Google may buy valve/steam

[Jiminator]

Yeah, it is all heavy speculation now from the rumor site, but if it happens you can start measuring microsoft for a coffin...

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/17/google-valve

[avatar_58]

Didn't even click on it when I saw the Inquirer.

[The Stinger]

Now all we need is a Google OS, if this story is true.

[Komb.at]

Didn't even click on it when I saw the Inquirer.

5char

[ShadeEX]

Didn't even click on it when I saw the Inquirer.

Agreed the Inquirer is definatly known for making FUD..

So unless I hear from more reliable sources. I'll dismiss this as utter BS

[Jiminator]

dunno what you guys are talking about, they have been mostly on target the past 5 years.

[Water12356]

Yea I wana hear it from another source before I believe it.

[Damien_Azreal]

Until I hear it form another source... I'm not buying it.

And of all the companies, Valve? Come on. One developer that has more than enough money to remain self-sufficient. And Valve has already said if they sodl to anybody... given their relationship with them, it would be EA.

[IwantMORE]

it does make some twisted sense. Maybe google could bring steam to other OS's

[Orochi Avlis]

Lombardi said it was a rumor.

[Mountain Man]

Lombardi said it was a rumor.
Imagine that.

If a story like this were real, it'd be widely reported and not relegated to a gossip rag like the Inquirer.

[avatar_58]

Lombardi said it was a rumor.

I are so surprised.

[ZuljinRaynor]

This would be a bad idea for Valve IMO. They're in a fantastic situation right now.

[ZaphodB]

Didn't even click on it when I saw the Inquirer.

Agreed.

[Mr.Fibbles]

Google was at a time talking about other development. . . of course, they are also talking about building an island (of ships) for their data centers.

Also. . .The Inquirer? are you serious?

[Hudson]

False rumor:

http://kotaku.com/5051164/valve-kills-google-buy+out-rumor

[hanged_man]

too bad ...wish if this really was happening

[ZuljinRaynor]

too bad ...wish if this really was happening

Why? :confused:

[Steve]

Why? :confused:

Because we'll get Steam: The desktop search edition.

[Hudson]

"Steam Toolbar for IE"

[alexgk]

"Steam Toolbar for IE"

God noooooooooo!

[ZuljinRaynor]

"Steam Toolbar for IE"

What would it do? :o

[Hudson]

Well if it followed Googles predecessors probably mutilate your interface and be a royal pain in the ass.

[8IronBob]

Tsst... Not gonna happen... There's no way I'd let Google run CS or DoD...on top of that, if Gabe knows well (Gabe Newell = Gabe "Knew Well" LOL :D )., he'd be smart enough to reject any buyout offers, much like Take Two rejected EA's.

[The Stinger]

Until I hear it form another source... I'm not buying it.

And of all the companies, Valve? Come on. One developer that has more than enough money to remain self-sufficient. And Valve has already said if they sodl to anybody... given their relationship with them, it would be EA.

They said they if EA made an offer they would be happy to talk about it.
They never said that EA would be the only choice.

If it would come to a buyout, I'd rather have Google buy Valve than EA.
In my opinion it would be better, because in the end Google is better for the consumer than EA.
So maybe there would be a Valve toolbar, at least Google isn't forcing their software on to anyone.

[Kalki]

http://img364.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pp101dy2.jpg

[IwantMORE]

Understandably that people question reports in the inquirer but is kotaku.com a good source?

Of course Valve denying that they are selling up to Google means nothing. Most of the time takeovers are denied until it's made public.

If Google does want Valve, my bet is they will get it. It's the cheapest way for Google to get on the App Store, and whatever the MS one is called, bandwagon.

[The Stinger]

http://img364.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pp101dy2.jpg

It's funny because it's true. :D

[ZaphodB]

Understandably that people question reports in the inquirer but is kotaku.com a good source?

Of course Valve denying that they are selling up to Google means nothing. Most of the time takeovers are denied until it's made public.

If Google does want Valve, my bet is they will get it. It's the cheapest way for Google to get on the App Store, and whatever the MS one is called, bandwagon.

Kotaku said that the info was according to the inquirer, and to basically not take much stock in the report. So ya, trust them a hell of a lot more.

The rumors originate with The Inquirer, which cites well placed sources saying that such a purchase is not only possible, but imminent, as in "any second now". Our take on the rumor? Very iffy. These sort of stories generally don't just pop up one day, though of course Valve's Doug Lombardi has stated that they're willing to be bought. We've contacted Valve for comment and will let you know as soon as we hear back.

[hanged_man]

Why? :confused:

im a big fan of google and they always have new innovative and smart ideas and im sure they will bring steam up to the next level if they ever buyout valve

[Mr.Fibbles]

^google's innovation never seems to end and they have some really massive resources.

You are right that if Google were to buy or start a game company. . . we would be in for a treat. Distribution would be quite impressive and I would not be surprised if the game itself was too.

However, at the same time, do we really need Google to rule the world?

[IwantMORE]

with reports for years of a Google OS. The fact that you now have the google mobile OS, the chrome browser with a heavy chunk of MS open sourced libs. Steam and valve would give them good resources

Also for the google phone to take off they need some good exclusive features and some good exclusive games never hurt anyone.

[stumppy84]

HA! that made me laugh!

[Phayzon]

Steam works fine. I dont need Steam BETA and a related IE toolbar, thank you very much.

[hanged_man]

with reports for years of a Google OS

Fingers crossed

[Phait]

However, at the same time, do we really need Google to rule the world?

No http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4774

[Mr.Fibbles]

^unsubstantiated. . . but. . .
Illuminati
*hides in corner*

*takes off Tin Foil Hat*

[Blue Lightning]

It's all crap. VALVe is in the best position of anyone out there. They have a ton of money, a franchise game (Half Life series) that has a billion loyal fans, an ownership that could care less about money, but does care about reputation and quality above all. They have new popular games now like Portal that has endless possibilities. They have a download distributor (Steam) that is becaoming king of digital downloads. No, it doesnt make sense that Gabe would even want to sell...he's having too much fun.

And EA would take VALVe and effectivly ruin it.

[ZuljinRaynor]

billion


http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3443/orlycthulu3496b80bu0.jpg

[Blue Lightning]

Well not a billion, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, after Ep3, VALVe is going to get to work on HL3, as Gabe as already hinted...and that will be a major several-year project. Even if VALVe were to sell out, I cannot see it happening until after HL3.

[Klaus Kinski]

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3443/orlycthulu3496b80bu0.jpg

As big Lovecraft fan I must say: What an awesome pic!

[8IronBob]

Got that right, and it's gonna be under Valve, not under some dumb corporate giant. I'd much rather see Valve under Take Two than EA, tbh. At least T2 may probably be pretty good with some stuff.
Hmm... GTA: Black Mesa sounds pretty good right about now. :D

[8IronBob]

Sorry, intended for another thread.

[avatar_58]

I don't want to see Valve bought by anyone until Steam breaks away from them. The thought of someone else owning steam does not sit well with me. We bought these games because it was Valve behind the helm, not 2kgames or EA. I wouldn't have bought ANYTHING from here if I knew it was just going to turn into EADownloader 2.0 thanks.

[IwantMORE]

The big problem with steam and all other online distribution platforms. This year saw Yahoo and MS drop online content delivery services screwing over the people that had bought stuff from them.

If the owner of steam (be it Valve or someone else) was to go bust and take steam down or just screw it up , then millions of $'s worth of games would be useless.

Then again EA seem to want to rent you physical copies that self destruct after you install it anyway.

Games don't seem to be for life anymore...

[avatar_58]

The big problem with steam and all other online distribution platforms. This year saw Yahoo and MS drop online content delivery services screwing over the people that had bought stuff from them.

If the owner of steam (be it Valve or someone else) was to go bust and take steam down or just screw it up , then millions of $'s worth of games would be useless.


Which is why breaking off into it's own entitiy is all the more desirable. Instead of having to rely on the success/failure of Valve, it would just stand on it's own due to steam sales. It would also take away any conflict of interest that some publisher seem to think occurs with Valve in charge.


Games don't seem to be for life anymore...

Games were never for life. Most older games were designed with their own systems in mind. Hell some older games haven't worked on modern machines until very recently thanks to emulators and the like.

However they were *never* released with this in mind. If DRM were possible back then it would have been used. Hence why we had manual checks and dongles, etc. Whether or not these games are emulated today has no bearing on the situation, as we do not yet know if we'll all be emulating steam in 20 years.

Hell we don't even know if we'll be gaming in 20 years, we could be dead or vegetables. So I wouldn't put so much stock in keeping games forever.

[IwantMORE]

well up to now most software would go obsolete with the OS and hardware. But now the OS and hardware is starting to hang around longer. How many XP machines will still be around in 10 years time compaired to Win98?

This is why they are looking for a new way of making them obsolete. I guess it's another win for the consoles. At least the games will work on any of the current hardware, most of the next gen hardware will support the last gen and after that there will be good emulation.

[avatar_58]

This is why they are looking for a new way of making them obsolete. I guess it's another win for the consoles. At least the games will work on any of the current hardware, most of the next gen hardware will support the last gen and after that there will be good emulation.

Really? I sincerly doubt XBLA and VC games will be around in 10 years. So the consoles are in the same boat. Also 2 gens from now the system will not play 360 games either. I also have serious doubts the next handheld from Nintendo will play GBA games.

So really, no matter where you look games are very much a "here and now" thing. Emulators and those who keep old hardware around are fun and all, but hardly the target audience for game publishers. Hence why they keep reselling old collections, since they know most people don't own them anymore.

[IwantMORE]

the PS2 is 8 years old and still selling. The PS3 plays most older games and could well be around for another 10 years. You can expect the hardware to still be working, if looked after, for another 10 years. Also current games will not date as quickly as older games. So say Spore on the PS3 makes much more sence than the windows version. IMO

[Daveman]

the PS2 is 8 years old and still selling. The PS3 plays most older games and could well be around for another 10 years.
Not likely. It'll have a 10-year lifespan, but we're already 2 years into it. If it performs well, it'll have the same lifespan as the PS2, which is coming up on year 10 next Spring.

[Vroomfondel]

Why are you guys all talking about consoles now? Steam is about PC gaming, and we can still play PC games that are over 20 years old, so I can't see why we shouldn't be allowed to play the games we buy today 20 years from now.

[Daveman]

Well we're not just discussing what's possible from a technical standpoint, we're talking about whether or not the providers of the games we buy (particularly downloads on consoles) will remember that we've bought those games ten years from now and allow us to play it. I hope I'll be able to play Bionic Commando on PS4 when it comes out. Or if I reformat my PS3 ten years from now, I hope I'll be able to re-download all the games I had bought originally.

[Hudson]

IIRC purchases are tied to your PSN account.

[8IronBob]

Right, and even tho HL2: Orange Box was ported to X360 and PS3, Steam was not ported along with them, obviously, and Valve agreed to let M$ and Sony take over with their online services instead. I only wish that CS: Source would've made it as a console game, that would probably have been good for consoles nowadays, after seeing how the original Xbox version of CS was like. However, Valve's games are still tried and true behind the keyboard and mouse via the Steam Community, and will always have the largest community for those titles. I'd hate for someone outside of Valve to run Steam, and there's too much history to let a big, DRM-happy corporation run the helm for them.

[Blue Lightning]

Probebly VALVe hinted toward an EA takeover just to make EA stock go up.

[Mr.Fibbles]

or their own. . .since that is what happens when you are bought or about to be bought.

[Kristian Joensen]

Valve isn't a publicly traded company. So that is not an issue.

[ZuljinRaynor]

If Valve was public I'd be afraid. I want them to stay exactly where they are. Or split Steam off into a seperate company.

[8IronBob]

Maybe even sell off Steam to id Software, or even 3DR, why not? Worth the risk, if you ask me...
At least they'd keep Steam off the big corporate list. :D

[Daveman]

I sincerely doubt Steam will be sold because I sincerely doubt Valve will be bought. Valve is independent and they're making truckloads of money from Steam, so anyone seeking to buy them would have to put up a huge amount of money for a developer known for bad release dates and low cost-return products.

[IwantMORE]

Maybe even sell off Steam to id Software, or even 3DR, why not?

Because neither company could afford it!

[8IronBob]

True, let alone that ever since id Software was able to do Valve some favors over the time that they've used their Quake technology, you thought that id Software scratched Valve's back, now Valve should scratch theirs.
After all, id's now one of Steam's biggest contributors for their games with the service, look at that 50% off sale that they had a couple of weeks ago, that's good proof, if you ask me.

[Blue Lightning]

Valve isn't a publicly traded company.

No, but EA is. And the mere rumor that EA could buy VALVe, makes EA stock go up.

[Talos]

No, but EA is. And the mere rumor that EA could buy VALVe, makes EA stock go up.

Kristian's statement was meant for Mr.Fibbles.

[Mr.Fibbles]

Yeah. I confused the EA/Valve thing with the EA/Take Two thing where EA went to the share holders of Take Two.

[Daveman]

True, let alone that ever since id Software was able to do Valve some favors over the time that they've used their Quake technology, you thought that id Software scratched Valve's back, now Valve should scratch theirs.
After all, id's now one of Steam's biggest contributors for their games with the service, look at that 50% off sale that they had a couple of weeks ago, that's good proof, if you ask me.
I don't think id was thinking that they'd be doing Valve a favor by putting their games on Steam...

[Reaper]

Even if it was a favor the returns for the investment are huge. Put your games on someones delivery truck and you get the truck! Haha.