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Eurogamer: Gabe Newell Interview (CS: GO, What is Valve?, Steam & Trade-ins, etc)

Eurogamer: You recently announced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. What was the driving force behind this project?

Gabe Newell: We'd been doing updates to Counter-Strike: Source, but we needed a bigger investment to push that forward on the PC side. We also needed a way of giving it to console players, since the only console version is a 2003 Xbox game. It's not Counter-Strike 2. It's just keeping it refreshed and updating it for the players who've been playing it for so long, and giving the opportunity to a bunch of console players who don't have a good version to play on.

Eurogamer: Have you decided how to monetise that?

Gabe Newell: We're still trying to figure that out. The stage we're at with that is, we had a bunch of pro players come out, and right now we're going through all the feedback they gave us to make sure we're going to be a good platform for what they're doing, and to think through how to have both a good competitive platform and at the same time maintain a popular game as well.

Eurogamer: Is it your hope that the console versions will have Steamworks integration like Portal 2 on PS3 did?

Gabe Newell: We certainly can deliver a lot of value to customers to the degree to which we have those capabilities. With the PS3 obviously we made a lot more progress with that. The PS3 customers of Portal 2 are going to start to see the benefits of that with Portal 2 DLC coming out in September. So we'd really like to be able to do that for Xbox customers as well.

Eurogamer: What are the challenges around bringing Steamworks to Xbox?

Gabe Newell: The main thing is having Microsoft get comfortable with it and let us do it. Right now, there's a huge amount of updates and free content we've been able to deliver to people who have The Orange Box that we haven't been able to deliver to the Xbox because of the restrictions that have been placed on us on Xbox Live.

We'd love to see those relaxed. Other developers on the PS3 are starting to benefit from Sony's more open approach. Hopefully that will help Microsoft see that's a good strategy for making customers happy, that the barbarians won't tear down the walls of Xbox and turn it into some chaotic wasteland.

Eurogamer: How would you describe Valve? It's much more than a game developer these days, isn't it?

Gabe Newell: I don't know about that. Where did Valve get its start? We got our start because the guys at id Software were building stuff that's not only cool for gamers, they're also saying, how can these be tools for other people? If id hadn't done that, then Valve wouldn't exist.

We just think we're following in that same tradition that goes back to the earliest days of the PC gaming environment. You're not just building a game, you're also building tools for other game developers. We look at Steam the same way. We're building value for our customers, but we're also building, hopefully, useful tools for other developers. We think like a developer, so when we think about building a service or a feature, we think it is often times going to be really useful to other people.

If you look at the tournament software here, it involves a bunch of code that runs inside of the game. It involves a bunch of back end services. It involves a bunch of web development. We think it's really useful in Dota 2. We're going to try putting it in some of our other games to make sure we can generalise it. And then we put it into Steamworks and all of our Steamworks partners can look at that and say, that's super useful to us, or it's completely irrelevant to us.

One of the characteristics we've always loved about the PC gaming environment is how much collaboration there is and how much everybody is thinking about how they can build tools and technologies. We're really following in those footsteps. Tim Sweeney [founder of Epic Games] embraces that. John Carmack [co-founder of id Software] has embraced that. It's always been there and it's part of why the PC gaming industry has been as vibrant for as long as it's been.

Eurogamer: So what is Valve?

Gabe Newell: Valve is a company that tries to build value for customers and its partners. We're trying to do the same thing today we did when we were working on Half-Life 1. We try to bring together the best, smartest people in the world and build an environment in which they can get more done and deliver more stuff to customers than they could some place else. I think we do a pretty good job of bringing those people together and helping them get more work done rather than dealing with a bunch of bullshit or worrying about quarterly reports or what some banker or producer is telling them ought to be in the game, rather than what they know should be in the game.

Eurogamer: What's the grand ambition with Steam? How do you perceive its evolution in the coming years?

Gabe Newell: I don't think grand ambitions really help us make our decisions. Everything just has to be grounded in whether it's going to make a gamer's life better or not. Is it going to be making other game developers' life better or not? Once you start having grand ambitions you start to lose sight of the basic usefulness you can do.

As a blue collar worker, you pick up your lunch bucket and your hammer and you go into the mine and you get to work - but that sort of attitude helps a game company make better decisions as to be not thinking in terms of grand ambitions, but what have we done today to make gamers happier? What have we done today to make something easier or better for one of the partners who want to work with us? It's hard to go very wrong if that's your attitude. It doesn't make a great headline.

Eurogamer: Will it eventually lead to players being able to trade in games on Steam?

Gabe Newell: We need to hire an economist, because we keep bumping up into these issues. You're starting to look at weird issues like currency and inflation and productivity and asset values and liquidity of asset categories. We just wish we were smarter about this stuff. We're reading frantically. We're brushing up, and all we're doing is convincing ourselves that we're more stupid. Half the time people are saying, oh, well, illiquid assets inherently have a penalty, so this argues for trade-ability, that we're essentially becoming a Russian currency model in the 1970s. Everybody races off to try to read papers on the implications of that.

We think we want to move in the direction where everything is an item of exchange. We just aren't totally sure how to do that right. We're sure there are economists out there who understand this really well. We feel like we're this third-world developing country. We've discovered rocks! And we've discovered sticks! And there's this other thing out there and we should move our economy in that direction. There must be somebody at the World Bank who can tell us what we ought to be doing. We just don't know what that is yet.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-25-valves-gabe-newell-interview
 
Gabe Newell said:
We need to hire an economist, because we keep bumping up into these issues. You're starting to look at weird issues like currency and inflation and productivity and asset values and liquidity of asset categories. We just wish we were smarter about this stuff. We're reading frantically. We're brushing up, and all we're doing is convincing ourselves that we're more stupid. Half the time people are saying, oh, well, illiquid assets inherently have a penalty, so this argues for trade-ability, that we're essentially becoming a Russian currency model in the 1970s. Everybody races off to try to read papers on the implications of that.

Pretty weird coming from one of the smartest guys in the industry.


BY2K said:
Trade-in on Steam? That would be amazing.

I could finally get rid of Force Unleashed.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
kyubajin said:
Eurogamer missed the real question. HL2:E3

They just didn't bother asking him directly, and for good reason.

Newell said:
Eurogamer: Do you get sick and tired of being asked about Half-Life 3?

Gabe Newell: I understand why people ask about it. I'm not sick and tired of it. But I don't have anything to say.

Eurogamer: When Valve announces a new game, one of the first things we see is a comment like, that's great, but what about Half-Life 3? Does that have an impact on the company? Does it grind you down?

Gabe Newell: No. We know our customers really well. We talk to them all the time. They show up outside our office with cardboard signs. We like being part of the gaming community and we understand what they're telling us. We think they understand where we're coming from. They get mad at us, and they let us know. Other times they're really happy with us and they let us know that as well. Gamers are passionate and they're smart and they're effective communicators. And they have our email addresses. So we know what they think. It's good. It helps us be a better company.
 

Chinner

Banned
LovingSteam said:
Gabe's brain is sexier than any woman alive.
T8nfs.png
 

StuBurns

Banned
Asking him about HL3 would just be a waste of the ten seconds asking and him saying they have nothing to say would take.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
We got our start because the guys at id Software were building stuff that's not only cool for gamers, they're also saying, how can these be tools for other people? If id hadn't done that, then Valve wouldn't exist.
I feel like buying RAGE day 1 now.
 

kyubajin

Member
So if they (Valve) know us so well, about how long we've been desperately in need of HL-related anything, why do they keep forsaking it? I can only think of some kind of sick paraphilia in delaying anything HL and do everything but it.
 

Curufinwe

Member
kyubajin said:
Eurogamer missed the real question. HL2:E3

No they didn't.

Eurogamer: Do you get sick and tired of being asked about Half-Life 3?

Gabe Newell: I understand why people ask about it. I'm not sick and tired of it. But I don't have anything to say.

Eurogamer: When Valve announces a new game, one of the first things we see is a comment like, that's great, but what about Half-Life 3? Does that have an impact on the company? Does it grind you down?

Gabe Newell: No. We know our customers really well. We talk to them all the time. They show up outside our office with cardboard signs. We like being part of the gaming community and we understand what they're telling us. We think they understand where we're coming from. They get mad at us, and they let us know. Other times they're really happy with us and they let us know that as well. Gamers are passionate and they're smart and they're effective communicators. And they have our email addresses. So we know what they think. It's good. It helps us be a better company.

Eurogamer: Better people care than they don't care at all.

Gabe Newell: Absolutely. I would not trade the enthusiasm and straightforwardness of our fans for a quieter inbox.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
kyubajin said:
So if they (Valve) know us so well, about how long we've been desperately in need of HL-related anything, why do they keep forsaking it? I can only think of some kind of sick paraphilia in delaying anything HL and do everything but it.

Perfection takes time.
 
Bakphoon said:
I'm wondering how much dirt 3 copies would be traded in and how much we would get for it.

games would be the equivalent of currency.

and different regions of games would have different values.


ahhhh, it'd be crazy.
 

stuminus3

Member
If Valve could get a viable, working game trade-in system working with Steam, it would all be over. What a dream. It's great that it's a subject they're looking at.
 
idk... I see them losing quite a bit of money in the long run. And for many reasons. What bothers me the most is if I buy a game on sale (like always) for lets say $5.00 and then the sale ends and its now valued at $20. How much do I profit and how badly em I screwing over steam?

Or do I sell it bad based on the price I payed for. In which case is not fair for the user.
 

stuminus3

Member
fifasnipe2224 said:
Or do I sell it bad based on the price I payed for. In which case is not fair for the user.
Of course it's fair.

Simply make it that a person can't sell something / get trade-in value for more than they bought it. This would actually give Steam another benefit that is impossible for retail stores to have. Plus it's not like digital games have an additional "rarity" tax, unless it's something that's delisted from the service (which at the moment is rarer than a low print run).
 
Djungelfrukt said:
How is this not fair?

You would not be getting paid on the current value of the game. When you sell a stock you are selling it for its current value, not what you paid for it. Same with cars, real estate, gold, oil, ect. Video games should be treated the same way.
 

mr_nothin

Banned
Gabe Newell said:
Gabe Newell: We're still trying to figure that out. The stage we're at with that is, we had a bunch of pro players come out, and right now we're going through all the feedback they gave us to make sure we're going to be a good platform for what they're doing, and to think through how to have both a good competitive platform and at the same time maintain a popular game as well.
I hate the bolded part of the quote. Cs and Css are both still incredibly popular even today....so why do we have to compromise competitive play for more popularity now?
 
fifasnipe2224 said:
You would not be getting paid on the current value of the game. When you sell a stock you are selling it for its current value, not what you paid for it. Same with cars, real estate, gold, oil, ect. Video games should be treated the same way.

Um, because its not suppose to be a way to make money? The trade value is based on what you spend not on what the game is priced at when you want to trade it.
 
fifasnipe2224 said:
Or do I sell it bad based on the price I payed for. In which case is not fair for the user.

Why it is not fair for the user?
If you bought it on a sale, let's say... at 10 USD, original price being 30. When you want to trade in, Steam will give you 10% of credit of what you spent on that game.

Summer Sale Price: 10USD
Trade in: 1USD

Normal Price: 30USD
Trade in: 3USD

Easy.
 

Angry Fork

Member
Honestly I want a new Half Life so bad that even when Gabe mentions those words once (even to say 'we can't say anything') it gets me excited. It shows he knows it still exists and that people are clamoring for it.

On the other hand I'm legitimately worried about it though. Everyone knows COD 'improvements' have gone into every FPS over the years and the gamer in 2011 (most notably console gamer) has completely different standards for FPS' than what Half Life 2 and it's episodes were. All the zoom in shit, over the shoulder etc. whatever it may be. I'm worried that because Gabe wants to continue to expand, he knows HL is their flagship franchise and he's not going to want to cut off the COD players from getting into the series. Not only does this mean changing how HL is played but also waiting until next-gen since releasing HL3 on consoles this gen probably isn't going to happen (and he'll probably want a simultaneous launch on PC + Mac + Consoles).

With that in mind they might completely change Half Life and add all those 'improvements' and fuck everything up. I really really REALLY hope it stays the same control-wise as HL2 and the episodes. Just make more Half Life and finish the story with part 3 please. If they want to COD the series after that fine but leave part 3/episode 3 as it should be.
 

grendelrt

Member
I dont understand what price paid has to do with anything on trade in. People used to go buy games at store closings or clearance sales and then go trade them into Gamestop to make a profit. Amazon doesnt ask you what you paid for a game when you trade it in. The game would have a market value and people would get paid that, GMG has trade ins, dont see why steam couldnt.
 
iKeepPlaying said:
Why it is not fair for the user?
If you bought it on a sale, let's say... at 10 USD, original price being 30. When you want to trade in, Steam will give you 10% of credit of what you spent on that game.

Summer Sale Price: 10USD
Trade in: 1USD

Normal Price: 30USD
Trade in: 3USD

Easy.

The point im trying to make is this. Using the above example you will get back 1USM for a game worth 30USD (this is after the sale is over) You should get back 3USD.

That being said il stop my bitch lol. I love valve and steam and I should just be happy that I can buy games on sale and still get some money back for it. You guys win = )
 

Derrick01

Banned
I made a trade in category in my games library months ago because I figured it's only a matter of time before they implement some form of trade system. Not that I expect to get much anyway, it's mostly indie games and 6+ year old games.

Everything just has to be grounded in whether it's going to make a gamer's life better or not. Is it going to be making other game developers' life better or not?

This is why EA will never succeed in this space. All they care about is what makes EA's profits larger regardless of who gets trampled on.
 

boutrosinit

Street Fighter IV World Champion
Man.

I fucking *love* the way Valve thinks.

bush_heart_2.jpg


not being sarcastic. was sadly the best 'hand on heart' image I could find. And it's kinda funny.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
I'd like to be able to gift games I don't play to others, for instance I have a friend that never played past Civ III and I'd like to give my Civ IV to him as I don't touch that. Did I misinterpret gifting or is there a function in Steam that can do this already?
 
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