"You've had them feel like they have an organization and title tied up to something when the key is to just continue to follow where the customers are leading."įinally, Newell said it is important that Valve's employees be highly adaptable because game production methods and other industry trends are changing at such a rapid rate.
You don't want them to sort of burrow into that-you want them to recognize that being really good at Half-Life level design is not as nearly as valued as thinking of how to design social multiplayer experiences," Newell said. "So, if somebody becomes the group manager of X, they're going to really resist it when X is not what you want to do in the next round of games. Newell said this structure is beneficial because it means employees are never tied to one project forever. Newell's interview largely addresses Valve's unique organizational structure where there are no official titles or positions, and vacation and sick time is not tracked. Still, Half-Life fans are still left waiting for Half-Life 3, which Newell said previously has gone through numerous " twists and turns" and remains officially unannounced. He recalled that in retrospect, moving ahead with multiplayer games like Dota 2 and the Steam platform was a "great idea." Indeed, the platform now has 65 million members and is a juggernaut in the PC gaming community. "When we started out, we were a single-player video game company that could have been really successful just doing Half-Life sequel after Half-Life sequel," Newell told The Washington Post in a new interview.
Valve cofounder Gabe Newell has explained why the popular Seattle studio does not churn out Half-Life sequel after Half-Life sequel, even though it could have been successful doing so.