Lynx couldn't wipe that goofy grin off his face
Primesuspect told me before we got out to E3 that we had an interview with Valve Software set for Wednesday. As a huge fan of Valve, I was naturally excited. What that sneaky little editor-in-chief failed to tell me was exactly whom the interview was with.
On June 3rd, we got to interview Valve’s VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi.
We had much to talk about, as the Icrontic community is deeply involved with Valve games. The first topic was focused on Valve’s most recent announcement, Left 4 Dead 2. We had some hands-on time with the game prior to our interview. While fun and definitely a worthy addition to my game library, we couldn’t help but wonder why this was being called a sequel.
Much of the content seems similar, and the original game is but 6 months old. Doug explained that there is a significant amount of additions to L4D2, new characters, 30 weapons, a variety of new environments, and new gameplay modes out of the box. Much tweaking has been done to the core game, from the zombie AI (it is significantly more aggressive and intelligent now) to the hit detection and gore. A shot to the chest now reveals bloody exposed ribs and gibblets, for example.
I asked Doug about their in-house developed engine known as Source. The Source engine debuted in 2004 with the release of Half-Life 2, and to this day Valve continues to develop their games around the engine. Source has proven to be incredibly scalable, with additional graphic effects like HDR lighting, real time shadows, self shadowing, and motion blur added years after its initial release. I asked Doug how much further they think they can push the engine. He told me that they were definitely happy with how far the engine has come along, and that they will continue to add technologies to it as they see fit for future games. For instance, if a new game needs to be able to handle many enemies on screen at once (like L4D), they will tweak the engine out of necessity. Doug mentions that they plan on getting more longevity out of the engine, but they definitely will not use Source forever.
I talked to Doug a bit about Valve’s corporate culture. Valve has many times been referred to as being the Google or Pixar of the video game world–a very relaxed corporate structure that releases hit after hit. The company grows into new and bold shooter ideas, and seems to excel every time. Doug said that the creative, casual corporate culture that makes Valve so unique streams directly from Gabe Newell, Valve CEO and founder. Gabe came in with this unique culture mindset and hired people early on that shared his views. Gabe surrounded himself with people that boosted his own thoughts and ideas, and founded his studio on this unique vibe. The result is a company that has released smash hit after smash hit, a company that focuses on quality of product and fun factor rather than making lots of money and milking franchises to death with sequels.
When I asked Doug about their ability to create a seemingly nonstop streak of outstanding titles, a feat unheard of in the gaming industry, Doug laughingly replied:
“The best thing we ever thought up was Half-Life, for everything else we just hired the people in that made those ideas.”
Valve has grown their own creative vibe by bringing in and embracing the good ideas all around them. Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, and Day of Defeat, for example, were all mods built around Valve’s technologies. Valve picked up those developers and helped them continue to nurture their products while being backed by a strong company and tons of creative individuals.
Gamers generally love Valve and their games. The fan community is massive. Yet when things go wrong, this community has a tendency to turn rabid and begin barking immediately. Case in point–the TF2 Sniper/Spy update. The servers were overloaded, and many gamers had to wait a few hours before getting the download to initialize. Impatient gamers quickly shook their fists in the air, cursing Valve. I asked Doug how they receive that kind of criticism back at the studio. He told me that they definitely hear it all and while it would be easy to hang their heads low and pout about it, they take complaints seriously and rise up to deal with it. He even admitted to one of the most famous Valve debacles by noting “Steam sucked on November 18th, 2004” (The day Half Life 2 was released.) They build their business stronger around stumbles like this.
Valve is a fun company that seems to just ‘get it.’ I jokingly asked Doug about whether or not the Pyro was in fact a woman. He couldn’t tell me, saying that he didn’t know himself. It’s obvious that Valve has fun with things like that, and he mentioned that the fact that they picked such a humorous art style for TF2 reflects that sentiment. Doug said that as a company, Valve makes games that they would want to buy themselves. They focus on making games fun and enjoyable, and they make those qualities paramount. It can be seen in TF2, in the Half-Life franchise, in the headcrab hat sold in their store, and even in the community togetherness that Steam encourages. Steam, in a way, has been the full embodiment of what Valve wants to do with gaming.
Steam is everything Valve has ever wanted. A distribution platform that cuts out the middlemen that have plagued them with troubles in the past, A method to research their target audience and gain data on the types of hardware being used to play their games, and most importantly, direct communication with their customers. Valve has always worked hard to stay in touch with their customers, and with Steam in its current state, they’ve literally carved their own community around their games. Gamers can share games with each other through the system. They’re given tools to develop and distribute their own games. Indie game developers have found a safe haven in the Steam community. Gamers from all over come to Steam to do the thing they love–play and share video games in a seamless, non-intrusive environment. Many of the most fun moments I’ve had in gaming were shared with others through Steam.
Across the country Gabe Newell sits at his computer, reading that statement, and I’m sure he smiles. Steam is great because Valve cares about PC gaming, and they trickle down their own corporate culture through the ways they interact with their consumers. I’m only doing what they themselves have been doing for over 10 years, playing the games I love, and sharing them with others.
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