.

Something big is going on and Microsoft is involved.

Halo on Steam
Valve hardware staff laid off
...
Microsoft acquisition or partnership actually seems rather plausible

who knows?
 
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