Valve: Give us money before we even start development

Before we go into this Valve quote, look at how Kotaku introduces it:

Here’s how most games are made: idea is pitched to publisher, publisher likes idea, risks millions of dollars funding said idea. Most of those risks end up as busts. So is there a better way of doing things?

Valve like to think so. Company boss Gabe Newell has said that, rather than allow conservative publishers to dictate the kind of content that’s published, that decision should rest instead with you. The customer.

(bold is my emphasis)

I guess Luke doesn’t realize that publishers do want to put out games customers want to buy. Publishers invest in games that bring in customers and money. It is likely the reason why when a big hit occurs, there are dozens of copycats because the publishers think the customers are there.

What I find so astonishing is that anyone would think that gaming revolves around something other than customers.

Now, let us see what Gabe Newell is saying:

One of the areas that I am super interested in right now is how we can do financing from the community. So right now, what typically happens is you have this budget – it needs to be huge, it has to be $10m – $30m, and it has to be all available at the beginning of the project. There’s a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative.

What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, ‘Hey, I really like this idea you have. I’ll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I’ll also get a copy of that game.’

So move financing from something that occurs between a publisher and a developer… Instead have it be something where funding is coming out of community for games and game concepts they really like.

This is a classic example of a game developer wanting to make whatever he wants, but investors are putting the stop to it because they know the ‘visionary game’ won’t be getting the benefits.

So Gabe wants to turn to amateur investors, i.e. fans.

Just because someone likes games does not mean they know a thing about investing. If the professional investors are turning Gabe down and Gabe trying to get amateur investors, this comes across to me as a scam.

C’mon, Gabe! Put the risk on YOURSELF. Valve has plenty of money. It can risk it. The bottom line is that Gabe Newell wants you to risk your money, but he doesn’t want to risk HIS money. And I find that despicable.

There have been many ‘flags’ lately that are indicating something is not right in the Core Gaming Market. We have publishers ramming DRM and digital distribution down our throats. We are seeing continued outsourcing for cheaper costs. And now we are seeing guys like Gabe Newell wants gamers to finance the development costs of his games.

Doesn’t this sound like Valve is having problems getting a publisher for one of its games? If core gaming was growing by leaps and bounds, then why are publishers reluctant to invest in a game made by top game maker like Valve? There have been too many signals indicating that something is beginning to go very wrong on the core side. This is just one of them.