PS3 is too Complicated for Valve
Valve, the makers of, oh, let’s go with the Half Life series, have said (again) that the Playstation 3 is too complicated for their simple little minds. Loot-Ninja spoke to them at E3 and asked the compulsory question, ‘Why won’t you develop for the PS3, you lazy buggers?’ Valve replied with:
‘The PC and the 360 are just more straightforward. We can focus on what we want to do, which is make game experiences, instead of sweating bullets over obscure architectural decisions they make with their platform. [...] I didn’t come into this business in the 90s because of some technical fetish. I came in because I wanted to give people experiences that made them have fun.’
So they’re either too lazy and retardedly superior or they’re just not good developers. Do they expect technology to just stay the same forever? They’re not going to adapt with tech as it evolves? If that’s they’re choice they’re going to get left behind.
If so many companies can pull so much out of the PS3, Valve, the makers of brilliant games such as Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2, Team Fortress, etc should be able to manage to port their visually unimpressive games across. Not only are they screwing over their fans who don’t own either a gaming PC or an Xbox 360, they’re also blocking out a very large market. I know I’d buy Left 4 Dead if they released it on PS3.
Filed under: Valve
i would say your being an immature prick. if they don’t want to develop for our console thats fine, its a well known fact that the ps3 is harder to develop for, and as far as hardware changes, for the most part it hasn’t changed since the release of the pentiumII chip. thats when in order processors went to out of order processors, which strangley enough the ps3 and 360 chose to use iops for their own reasons. as far as valve being left behind, i’d say there doing damn well and doubt they will be going any where seeing as gaming pcs haven’t changed very much and microsuck claims a 10 year life span from the 360.
insulting people you don’t really know doesn’t make you or this site look good. it just makes you look like a dick and this site look like a moron for allowing you to publish this.
fail on your part
Excellently written article. It’s a good point to say that, if they refuse to move forward in technology, then they will be left for dead. (pun intended)
Matt, I never once said that it wasn’t harder to develop for. Not even once. If you missed the point, maybe you should read it through again?
As a former contributor for PS3-Vault I know that it is safe to say that Gamoc is no fool. The point he makes is very valid, i.e. if any other company can easily squeeze multiplatform games, then why not Valve? Sure, it may take some extra time and money to integrate a game for multiple consoles (bioshock), but, if anything, the good that comes from the outcome would exceed the work put into it. Left 4 dead is an awesome game, if not for their “laziness,” they could’ve profited very much from the PS3 install base.
Yeah, I agree Gamoc! One point though, your article is rather harsh on a developer who is actually really accomplished, having created one of the most fun and rewarding FPS’ of all-time. I couldn’t agree more about them being “lazy” as you so aptly put it, but at the same time, we all accept that the PS3 is harder to develop on, and it just so happens that Valve have made the executive decision not to release on our (clearly superior) console. Good article other than the irrational criticism that Valve might not be a good developer and they clearly understand how technology is developing, but that doesn’t have anything to do with how it’s been made more of an effort to develop for PS3…
And actually, I wouldn’t mind an opportunity to write for PS3-Vault when I had the time… if you’re interested, hehehe.
Email me, Anti-Flame
We have a contact us page…
E-mail… or PSN message? Hehehe, that’s the conundrum. And I don’t really use my e-mail – the 50-odd messages I get every day from Facebook really drains me, I’ll have to change that setting sometime so my e-mail can actually become useful again.
E-mail, I can’t set it all up by PSN…
And I need samples from you, PSN just won’t work for this :-p
I look at it this way. If they don’t want to develop for the PS3 then they don’t have to. They are only hurting themselves as they are missing a whole install base and if the PS3 should turn around and be THE console ($100 price drop in Aug) then they will have a lot of catching up to do as it takes a year or longer to get a game off the ground.
The VP of EA even indicated that the 360 has hit it’s limit graphically and if Valve wants to continue supporting a machine that cannot do more and it is “comfortable” for them to program for then when the next consoles come out they will have a harder time adapting to them.
I would love to see LFD on the PS3 but I know I won’t ever see and that is fine as I don’t plan on buying any valve games. The way I can help is not to support them by not buying their games and let them know I want to see PS3 games in their library!
You see, that’s not proving anything to them because they won’t notice.
They’re hurting PS3 owners as well as themselves – did you see the Orange Box PS3 port?
Plus, I REALLY want Left 4 Dead ¬¬
I’m going to have to get it for PC. Which is sad, because I’m not sure if it’ll run (3GHz for that? Really?)
As far as 360’s graphics not going any further, I don’t think Valve mind. They haven’t had a significant graphical upgrade since Half Life 2.
“So they’re either too lazy and retardedly superior or they’re just not good developers. Do they expect technology to just stay the same forever? ”
No, they are a PC focused development company who develop games for the PC. The 360’s hardware architecture is very similar in design to a PC, which makes porting their games to it quite easy.
“Not only are they screwing over their fans who don’t own either a gaming PC or an Xbox 360,”
The only people screwing anyone over are the people themselves who are not willing to buy a gaming PC or an Xbox 360. That’s like saying I shouldn’t have to buy a PS3 to play Infamous.
“they’re also blocking out a very large market. I know I’d buy Left 4 Dead if they released it on PS3.”
You might, and many other people might as well, but you also have to consider just how much money it would cost to build a PS3 division for porting their games, and the amount of money the port would cost. Clearly Valve feel the cost of doing so would be higher than the profit they might earn from it.
We’re in the middle of a recession, if people hadn’t noticed. Risks like that can sink a company if they’re not careful.
“They’re hurting PS3 owners as well as themselves – did you see the Orange Box PS3 port? ”
The PS3 port of The Orange Box was outsourced to another company by Electronic Arts. Valve had no involvement in that.
We are in a recession and that is just an excuse!
I think the company is just lazy as they want to stay safe making a game for something they know is tried and true instead of take a risk and see how it pans out.
I know a lot of people that would buy LFD on the PS3 and they could make it so much better on the PS3.
Just look at Ninja Gaiden II coming out. They fixed the camera problem and they are adding three new playable female chars.
Team ninja is taking a big risk and it will pay off.
Not only that but Sony has dropped the dev kit cost a lot so that they can get more devs on board.
When the price drop of the PS3 hits I’m sure it will make a few devs wake up and realize it is time to start making games for the PS3.
There is rumor that MS is working on their next console and it will NOT be like a pc so it will not be easy to develop for like the 360 is now!
Yeah, and then Valve will become PC exclusive developers lol
“If that’s they’re choice”? Too lazy to keep up with the latest in grammar? :^)
Dammit, Haiku shut the hell up. Don’t demean others for their meaningless mistakes. The time you write several well-stated articles every week and don’t make a single mistake at all, then you can speak, but otherwise just shut up.
yea STFU Haiku
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I mean one minute Sony fans cry over them loosing all the exclusives to MS. And they was told is cause you loose a big chunk of profit due to only one console, they couldn’t understand. But when the shoe is on the other foot, Valve are prick’s that doesn’t know how to develop games. Man this is truly good times…..
“Valve are prick’s that doesn’t know how to develop games”.
Yeah, Valve, creators of some of the most revolutionary FPS games of the entire genre, and constant innovative new franchises, don’t know how to develop games.
,…right.
Yeah, Mr. O’Connor. Oh paragon of infinite gaming wisdom comparable to a Mormon elder pontificating on methamphetamine. EA did publish orange box, but valve also put it out on 360, and neither versions of Team Fortress 2 are getting DLC updates that the PC users are getting. Heaven forbid a software firm invest some time and commitment to better their knowledge and capital by developing one title for the PlayStation 3. Half-Life had its own content on the PlayStation 2.
You seem overly content to defending Valve’s position of not wanting to venture into developing for the newer playstation console. It’s overly-conscious for the corporation lackeys like you who need to get a nine foot rope, put it around your neck and take a plunge off a twenty foot cliff. Valve has people who handle PR and their decisions, I don’t need your hubris pissing on the good point that people who may have only invested in a ps3 and don’t have a gaming pc or xbox want one of their titles. Crawl back to your rock under the steam user forums and stay there.
I see your point Mike but I have to take the side against Valve. Should Valve be consistently praised for stuff that they have made in the past. Well yes however, They have failed to make any genre defining titles for any platform and there source engine hasn’t been updated significantly either. Valve is just content take advantage of the user base they have built up in the past. Look at L4D, totally overrated game. Very light on content and now they are making a sequel and releasing it less than a year after the first one came out. The standard in the industry is at least 2 years of development for a sequel. There complete lack of innovation and the inability to adapt to a very different market is troublesome.