Here's Why Microsoft Buying Valve Is A Terrible Idea

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io to Gaming@beehaw.org – 57 points –
thegamer.com
49

This article is pure clickbait. But eventually Gabe is going to die. And when that day happens we are going to see Valve either transform into a foundation, or become everything that it had resisted through its entire life. Gabe is a stand-up guy. No question.

His successors, are not going to be Gabe. They're going to chipaway at his philosophy. It's only a matter of time

Just like when Christopher Tolkien died. No one else was left to be passionate about his father's vision and desires.

I have to wonder if he's even still doing anything at Valve anymore since moving to New Zealand?

A CEO that does not do anything provides stability to the company. (/s)

When management manages (making changes) you can often wonder: Wouldn't it be better if they did nothing instead?

This is my real fear as well. I love Gabe but what happens afterwards… I would work for him in a second and I’m just hoping he finds enough people who have the same philosophy to continue his work.

No, Microsoft Probably Isn’t Going To Buy Valve

Clickbait.

It's not likely anyway, given how it would almost certainly result in an antitrust lawsuit.

Valve also has no incentive - it's basically a free money machine.

It also acts like $16 billion is both not enough, and a cartoonishly large amount. Meanwhile, Activision blizzard was just purchased by msft for $69 billion.

Acquisitions felt kinda cool when Microsoft was dishing them out like nobody’s business prior to the pandemic.

No, it did not. Consolidation usually is bad for employees and customers, and anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the last 150 years has had plenty of opportunities to observe this.

Who was even suggesting that this was a thing that might ever happen?

I think MS expressed interest in the idea. But I doubt even they saw it as an actual possibility.

Thats exactly it. I think it was Phil Spencer who said he'd want Microsoft to buy Valve if the chance came up. In the same sentence he said he would buy Nintendo, too. In the same way a Gen Z'er might say "I'd like to buy a house someday."

Insights from Dior, a prominent figure in the Counter-Strike community, reveal that Gabe Newell owns less than 25% of Valve.

Huh, I didn't know that. (emphasis mine)

I still don't know it. I don't have a huge amount of confidence in "a prominent figure in the Counter-Strike community" as a source for Valve's internal finances.

Shares aren't necessarily voting shares, but I don't know how that works and if it's even relevant for the private Valve corporation.

So maybe Gabe Newell does have full control over Valve, or he might not.

It's definitely interesting that it's only 25%.

IIRC Valve issues shares to its employees, but the details aren't public. There are a bunch of different corporate ownership schemes out there that it could potentially be.

I could come up with a thousand reasons as to why this would never happen. Hell, I could even argue that the whole Steam Deck's existence comes from a series of decisions that Valve made out of hatred for Microsoft. So, yeah, it's not happening.

Still though, as a thought experiment, imagining a world where tomorrow, Steam is owned by Microsoft, it's... interesting, to say the least. In the most horrifying way possible, but interesting nonetheless. Quite frankly, I can't imagine anything worse happening for video games. Like to me, this is what a video game apocalypse sounds like.

Still though, as a thought experiment, imagining a world where tomorrow, Steam is owned by Microsoft, it's... interesting, to say the least. In the most horrifying way possible, but interesting nonetheless. Quite frankly, I can't imagine anything worse happening for video games. Like to me, this is what a video game apocalypse sounds like.

Yarr. ☠️

Fuckin SHUT UP!

We don't want to give those MS assholes ANY ideas.

Here's why anyone who thought that was happening is a dumbass: because obviously.

Gabe Newell knows that any potential buyer will run Valve into the ground. Thus he already promised too long ago that he would never sell or let Valve go public.

Considering how many game studios that Microsoft just killed off in the last 3 years alone; they're never going to be worthy of buying Valve.

A terrible idea for whom? Microsoft? I think not.

I would. There’d hopefully be an exodus.

There most definitely wouldn't be. No one cares.

Been plenty of exoduses from MS lately. Oh! You mean ones led by the employees...

No exoduses that I'm aware of. Show me.

Lmao they laid off 1900 from Activision Blizzard last year and shuttered multiple XBox game studios this month! Sure, I suppose they could all just hang around and work as volunteers, but I suspect they'll be doing that exodus thing.

Mass firing is not an exodus. Exodus is when people are fleeing, and generally in terms of liberation. Firing people is just firing people

No definition I've ever heard requires an exodus to be initiated by the people leaving. Also, if you read the comment that started all this, I was explicit that I didn't mean employee-led. So thanks for stopping by weeks later to display your ignorance and/or lack of reading comprehension.

Someone on the internet hasn't heard it so that must be wrong then!

Save your saltiness for 9gag, friend. I saw that you specifically wrote that but you also continued using exodus in the first sense, as the one you replied to did. But you just wanted to be snarky to that person I guess.

It's okay buddy, your definition of exodus was wrong. Just let it go.

As for the rest, I made a sarcastic comment based entirely on fact, they asked for proof of my statement, I gave them everything they needed to verify it. I'm sorry if my comment was too harsh for your sensibilities, but if that's the worst you've heard on Lemmy, them I'm glad for you.

I'm still mad about what Microsoft did to Rare and think about what the Nintendo landscape would look like if it never happened

The story I heard was they bought Rare thinking this would give the rights to Donkey Kong, and when they realized this wasn't the case after the fact, they basically threw them into the Kinect mine, which later became the Sea of Thieves mine.

If Valve was a publicly traded company, Steam would have turned to shit ages ago.