Google is Not Looking to Buy Valve

Yesterday a rumor started which said Google was looking to purchase Valve Software, the makers of Half-Life, Team Fortress and, of course, Portal. While Valve Software boasts a 20-million unit sales on their archive of awesome games, what interest would google have in gaming?

From google’s own corporate mission statement: “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” How would gaming fit into the dynamic of organizing the worlds information?

Some have said they’d be interested in Valve’s Steam system for distributing games and products. That seems far fetched considering all the CDN solutions on the Net, especially those focused towards media related projects like Liberated Syndication (Wizzard Media), which we use to host our gaming podcast, or other video solutions which would fit more into the Google playing field (considering the large purchase of youtube.com)

Today, Doug Lombardi of Valve, pubically said that Valve Software is willing to be purchased but stated the Google rumor was “a bit of fiction.” (kotaku) While Valve Software has shown they can make awesome titles with stability and dedication, knowing their open to being purchased is slightly disturbing.

I’m always happy for those “little guys” that make it in the big world of cut throat game development, there is some satisfaction knowing the smaller developers are making big waves against publishers like EA and Activision. Valve has changed the way we download games electronically and continues to expand their dominion; if Valve Software was purchased by a bigger company, would we still get the same quality and innovation from the developers?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 491: January BluesEpisode 491: January Blues

Aside from cardboard products by Nintendo, there wasn’t much to talk about this week, thanks to the January slog. However, the guys did play games and there was some news to talk about.

This week’s headlines include:

  • NIS America admits it has no idea when Ys VIII will launch on PC
  • New Fortnite: Battle Royale update available now
  • Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age releases in just a few weeks on PC

All this and Listener Feedback, too.

Wolfenstein for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3Wolfenstein for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

When you hear the word Wolfenstein what game do you think of? Constantly, I recall Wolfenstein 3D and all the memorable times I had building my first person shooter fingers. From a new-generation FPS perspective, Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the PC back in 2001 was my last touch on a Wolfenstein game series. I enjoyed it a great deal and would love to see more out of the game series.

It seems Activision and Raven Software are working on a PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, currently titled Wolfenstein set to be released “when it is done.” The game follows the same concepts as most of the Wolfenstein titles of the past, a bit of dark science fiction and undead matched with World War II settings with Nazi’s and the main character BJ Blazkowicz.

This series seems to be full of re-hash and repeat with plots, characters and overall feel. Developers seem to favor re-makes over sequels to the famous franchise, eventually putting out one or two sequels of their re-make hits well with customers.

Is this the correct direction for the Wolfenstein franchise? In my humble opinion, it doesn’t really matter to me because I’m such a fan of the series. Perhaps they will continue to re-make the game until the larger demographic screams “Not again!”

(Thanks, Eurogamer)