I agree with you, that is the attitude to have. You cannot rush art. At the same time, some developers do take the piss. Too Human and Duke Nukem Forever are two massive examples of this.
Half Life 3 is not even that much of a wait
Valve responds to layoffs
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Gabe Newell says Half-Life developer not canceling any projects or changing priorities after as many as 25 were let go.
Valve cofounder Gabe Newell has responded to the reports of layoffs at the Half-Life and Counter-Strike developer today. In a statement sent to Engadget, Newell said the developer is not canceling any ongoing projects or changing its priorities.
"We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them," Newell said.
"No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing," he added. "No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here."
According to reports this afternoon, Valve laid off as many as 25 developers in its hardware and Android divisions as part of the company making "large decisions" about its future.
Prominent hardware developer Jeri Ellsworth said she was fired, while business director Jason Holtman has reportedly left for unknown reasons.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
139 comments
1 Like that doesn't matter. I pretty sure Half-Life 3 will be the Best Game Ever Made!
I don't get why people are saying "Valve is not like how they used to be". Valve has always been very tight-knit. They always kept us in the dark for release dates on upcoming games, they never release sales figures for Steam, and they won't give us a reason why they laid off 25 employees. Its nothing new
When will they make anything good? Last time i played a game from them was 2004... HL2 was good, but not that good. They have a lot of money and no talent.
@KillzoneSnake You're forgetting gems such as Left 4 Dead, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and many more. They're just hitting their stride.
4 Like @KillzoneSnake The Half-Life series is awesome, the Portal series is awesome, the L4D series is awesome, Team Fortress 2 is awesome, DotA 2 is awesome. Their only sub-par game is Counter-Strike: GO. And now they're developing a new graphic engine so don't expect any game until it's finished, which I'm guessing will be around the time the new consoles hit. They have a lot of money, they have a lot of talent, you have odd tastes.
2 Like @Total_mischief @KillzoneSnake I really like CS:GO myself. It is similar to Source (which I played the HELL out of for years and years) but looks better and the recoil and gun mechanics feel more familiar to me.
@Poodger @Total_mischief @KillzoneSnake What I hate about GO is the matchmaking, though they might have changed that by now. Last time I played you'd never end up in the chosen game mode.
1 Like @KillzoneSnake Metacritic scores say otherwise. In PC All Time metacritic scores, 4 of the top 7 are Valve games. And considering "Out of the Park Baseball 2007" has a user score of 3.3, you might as well call it 4 out of the top 6
5 Like @KillzoneSnake More like you have no taste. Every game they have made has been beyond excellent.
@vaibhavp No, no, just a trim of quality. Newell had a though decision to choose between a pool of hamburgers or letting people keep their jobs.
Wouldn't surprise me if they fired all the content creators of TF2 because Gabe said players can create content 10 times faster than they can lol.
The Orange Box was one of the best deals to come to consoles, but it's one of the games I missed when it came out. I just finished playing Half Life 2. Wow. The game is long. The story and gameplay are awesome. Graphics still look good. I hope Valve never ends up going out of business. They are one of the best.
7 Like Valve will be Valve until the end. Gaben is like the Steve Jobs of video games. I trust that fluffy guy with all the dollars in my pocket, and all the vidya in my heart.
@mikezer0 I like Gaben waaaaay more than I like Steve Jobs, and the same goes for Valve>>>>>Apple.
@mikezer0 Gaben is like the Bill Gates of the industry back when they first started Windows more like, except with extra attention to quality control on their own games.
@fillup0 @mikezer0 All u r fully retarded next u will say that Gabe is a CEO of Facebook.. LOL
1 Like @MatrixGamer78 Are you retarded? They aren't saying Gabe Newell is actually those people, they are making comparisons.....
3 Like @gashoe13 @MatrixGamer78 @mikezer0
There's no humor, just full blown mental disability coupled with stupidity and idiocy.
Yup, valve really don't like the number 3 since there's no portal 3, half life 3, TF3, need I go on?
@kik4444 Well there is TECHNICALLY a Counter Strike 3, though they didn't name it "3".
My guess is that they will release the 3rd version of all their games on their 3rd engine. Half Life 3 will debut on their 3rd engine, and all their other games will be modeled after Half Life, similar to the rest of their history.
@kik4444 Half-Life Episode 3, Left for Dead 3, and on another note they only did two espansion packs for the original Half-life :p
I would reall like to try some of their games if they made something other than first person games. I'm sure they have some third person games, but I don't remember any. Although Portal does look intersting, but not enough to get it mainly because I have too many other games yet to play.
1 Like @tightwad34 They don't. Valve makes exclusively FPS games, but they are of such quality, that you forget instantly how saturated the market is with FPS. They are THAT good.
26 Like We all know what is really going on here. Gabe got hungry and ate those 25 people.
1 Like Valve has no need for positive quarter earnings, or to improve their market price.
I'd say the reason those were fired has more to do with their attitude/performance than the need to free some money.
1 Like @Slash_out "I'd say the reason those were fired has more to do with their attitude/performance than the need to free some money."
I'd say they were taking up space that Gabe wanted for a second snack room.
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Layoffs at Valve - Report
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