Have I mentioned that I am a huge fan of Valve?
Sure, they make good games but I am a fan of Valve for more than games.
Half-Life was a terrific game and looked great with my 3Dfx card. But unlike most games, this one kept on giving long after I finished the game itself. Half-Life was more than a game; it was a platform.
After HL, I started to play Counter Strike -- online-only mahem at its finest. CS was free and I played the hell out of that game (until cheaters and 12-year olds made me look bad). Then I moved on to another free online game, the team-based Day of Defeat.
I paid Valve $50 for Half-Life and I played that platform for years. That is what I call value.
Eventually Valve released Half-Life 2. I dont think I liked HL2 as much as HL1 (sorry but the gravity gun is just not that interesting) but once again, Valve delivered more than a game. After playing DoD as a free mod for years, I was happy to pony up $20 for the HL2 version. $50+$20 for two years of gameplay? Still an incredible value.
This month Valve released Orange Box. For $50, you get the entire Half-Life 2 game with two expansion episodes, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Damn.
I am a huge fan of Valve because Valve provides more value than any game company in existence. And after 5+ years, it seems pretty obvious that this is by design not accident. Someone at Valve has clearly decided to go the extra, extra mile for their customers.
Even though Valve founder Gabe Newell is a Microsof alum, he does not appear to have inherited MSFT's infamous MBA-think. Whether it is maximizing shareholder return or finding new opportunities for incremental revenue, too many companies shoot themselves in the foot by pissing off their customers in order get another $5, $10, $15.
A classic example is Xbox Live. After buying an overheating lawnmower of an Xbox360 and buying the overpriced games, you want me to pay another $50 to play the game I already bought online? I dont think so.
It may be that the PC-world is just too open to monetize and that all companies would act like console companies if they had the chance to gouge customers. I just dont see Valve doing that even if they could.
All of which gets me to the actual reason I thought about writing a post: The Steam Community.
"We will not charge for The Steam Community and its features. Never entered our mind."
GFW Magazine, October 2006
After HL, Valve worked on Steam - a download distribution platform. At first Steam was kind of a pain but in short-order it became a great way to keep your mod's up to date. These days Steam is kicking ass as a great way to buy and play games without CD's or stupid CD copy protection kruft like Starforce.
The followup to Steam is Valve's Xbox Live killer - The Steam Community. Yet another freebie that provides value to customers without any attempt to nickel and dime them.
MSFT is known as a "platform" company but they (and everyone else) would be wise to take some lessons from Valve, a company that knows how to build platforms the right way.
