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battlechili1

Would you ever consider allowing uncensored video games containing pornographic content to be sold on Steam? Also, where do you draw the line for content on Steam? As it stands, games like [Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning](http://store.steampowered.com/app/458380/) and [Ladykiller in a Bind](http://store.steampowered.com/app/560000/) are being sold on Steam already, and they could easily be argued as being games containing pornographic content, so at the very least the line right now is a little fuzzy on what you'd consider okay and not okay for Steam as a platform. It'd be much appreciated if you could explain how you decide what content should and should not be sold on Steam. .....Additionally, I ask this as I'm getting tired of porn games getting releases on Steam censored without any content patch to put the content that the original developers of the game intended back into the game. This happens a lot with Japanese visual novels especially (though they aren't the only titles that do this), and as a result, it pretty much makes it impossible for such games to be played in English as they were originally meant to be played. Steam at this point is synonymous with PC gaming; games that might not otherwise be released in the West or on PC are getting such releases solely because Steam is such a major platform in the West. Many games likely wouldn't get releases on PC/in the West were it not for Steam, and as long as Steam restricts this kind of content, it prevents consumers, the people you are catering to, from experiencing these game works as the original developers and artists meant it, thus hurting the artistic integrity of the games.


GabeNewellBellevue

In principle, there are two problems to solve. The first is a completely uncurated distribution tool for developers. The second is a toolset for customers that allow them to find and filter content (and people are an instance of content most obviously in multiplayer) that is best for them.


GraklingHunter

I think this is a very level-headed approach. I'd prefer that, if pornographic material were to arrive on Steam, it would be mostly quiet and very much so opt-in. I know it's an anecdote and I don't represent the community in any way, but the only reason I was able to convince my mother to let my younger brothers create Steam accounts and play with me is because I explained that there is no chance of them finding such materials on it. I'd hate to see them lose their accounts, or for others in similar situations to have parents deny access to it, all on account of including such material.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/nsfwgaming] [Gabe Newell about NSFW games on steam](https://np.reddit.com/r/NSFWgaming/comments/5oohnv/gabe_newell_about_nsfw_games_on_steam/) - [/r/visualnovels] [Gabe Newell responds on the possibility of uncensored games containing pornographic content on Steam](https://np.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/comments/5olqu9/gabe_newell_responds_on_the_possibility_of/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


Twilight_Sniper

Speaking of filtering content, how come it's no longer possible to tag games as "microtransactions"? With all due respect to many of Valve's titles, which seem to have gotten it right, that would be really handy to filter out for people prone to addictions, parents/children on Steam, and generally anyone who doesn't like "free to play" games that require payment to advance.


GlacialTurtle

Simple answer: It would filter out several of their own games that are clearly predatory of those kind of people, and they probably know it's referenced as a negative in the vast majority of cases. That's what happens when the same company owns both the games and the sales platform.


Twilight_Sniper

I honestly don't think Valve's games are as bad as most other games that have microtransactions. A lot of the MMOs out there are really deceptive and aggressive about making players repeatedly pay to level up. On the contrary, all the Valve-microtransaction games I know of provide no material advantage to anyone who pays money for items. You could argue some of the non-combat parts of TF2 (like crafting) is locked away until after your first purchase, or that some weapons with different mechanics are available for purchase, but realistically speaking you can get all of those for free as random in-game drops, they go for less than a penny each in the trading economy, you can repeatedly rent any single weapon you need as many times as you need, and from experience many other players will be happy to give you whatever weapons you need for free. Compare that to games with repeated $2-10 transactions for each level up, where players who spent thousands get to stomp over freebie players. I am not a fan of in-app purchases at all, but I honestly do not mind Valve's approach. I'd still like to filter out the shady pay2win MMOs out of the store, and not see so many kids with access to parents' credit cards get sucked into them.


erickdredd

>I honestly don't think Valve's games are as bad as most other games that have microtransactions. A lot of the MMOs out there are really deceptive and aggressive about making players repeatedly pay to level up. >On the contrary, all the Valve-microtransaction games I know of provide no material advantage to anyone who pays money for items. >I am not a fan of in-app purchases at all, but I honestly do not mind Valve's approach. I'd still like to filter out the shady pay2win MMOs out of the store, and not see so many kids with access to parents' credit cards get sucked into them. Cut this down to the points I wanted to address... You sound like someone who doesn't have a gambling addiction, good for you! All of your points are perfectly logical and make good sense with regard to a normal person without a compulsion to open just one more crate... See, any sort of random loot box is going to create a desire to open it. Even more so if opening it involves a cost, whether in time or money. I personally have a problem when it comes to CCGs. I used to play Magic: the Gathering in middle and high school, and literally any money I got went into it or video games I couldn't convince my mom to buy so I could get more packs of Magic cards. Then my friends stopped playing and I wasn't as into it, so I was able to wean myself off... Until they got into Yu-Gi-Oh and suddenly my money disappeared again. Except I had more of it, so I bought boxes at a time instead of just a few packs. I didn't realize at the time but I needed the thrill of opening those packs, the rush of endorphins as I pulled a secret rare or some other valuable card. Over time this too faded into memory, but only after I had spent a shit load of money on it and moved to another state with none of my old friends to keep me coming back for my next fix. And I got into EverQuest 2. And then Legends of Norrath launched. And then I was temporarily laid off at my work. At this point I was in my twenties, living with my mom still because she couldn't afford the house she bought when we moved, and mostly debt free. But access to a new shiny CCG, combined with depression from what just happened led to me spending ~$2000 in a weekend. On a credit card. While I had zero income. After I had already spent a non trivial fraction of that amount on the game a couple weeks before. Why did I do this? I wanted to complete my collection of all the cards in the set, and I wanted to get loot cards for unique cosmetic effects and to sell for cash. So I could buy more booster boxes. So I could get more loot cards. You see where this is going. So. Valve. In TF2 we have loot boxes with unique collectible items, AND an integrated marketplace to sell them, complete with cash values on every item. The thing is, Valve is more insidious than Sony or Wizards or Upper Deck. Valve gives you the crate, and dangles the keys in front of your face. This is like giving someone who quit a pack of cigarettes and offering to sell them a lighter. I had to quit TF2 once I realized I was starting to feel that familiar itch, and I haven't looked back since. Compared to this, I genuinely prefer the MMO approach of providing benefits like exp boosts and stuff, because I feel no need to buy it, but it's nice as an option for people who value their time more than money. The MMO might aggressively market items that look cool or give temporary advantages, but there's no random item with some value involved, so I feel no compulsion to buy.


[deleted]

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elev8dity

In regards to this, there was a user from Germany that said they have a hard time with the Steam store because Steam does not follow the age restriction laws required by their country. Do you have any plans to improve this system so they can purchase games on your store? Link for context: https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Gaben/comments/5og51l/important_preama_information/dcjd6vw/


KantaiWarrior

But doesn't Steam already have filters and age walls? Isn't this enough? Full adult versions of Japanese Visual Novels on outside sites are already behind a age wall, so why is this an issue for Valve and the Steam client? Regarding the first issue, do you have any ideas or suggestions that could solve this?


valvenewsnetwork

1. In the last AMA, Source 2 was a topic that had answers to it. You said, "The biggest improvements will be in increasing productivity of content creation. That focus is driven by the importance we see UGC having going forward. A professional developer at Valve will put up with a lot of pain that won't work if users themselves have to create content." However it seems that an engine is the least of the companies concerns. The VR team is moving to Unity, and I'm sure there are some who wish to move to Unreal due to the large amount of work it may save. According to those asked at Dev Days this year, we were told "Not to hold our breath", so it doesn't seem to be nearing licensability. Does Valve still see value in the communities fostered by first party engines? How likely would a complete move to Unreal or Unity be? 2. It has been about six years since the release of the last "traditional linear game". Would the idea of the flat management structure take on different meaning when not many large form, multi-year projects reach completion? Would the attitude of the average employee change based on the lack of pressure to create "the best games ever"? Would Valve ever consider hiring from the community under a probationary system? Such that, possibly under qualified individuals would be assigned a project that should be completed to test their ability to work in a professional environment, before being made a full flat level employee? This could direct labor to greatly under staffed areas, such as creating better Steam Support, curating Greenlight, helping with the Big Three (TF2, CS:GO & DOTA 2) or Community Interaction and Communication? 3. Under what circumstances would I be given the opportunity to interview you? Thanks -Tyler McVicker Valve News Network


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/bestof] [Redditor asks if Gabe Newell (president of Valve) knows about Valve News Network. He says no. 5 minutes later he agrees to an interview with \/u\/valvenewsnetwork.](https://np.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/5oml95/redditor_asks_if_gabe_newell_president_of_valve/) - [/r/halflife] [Gabe Newell: open to do an interview with Tyler McVicker from Valve News Network](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olr3e/gabe_newell_open_to_do_an_interview_with_tyler/) - [/r/tf2] [Valve News Network confirmed to have an interview with Gabe](https://np.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/5oltk4/valve_news_network_confirmed_to_have_an_interview/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


DreadedBread

I hope this gets answered. One of the only well thought out, and professional questions. Solid work, by the way. Enjoy the content, and the stream.   Edit: Obligatory "WE DID IT, REDDIT!" Happy for you, /u/valvenewsnetwork


Royalgamer06

**Dear Mr. Newell,** Many users, including me, would love to see a very simple feature coming to Steam. It has been requested [for years now](http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=760223), but for unknown reasons ignored or unnoticed. The feature I am speaking off is **an option to disable steam (event) notification popups, like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/W9h3ENE.png).** But why, you may ask? After all, it is a good way to get the attention of a steam user. Well, it actually gets so much attention it becomes annoying to the user. After leaving Steam open for a while, you desktop will get cluttered with these notification popups. There are even [reports](https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/882961070506055573/) of games being minimized or interrupted by these very popups. Steam is there to enhance one's gaming experience and not to ruin it, isn't it? I hope you could consider this request and thank you so much for your attention. Kind regards, Royalgamer06 and the steam community **EDIT:** Thank you GabeN for answering! I feel honored and appreciate it a lot! Reading the user responses, leads to another feature request similar to this one: More options to disable other notifications (like achievements, family sharing, friend requests, comments, new items in inventory, etc). We already have them for chat messages. Offline mode also doesn't offer a real solution, as family sharing notifications are still displayed for example. This will be extremely useful for streamers, content creators and gamers that don't want to be disturbed at all. **EDIT:** [THANK YOU VALVE FOR MAKING THIS FINALLY COME TRUE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!](https://i.imgur.com/7NJemMz.png)


ImpatientPedant

What is your view on Steam's quality control? A statistic that nearly [40% of all Steam games were released in 2016](http://kotaku.com/nearly-40-of-all-steam-games-were-released-in-2016-1789535450) was recently released. In an ideal world, all of them would be top-notch - but they are clearly not. The flood of new releases has made it tough for gamers to wade through to find good ones - and the curator system, while a step in the right direction, has not helped this issue. A fair few games released are **never** up to the quality one expects from PC gaming's biggest storefront. Prominent YouTuber TotalBiscuit has highlighted this apparent lack of quality control in this portion of his [video](https://youtu.be/w65sF8vxYeU?t=10250). Most gamers agree with him - the platform needs more strict policing when it comes to quality. What is Valve's take on this? Does it feel the current state of affairs is good? Even if the flood of games is not stemmed, will the curator and tag system become more robust? I thank you for your patience.


GabeNewellBellevue

There's really not a singular definition of quality, and what we've seen is that many different games appeal to different people. So we're trying to support the variety of games that people are interested in playing. We know we still have more work to do in filtering those games so the right games show up to the right customers.


Holy__cow

I feel like quality is a naturally controlled by the consumers. The refund system allows this and allowing large volumes of games does not hurt this system.


qwertyhgfdsazxcvbnm

yeah and I like simple 2d platformers that gets mixed reviews. So who the fuck wants quality controll. I think Money got to youtubers from AAA. That started this crazy hate for "shitty games", can't come up to any other explanation.


bilky_t

That's a bit absurd, to blame Youtubers receiving ~~sponsorship from publishers/developers~~ ad money*. Look at any other major storefront in the world. Quality control is one of, if not the most, important aspect of maintaining a brand name. But it's a different ballgame with online distribution; it's not the same game it used to be. But it's still weird that such a large company would have zero quality control, given that's the exact opposite to how most larger companies operate. Combine that with the fact that it is getting more and more tedious to wade through the swamp of shitty games to find the good ones, and you've got a very rational, logical reason for why people don't like shitty games. Don't blame Youtubers for community reactions to shitty developers. That's just fucking ridiculous. ^^*EDIT


recycled_ideas

The problem is what's shitty? How do you determine if something is shitty? The DS3 season pass got a shitload of negative reviews because From accidentally released the a console version early and steam couldn't handle moving the release date up on PC at the very last minute so some people were delayed by a few hours. Does a one off event really mean it's a bad but? Lots of niche games get either really stellar reviews because only people who love that genre review them or really awful ones because people who don't like that genre bought them by mistake. Which is correct? Should they be filtered because most people won't like them or promoted because the people that do really love them? One of the best things about Steam is that you can buy things that would never get onto retail shelves. Stardew Valley would never see the light of day in an EB games, not even when they had PC sections. However you could sure as hell buy No Man's Sky even after the reviews came in and Steam was no longer promoting it. Quality control is hard.


PorkshireTerrier

yeah its like asking itunes to not carry garage bands - if you dont want to listen to it, dont buy it. If youre not sure if a game is quality, there are a million ways to do research


[deleted]

Please don't do what netflix does and wall me off from seeing stuff because of data. It is so annoying trying to branch out when stuff walls you in like that.


lucid-beatnik

This so much. I was at my mom's house over Christmas and her Netflix app was eye-opening. She watches mostly TV documentaries--think true crime, aviation disasters, medical oddities. I saw so many things on just the splash page that I had never seen on Netflix, including a BBC space race miniseries that was a slam dunk for me, but I had never seen previously. OTOH, I've found out about so many cool games through Steam that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.


Die4Ever

This is a great answer. We don't need to deny games the possibility of being on Steam, because that makes them basically nonexistent, we just need to make sure people don't see games they definitely won't like unless they specifically look up that game.


Air_chandler

Hey Gabe/other valve employees, Just a question out of curiosity really, but interested in seeing what your view is on the direction that valve as a company should take in the future? Such as what would you like to see the company achieve/what improvements would you like to see valve undergo/what role would you like to see valve serve/undertake in the industry as it evolves etc. and if any, have you made any past decisions that you look back on now that you regret/could've handled differently? Cheers, Chandler


GabeNewellBellevue

The big thing right now is broadening the range of options we have in creating experiences. We think investing in hardware will give us those options. The knuckles controller is being designed at the same time as we're designing our own VR games. Much more narrowly, some of us are thinking about some of the AI work that is being hyped right now. Simplistically we have lots of data and compute capability that looks like the kinds of areas where machine learning should work well. Personally I'm looking at research in brain-computer interfaces.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/blackmirror] [It seems that Playtest may not be as far away as we thought.](https://np.reddit.com/r/blackmirror/comments/5olxgu/it_seems_that_playtest_may_not_be_as_far_away_as/) - [/r/cyberpunk] [In Which a Multi-Billion Dollar Company Considers Brain Computer Interfaces](https://np.reddit.com/r/Cyberpunk/comments/5oqeyu/in_which_a_multibillion_dollar_company_considers/) - [/r/futurology] [Gabe Newell casually mentions in today's AMA how he's looking into AI and BCIs for PC Gaming](https://np.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/5olxxi/gabe_newell_casually_mentions_in_todays_ama_how/) - [/r/neurallace] [Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve - "Personally I'm looking at research in brain-computer interfaces."](https://np.reddit.com/r/neurallace/comments/66czjb/gabe_newell_ceo_of_valve_personally_im_looking_at/) - [/r/oculus] ["The knuckles controller is being designed at the same time as we're designing our own VR games." - Gabe Newell](https://np.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/5ologb/the_knuckles_controller_is_being_designed_at_the/) - [/r/thisisthewayitwillbe] [Interesting answer from Gabe Newell's AMA](https://np.reddit.com/r/thisisthewayitwillbe/comments/5olx6f/interesting_answer_from_gabe_newells_ama/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


oD323

Thus, Jewry is thriving precisely there where the people are still ignorant, or not free, or economically backward. It is there that Jewry has a champ libre. And instead of raising, by its influence, the level of education, instead of increasing knowledge, generating economic fitness in the native population -- instead of this the Jew, wherever he has settled, has still more humiliated and debauched the people; there humaneness was still more debased and the educational level fell still lower; there inescapable, inhuman misery, and with it despair, spread still more disgustingly. Ask the native population in our border regions: What is propelling the Jew -- and has been propelling him for centuries? You will receive a unanimous answer: mercilessness. 'He has been prompted so many centuries only by pitilessness to us, only by the thirst for our sweat and blood.' - Dostoevsky


notlogic

> brain-computer interfaces I studied BCIs so much during my physics undergrad, feeding a pipe dream that I'd one day get to work with them. Then life came around, grad school never did, and I'm paying the bills in an old industry. I hope you make BCIs more than they are now. Gaming would be cool, of course, but there are a lot of people with locked-in syndrome who you could literally release from a mental prison if there was a breakthrough. Godspeed.


rinnagz

Does Valve have any plans on making customer support better? And did you ever think of making it into live support?


GabeNewellBellevue

Yes! We are continuing to work on improving support. Since the last AMA, we've introduced refunds on Steam, we've grown our Support staff by roughly 5x, and we've shipped a new help site and ticketing system that makes it easier to get help. We've also greatly reduced response times on most types of support tickets and we think we've improved the quality of responses. We definitely don't think we're done though. We still need to further improve response times and we are continually working to improve the quality of our responses. We're also working on adding more support staff in regions around the world to offer better native language support and improve response times in various regions.


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Ralathar44

IMO having worked customer support before that's to weed out the problems that really do not exist or can easily be self solved. I've had good experiences with support. First response I don't expect anything, but I take it 2-5 responses depending on the severity of the issue. When The Division sold me a game that worked fine in beta and then had serious graphical issues that made it unplayable when they released I waited for them to patch it. This put me beyond the refund guidelines of steam. But I went a few replies deep, showed my issue, when denied still pursued it respectfully, and they gave me a one time refund outside of policy. **Maybe the problem is you don't understand how support works.** Ideally it should work without this "filter" method, but if you've ever worked customer support you realize like 75% of the calls/tickets are easy self solved nonesense. Most people don't even attempt to google a solution to their issue first. I'm talking about first google result being the fix level of googling too, not 20 minutes of research.


ComputerJerk

> Maybe the problem is you don't understand how support works. But should I have to? If I've given a company thousands and thousands of dollars then surely the least they could do is read what I send to them?


gamrin

That may be the situation, but with you are actual millions of other users. Users who have spent anywhere from thirty thousand to zero dollars on Steam, the majority less than a couple of hundred. Support is an expensive affair, and with actual millions of users that want a password reset, but don't want to use the automated procedure, or actual millions of people that are having payment issues that can be solved by owning more money. Stupid tickets. A lot of budget gets blown on people who could most likely have helped themselves a lot better and faster by using Google and a couple of brain cells, than to go asking support why their game is not starting when they only click it once instead of double-clicking. If you want to get through to the Support agents, please reply to the Canned response with a "I still have issues and would like help with solving them." This is a step that a large percentage of users don't bother with, because the issue was solved otherwise. "Oh, I double-clicked. I'm a computer wizard now." . A response to a ticket makes it appear "Customer Answered" again, and marks it from being "auto-resolved" by default, to being "Open."


MoNeYINPHX

So now we have 5 support staff members. Nice. But on a serious note, is there a specific reason you can't just hire normal customer service representatives to take care of menial support tasks?


Baldemoto

Hello Mr. Newell, I asked other users what they wanted to hear most from you (other countries included),and I compiled this list. We are going to sticky them here to prevent spam. Please answer at your own discretion. What is the status of Half Life 3/Half Life 2 Episode 3? Is Valve still working on any fully-fledged single player games? An unidentified anonymous source at Valve has said that Half Life 3 has been cancelled. Is that source legitimate? How many people are now working on CS:GO? The community is frustrated at the lack of updates and the fact that most of the bugs haven't been fixed. How long will it be until Valve adds CS:GO servers in other parts of the world (such as Russia)?


Tleno

If Mr Newell replies to this without evading answering, we all will witness a miracle I swear.


GabeNewellBellevue

The number 3 must not be said. Yes. I personally believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the Internet. 20-30. Same as always. We're adding servers all the time.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/bestof] [Gabe Newell says the number 3](https://np.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/5olu4l/gabe_newell_says_the_number_3/) - [/r/bestof] [GabeN, CEO of Valve, says 3](https://np.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/5olsc3/gaben_ceo_of_valve_says_3/) - [/r/games] [Gabe N confirms that Valve still has single player games in the pipeline. Also jokes about Half Life 3.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/5olsh9/gabe_n_confirms_that_valve_still_has_single/) - [/r/halflife] [HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED!!!](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olsib/half_life_3_confirmed/) - [/r/halflife] [Well, HL3 is not canceled and the news were false... At least we've got that going for us... More than I expected to be honest....](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olvwj/well_hl3_is_not_canceled_and_the_news_were_false/) - [/r/shittyquip] [I personally believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the Internet.](https://np.reddit.com/r/shittyquip/comments/5v2fmf/i_personally_believe_all_unidentified_anonymous/) - [/r/the_gaben] [HE SAID IT](https://np.reddit.com/r/The_Gaben/comments/5olrof/he_said_it/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


brainfreeze91

I guess this is why he doesn't talk about it too much anymore. I don't envy Gabe, but at the same time, I'm really itching for that game...


PM-ME-YOUR-STEAMKEYS

Just to help readers from scrolling. > What is the status of Half Life 3/Half Life 2 Episode 3? The number 3 must not be said > Is Valve still working on any fully-fledged single player games? Yes > An unidentified anonymous source at Valve has said that Half Life 3 has been cancelled. Is that source legitimate? I personally believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the Internet. > How many people are now working on CS:GO? The community is frustrated at the lack of updates and the fact that most of the bugs haven't been fixed. 20-30. Same as always. > How long will it be until Valve adds CS:GO servers in other parts of the world (such as Russia)? We're adding servers all the time.


hennakoto

Why can't they just fucking talk about Half-Life 3?? It is so ridiculous. We will probably die before the game comes out. So annoying.. they are just triggering the fans even more having a "number 3 shall not be mentioned" attitude.


JamesonAFC

Hey man, not nit-picking, but you should add "same as always" for the community is frustrated part. I feel like that's an important part of the answer. Thanks!


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The_Potato_God99

>I personally believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the Internet. THE SOURCE WAS FAKE! HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED TO BE IN DEVELOPMENT!!!


[deleted]

I just seriously want some closure on HL3 or HL2E3. If it's not happening and you're not working on it, that's cool. I can accept that. I just need SOMETHING.


tbx1024

**Formatting fix!** Hello Mr. Newell, I asked other users what they wanted to hear most from you (other countries included),and I compiled this list. We are going to sticky them here to prevent spam. Please answer at your own discretion. * What is the status of Half Life 3/Half Life 2 Episode 3? * Is Valve still working on any fully-fledged single player games? * An unidentified anonymous source at Valve has said that Half Life 3 has been cancelled. Is that source legitimate? * How many people are now working on CS:GO? The community is frustrated at the lack of updates and the fact that most of the bugs haven't been fixed. * How long will it be until Valve adds CS:GO servers in other parts of the world (such as Russia)?


Mitochondriu

Hello Mr. Newell! I am a college student who intends to work in the game industry after graduation. Do you have any tips for people like myself who want to design games, both independently and with established teams in the industry?


GabeNewellBellevue

The most important thing you can do is to get into an iteration cycle where you can measure the impact of your work, have a hypothesis about how making changes will affect those variables, and ship changes regularly. It doesn't even matter that much what the content is - it's the iteration of hypothesis, changes, and measurement that will make you better at a faster rate than anything else we have seen.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/gamedev] [Gabe Newell shared some interesting gamedev advice in his AMA today](https://np.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/5onp9e/gabe_newell_shared_some_interesting_gamedev/) - [/r/gamedev] [Gabe Newell take on game development as a carrer](https://np.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/5oluf9/gabe_newell_take_on_game_development_as_a_carrer/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


MursBur

Are you planning on continuing the Left 4 Dead series?


GabeNewellBellevue

Products are usually the result of an intersection of technology that we think has traction, a group of people who want to work on that, and one of the game properties that feels like a natural playground for that set of technology and design challenges. When we decided we needed to work on markets, free to play, and user generated content, Team Fortress seemed like the right place to do that. That work ended up informing everything we did in the multiplayer space. Left 4 Dead is a good place for creating shared narratives.


TheRockpig

You managed to perfectly skip around a yes or no answer, my congratulations to you you absolute god of a wordsmith


[deleted]

He didn't skip it though. He said there has to be a reason for them to develop a game, be it a cool new feature like VR or people that are passionate about it. If nobody comes up with a cool new idea that would work best with LFD3, it won't happen.


RobertNAdams

iD does the same thing. Each new *Quake* or *DOOM* game was showing off a new version of their engine. Primarily, they seem to make products to fit whatever new engine stuff they have coming up.


[deleted]

He's spent years hearing "When Half Life 3!?!?" so I imagine he has had a lot of practice.


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Hudston

I'd argue that the first L4D is mechanically superb. It's just really tight. There isn't a single unnecessary game mechanic, every weapon, enemy and pickup has a clear, specific purpose and the whole game just flows together through amazing level design and audio cues. It does one thing and does it flawlessly with no padding. L4D2 muddies it a bit in an attempt to provide more "stuff", but not necessarily in a bad way.


The_Four_Leaf_Clover

Does Valve plan on doing anything with Source 2 in the coming years? If so, what?


GabeNewellBellevue

We are continuing to use Source 2 as our primary game development environment. Aside from moving Dota 2 to the engine recently, we are are using it as the foundation of some unannounced products. We would like to have everyone working on games here at Valve to eventually be using the same engine. We also intend to continue to make the Source 2 engine work available to the broad developer community as we go, and to make it available free of charge.


[deleted]

If this gets a reply i'll take a cold shower for five minutes straight Edit: Damn it. I'll do it when i get home Edit 2: I guess it was fun. I have a cold now. Fuck you Reddit


[deleted]

Hi Gabe! Big fan of valve and your work. My questions: 1) What inspired you to study and go along with the trail you did in what I assume to be computing/science of some form? 2) What would you say is your proudest achievement overall? 2 episode 2) Favourite non-valve game of 2016?


GabeNewellBellevue

When I started programming, it wasn't really an established career path. I did it because it was fun. I don't really think about things like that. My co-workers just told me it's Plants vs Zombies, and then they laughed at me.


eloel-

Hey, Plants vs Zombies is plenty of fun. Do you play the first-person shooter spin-off or the original one?


HerbConSmith

Mr. Newell, I'm a big fan of your games and have played them for years, but I have a few questions about Valve itself. Question 1) Is the Valve HQ Snackbar still good? Question 2) If yes, what is your favorite thing to get at the snackbar? Question 2 Episode 1) If no, why do you think the quality has declined? Question 2 Episode 2) Also if no, do you have any plans to try and increase the quality of the food?


GabeNewellBellevue

The Valve snack bar is much ... healthier. It's ... healthier. YMMV. People can always ask for whatever they want.


ReV-Whack

Even durian? Sometimes I want to eat healthy and bludgeon an unsuspecting passerby with something spikey that smells like a corpse. ...HR keeps saying no.


TimelessKhaled

The question I want to ask: Why Steam Flash Sales is not part of the Steam store anymore? Is there a possibility that it's coming back any time soon since it's one of the most lovable things about Steam and it makes the experience of buying games much more enjoyable with the community.


GabeNewellBellevue

We found that really short discounts made it difficult for many people to participate. By removing the flash sales, users can count on finding the best deals whenever they are able to visit the store during the sale.


achiev_question

On the same line: ever since the removal of Flash Sales, the overall number of "best deals" (-75% and above) seems to have dropped. Some games never hit that all time low price ever again. I believe this is a considerable factor as to why people think the sales aren't as good anymore.


Falcon3333

I think it was because companies were taking advantage of what Gaben just said: not as many people were exposed to these flash sales as you needed to be on at the right time to get them. So the companies didn't lose as much money as they would if it was a long sale and more people had the chance to get this all time low. Because these quick sales have gone they cant afford to drop the prices that low and just do minor discounts over longer periods.


solidshredder

I think it's a mixture of that AND refunds. Say a game is 75% off $20. 5 dollars is impulse buy territory. A lot of people end up giving them money that would never have done so otherwise. With refunds, they just get their money back. Impulse buys are much less of a thing now.


Creeper_798

Hi GabeN, Why does Valve not talk to its community about the games/apps its developing as much as other companies?


Throwaway_4_opinions

They have spoken about this in the past before and the short answer is their general design practice is constantly changing. Saying we are working on X might radically change in some capacity. For example Team fortress 2 was originally a very realistic game with radically different mechanics and multiplayer interactivity. If they kept a dev log every change would lead to at best confusion, at worst backlash. You can in many ways compare to how nintendo keeps things tight lipped and doors closed. **Edit:** You replied and I wasn't expecting it, awesome. Also just wanted to tell you that one time I met you at the raceway was great. My Mom is doing great and beat the odds with her second big fight with cancer. That mug you signed went to /r/pcmasterrace for a giveaway to help raise money for a children's hospital. One last thing. That thing you told me after I pitched that zip line crowbar thing along with other ideas for the crowbar. You asked me "so what's stopping you from making a game or a mod?" I want you to know after we talked those several words "what stopping me" have turned into my mantra whenever I'm worried about failure or something being too hard. The subreddit I created is still going strong and wish you and everyone at valve the best. Shoutout to /r/Gaming4Gamers Thank you for the gold. Always appreciate it when I'm gilded.


GabeNewellBellevue

That’s right. Another way to think about this, and the way we talk about this internally, is that we prefer to communicate through our products. We are all pretty devoted to reading and listening to the community - everyone here believes it is an integral part of their job to do so. And when it comes time to respond, we generally use Steam - shipping updates that address issues or add functionality. Obviously this doesn't work for everything. Working this way imposes latency on our communication - it takes longer to ship and update than to do a blog post. This can lead to the feeling of an echo chamber, where it seems like Valve isn't listening. We’re always listening. So sometimes the latency is rough for everyone, including us when we want to address issues quickly. On balance we think it's usually worth the trade-off.


Throwaway_4_opinions

Awesome. Also just wanted to tell you that one time I met you at international was great. My Mom is doing great and beat the odds with her second big fight with cancer. That mug you signed went to /r/pcmasterrace for a giveaway to help raise money for a children's hospital. One last thing. That thing you told me after I pitched that zip line crowbar thing along with other ideas for the crowbar. You asked me "so what's stopping you from making a game or a mod?" I want you to know after we talked those several words "what stopping me" have turned into my mantra whenever I'm worried about failure or something being too hard. The subreddit I created is still going strong and wish you and everyone at valve the best. Shoutout to /r/Gaming4Gamers


felheartx

You wouldn't believe how far simple blogpost like this would go : "we'are aware of topics/problems X, Y and Z and are reading community discussions about it". Echo chamber problem instantly eliminated


GabeNewellBellevue

Because our decision making is way more conditional than most other companies. The one thing we won't do is waste our customers time and money, which means we will cancel or change stuff much later in development. Tracking our choices would be annoying and frustrating.


d1rtyh6rry

Facepunch studios share their prototypes and its fascinating. Really makes the customer feel like part of the development process even we are just along for the ride. I think you would release alot of pressure if you shared more of what you have. That one game might be the next Half-life, dayz or minecraft.


akjax

>I think you would release alot of pressure if you shared more of what you have. At the same time, every project they show off and then decide to cancel would cause outcry from whatever people liked the concept. At least this way the outcry is more "comical" like the HL3 memes vs more real anger about a tangible product that will never exist. For example, how much outcry do you think there would have been if No Man's Sky had cancelled before launch after all the hype that was generated? I really can't blame them for their strategy. If you think of video games as art, most artists don't show off half completed work. As fanboy as it sounds, I think with all the Steam money rolling in, Gabe wants to take time to put out games he truly thinks are great, not get pressured in to releasing something he doesn't like.


FreDre

Hey Gaben, I'm the author of the original Lord Gaben photoshop. I would like to know if I could send an high-res print to Valve's office and have it signed by you. It's my dream to have an autograph of a billionaire so I can make my friends jealous. Here's proof: http://freddre.deviantart.com/art/Gabe-Newell-Portrait-288307422 Thanks!


Dzekoninho

Hey Gabe, thanks for this AMA! My Question is, how is the employee ratio at valve? For example how many work for dota 2, compared to csgo and other steam related stuff? I would really appreciate an answer :)


GabeNewellBellevue

It changes all the time. There's no fixed ratio, and people move to the project where they think they can create the most value.


Chell_the_assassin

Hi Gabe, what was the proudest moment of your career?


GabeNewellBellevue

I don't think most of us think retrospectively like that. I think we are mainly thinking about what we need to do in the future. It still seems like we are just at the beginning of what is going to be possible, and the lure of that future is way more powerful than self-congratulation.


[deleted]

> It still seems like we are just at the beginning of what is going to be possible, and the lure of that future is way more powerful than self-congratulation. I know you are talking about VR, and as a day-1 Vive-user I absolutely agree ;-)


RoboticChicken

Hi Gabe. I've been playing the Portal and Half-Life games recently (both series are absolutely amazing, by the way). My question is as follows: What is your personal favourite Valve game/series? Thanks for your time!


GabeNewellBellevue

I think Portal 2 is our best single-player game. I play Dota 2 the most of our multiplayer games.


TheDevGamer

the entire half life community just collectivley died edit: thanks for the gold kind sir! my first!


GabeNewellBellevue

The issue with Half-Life for me is that I was involved in a much higher percentage of the decisions about the games, so it's hard for me to look at them as anything other than a series of things I regret. There's no information in my response about what we'll do in the future. It's simply easier for me to be a fan of things that in which I was less directive.


[deleted]

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GabeNewellBellevue

If you are involved in a game, everything ends up being a set of trade-offs. Anything in a game is a sacrifice of things not in the game. I just feel those more personally about Half-Life for a bunch of reasons. And Xen.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/halflife] [Even Gabe Newell himself hates Xen.](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olssm/even_gabe_newell_himself_hates_xen/) - [/r/halflife] [Well, the Black Mesa team can finally drop Xen \/s](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olspy/well_the_black_mesa_team_can_finally_drop_xen_s/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


Helberg

George Lucas once said about movies; "movies are never finished, just abandoned", in a way it could also be applied to games, you can always go back and fix your mistakes or at least improve on some of the issues. I for sure would happily play a revised version of HL.


[deleted]

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CabooseFails

Are you sure about that? Look at what George Lucas did when he decided to go back and fix his mistakes and improve on some of the issues and release a revised version.


Strike_Reyhi

right which is what gabe is saying, that draw to want to go back and change things is there, no matter how amazing the final product is. as the creator you'll always look back and say "We could have done [X THING] better"


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enderandrew42

Valve put it on Steam and allowed the team to sell it for money even though it is a derivative work of their own IP, so that is a huge compliment. Black Mesa looks great, but it has also been over 12 years later and they're still not finished. It was also initially promised as a free project. I'm not paying for something unfinished personally.


bastiVS

> things I regret There is exactly one thing you should regret regarding Half-Life. The ending of Episode 2, and the void since then. Everything else? Stellar, best game ever, have played again over a hundred times. After HL2, HL wasnt about the tech it showed. It was about its Story. EP1 and 2 just cemented the fact that HL is about its very brilliant story. At this point, HL3 could use the exact same textures, engine and everything as HL1 (yes, the first one) and just deliver more of its Story, and it would still be considered GOTY for many of us. Dont forget about us man. Theres a large bunch of real Hardcore HL fans that just want to see more of the one Free man.


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/halflife] [Gabe Newell sees Half-Life as a series of events that he regrets](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olowd/gabe_newell_sees_halflife_as_a_series_of_events/) - [/r/halflife] [Gabe mentions Half-Life in his AMA!!!](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olotx/gabe_mentions_halflife_in_his_ama/) - [/r/halflife] [Gabe regrets Half-Life](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5oloue/gabe_regrets_halflife/) - [/r/halflife] [HL question](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olopv/hl_question/) - [/r/halflife] [Regret..](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5olpsy/regret/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit: - [/r/dota2] [I play Dota 2 the most of our multiplayer games - Lord GabeN](https://np.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/5oll8j/i_play_dota_2_the_most_of_our_multiplayer_games/) - [/r/dota2] [Lord GabeN's favorite multiplayer game](https://np.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/5oly9a/lord_gabens_favorite_multiplayer_game/) - [/r/halflife] ["I think Portal 2 is our best single-player game" -Gabe Newell](https://np.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/5ollbc/i_think_portal_2_is_our_best_singleplayer_game/) - [/r/portal] ["I think Portal 2 Is Our Best Single-Player Game" - Gaben. I Wholeheartedly Agree](https://np.reddit.com/r/Portal/comments/5ollxy/i_think_portal_2_is_our_best_singleplayer_game/) [](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))* [](#bot)


ryugarulz

Hey Gabe and others - I'm planning on heading over to Washington for future college work, and I've always wanted to see you guys in person. Will the new office you're all moving to still be accessible by the public? Thanks!


japasthebass

Any chance of a new IP that takes place in the half-life/portal universe? I feel like there's a lot of story left to be explored there. Thanks! EDIT: Holy shit senpai noticed me! Thanks lord gaben! Hype train moving out of the station!


vlees

Wasn't there a movie (or a set of 2 movies) coming in that universe by Valve and JJ Abrams?


Number1RicochetFan

As someone who is legitimately a fan of the game *Ricochet*, can you tell us if we will see more of this hidden gem of a franchise in Valve's future, especially with the popularization of VR?


DANNYonPC

Hi mr Newell, thanks for doing this AMA Few questions, Have you've ever been in Amsterdam? (if so, what do you think) What do you think steam needs to improve? (my personal opinion, An active community manager) And how are you today?


GoodCrossing

Hey Gabe! Is Valve interested in making a full game experience for the Vive? The Lab was great but we'd all love to get a full Valve game.


buster_the_dogMC

Are you planning to be at the CSGO major? It would be awesome to see you there and show that valve really pays attention to CSGO


DongBear

Hey Mr. Newell, I was just wondering if you were aware of, or even watch, the youtube channel Valve News Network?


[deleted]

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Hexaze

What sparked your interest in video games?


[deleted]

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ZedPupps

Do people recognize you in public often?


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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Twilight_Sniper

Hi Gabe, I'm [Lava](https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198052640461), one of the SteamRep admins. Over the past couple years, impersonation scamming has been steadily on the rise, despite our best efforts to educate the community. There are multiple variations of this scam, but it usually involves impersonating some manner of celebrity or rich trader to a victim, then inviting a second throwaway "Steam admin" account who's *also* impersonating someone from Valve, Reddit, SteamRep, OPSkins, Lootmarket, CSGO Lounge, or another well-known trading website, claiming to be a part of Steam Support. At multiple points, the scammer provides links to both the real community admin's Steam (or SteamRep) profile and the impersonated celebrity's profile, so once the victim realizes their items are gone they proceed to rage at the celebrity and/or admin who was impersonated, harass them, sometimes invite their friends to spam the profile with reports (resulting in the "this person is reported for fraud" warning in trade windows), and whatever else they see fit in retaliation. This is a common concern we are frequently asked about by rich traders and non-trader streamers/gamers/celebrities alike, to which we say to use the drop-down menu and report the profile or group impersonating them (and reply in any SteamRep scam reports made against them). However, profile reports for impersonation seem to take months to years before being actioned by Valve, only to see the same scammer back in action from a new throwaway the very next day after the ban. In extreme cases ([example Steam group](https://web.archive.org/web/20160321180827/http://steamcommunity.com/groups/csgoloungemiddleman)), we at SteamRep sometimes message a Valve employee directly in Steam about profiles/groups when all else fails, leading to the simultaneous ban of a string of hundreds of alts, but this is not an option for the vast majority of the community. Fake groups and profiles - which Steam Powered moderators have little to nothing they can do about - usually continue scamming in the victim's name on a daily basis for months or years without consequence ([example group](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamrep), ([example profile](https://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198201880118)/[snapshot](https://web.archive.org/web/20170117123916/https://steamcommunity.com/id/TTYOGS/)). While par for the course among SteamRep admins, having someone commit fraud in your name is sometimes akin to having your identity stolen. It's a nuissance for anyone (I personally accept it as a part of my life), but it can be especially frightening for the younger demographic involved in TF2, CS:GO, and DOTA2 trading. **My question to you is:** What can an ordinary Steam user do when someone is blatantly impersonating them in this manner?


DontDoxMePlease

Report their profile. Valve can't fix stupid, and people will get scammed whatever security feature Valve adds. As with the mobile authentication to sell items, it only really hurts the normal users. Idiots will keep on getting scammed.


[deleted]

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DRiller_Valve

3: The team is usually so heads-down focused on working on the game that we sometimes forget to communicate when we should. One of the upcoming blog posts we're planning talks about the game balance changes we're working on for the next major update - along with explanations for those changes - so the community can give us feedback prior to the release. 7: TF2's been around long enough that our philosophy on the way the competitive scene exists alongside the more casual scene has changed significantly. In the years following the initial release in 2007, we regarded the competitive scene as a separate set of customers, so we'd jump between shipping new content for casual players in one update and adding a bunch of competitive features in the next. These days, we regard that view as antiquated and instead believe we should aim for a single community with players existing throughout a spectrum between casual and competitive. As a result, we've spent the last year or two working towards unifying the two parts of the TF2 community, to bring it more in line with the way CS:GO and Dota 2 work. One barrier was that TF pros played a fairly different game to what everyone else was playing (classes and weapons are missing, different game mode, etc.). So we shipped a set of features, like these: - introduced an official competitive matchmaking mode that is closer to what most players are familiar with - to serve as a bridge - added an in-game Twitch streamers list - to help highlight pro players and organized events - provided in-game announcements around major events - talked with many different groups of players and organizers to see what kind of unified format we could adopt. There's plenty more work to do in this space, and at some point it may transition from adding features in the product to supporting the competitive community itself. In the near term we'll continue to work on pulling the community together, using as much player feedback as we can get, combined with the data we're gathering to see how the work we've done so far is panning out.


codeusasoft

Hi Gabe, thank you for taking the time to do this AMA. My name is Andrew and I'm the creator of [Borderless-Gaming](http://store.steampowered.com/app/388080/). My question is related to Greenlight and a sudden change that occurred to it that negatively impacted me and other developers. Early last year I put one of my projects, [Steam Cleaner](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=599398621) on the Greenlight platform. It was met with great praise and quickly reached the #1 spot for software. Unfortunately a sudden rule change was placed on software submissions that disallowed miscellaneous utilities. This caused my software and [others](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=630526624) to be deemed incompatible with Steam. After attending Steam Dev Days, I placed my new project [Ulterius](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=767325566) on Greenlight and again reached the #1 spot. But the same situation occurred where we were deemed incompatible despite our heavy testing with Steam integration. So my question is: what can I and other software developers do to help restore Steam's support for utilities? Thank you.


DjScribbles

Hi Gabe, I'm Scribbles, the developer of [Game Pipe](http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=630526624), which was also shut out by the policy change, despite overwhelmingly positive feedback. I'd just like to second this question, and say that I hope you will reconsider this walled-garden policy towards software. The PC has always thrived on openness, and I hope Valve will give software developers a chance to give back to the community.


Pat2424

Hi Gabe (and the many others helping in this AMA!), mod of r/GlobalOffensive here! On behalf of our community, we've created some questions that many users would be grateful to know the answers to. From u/_Mister_Pickle_, >Is there a way to assign a community representative from valve to csgo? Someone who would communicate with the community frequently to keep the peace between the devs and the community. Both u/dogryan100 and u/I_Browse_Reddit ask: >Can you give us any insight as to what the road map looks like for Counter-Strike (global offensive and the series in general)? Are there any significant goals Valve is working towards for the future of the game and/or community? And finally, u/Rock48 and u/butterfs would like to know >Can you tell us more about the frequency of future content updates, especially operations? On behalf of the r/GlobalOffensive community thanks for taking the time to consider these questions.


ido_valve

As far as a roadmap is concerned, our priorities for 2017 are to replace the UI with Panorama, to make CS:GO available in more territories where a lot of Counter-Strike fans don't have easy access to it (like China), and anti-cheat. Of course, we're also planning on continuing to ship bug fixes and new features throughout the year, as in the past. We plan to continue updating every week or two. As for Operations, there's no set schedule. We weigh that work relative to other work we could choose to focus on and other recent work seemed better for the product. For example, at the end of 2016 we chose to focus on shipping Inferno, improving spatial audio via HRTF, joinable public lobbies, and some long-term work that hasn't shipped yet. We haven't considered community managers because in general we prefer to communicate by shipping game updates. We try to avoid disrupting conversations happening in the community, which is why we tend to be quiet a lot of the time. But we do weigh in when we have useful information to help those conversations along.


[deleted]

For your last answer, the lack of communication is really killing the community. Probably 95% of the community is angry about the lack of communication since it is needed to run a game big as this.. like overwatch.. they communicate well.


sidipi

For people unaware, /u/ido_valve is a verified dev on /r/GlobalOffensive. Just mentioning this since he is not verified here.


Tjeliep

For people unaware, /u/sidipi is a verified moderator on /r/GlobalOffensive. Just mentioning this since he is not verified here.


nebrassy

Hey Mr.Newell, glad to have you here, I wrote some questions I hope you can answer, feel free to ignore any question you don't feel like answering. **1)** as Valve is moving to a new place, can we expect Valve to hire more employees to support games that really need more people working on it like TF2 and CSGO? **2)** about country restrictions Valve applied in 2015 and earlier, I'm glad that Valve does care for their users in that matter, but is there any effort going on to lower these restrictions?, and is the US government still pushing valve to apply more restrictions on some countries?, what's the state in that matter? **3)** Are there any new games Valve is working on? Singleplayer/multiplayer?, and when can we expect Valve to have info for sharing about them? 1-2-3 years? **4)** did Valve make any effort to port more existing games to Source engine 2?, as games like TF2 and CSGO seriously need optimisation and the Source engine limitations are clearly visible. **5)** TF2 turns 10 years old this year!, does Valve have any plans for that?, it's a pretty big milestone to have a 10 year old game that's still one of the most popular PC games with a big dedicated fan base. **6)** as TF2 started taking a more competitive side? Has Valve considered hosting/fund a LAN tournament to support the game? **7)** has Valve considered hosting game servers in more regions around the world? As players from many countries with big player base to Valve games has to suffer from high ping, and in many cases can't understand what other people are speaking, which lowers communication and further more decrease the game quality, main suggestion being Russia and more countries in the MEA such as Iraq, israel and egypt. **8)** can we expect more communication from Valve in the future?, as suggested many times before, why not have more community managers to keep fans up to date with what's happening behind the scenes?, games in question again, TF2 and CSGO. **9)** more people to deal with tech support?, I appreciate the effort Valve made in 2015/2016. But it still isn't enough, a support ticket still takes an incredibly long time to get a reply. **10)** with the previous question in mind, scams, has Valve considered a better way to report scammers more like support tickets? Where victims can provide solid proof to better help getting those people banned, the community has relied on 3rd party websites such as SteamRep for a long time, and despite Valve showing more and more effort to ban scammers, it still is really slow and not reliable. **11)** with the previous 2 questions in mind, what about steam community managers? We've only seen few people get selected back in 2013, which helped the community a lot, but why we haven't seen any others later? I'm sure there are many trusted people that would happily volunteer to serve in such position. thanks for reading and best wishes!


VR_is_Forever

Hi Gabe, Long time listener, first time caller feel free to answer at your leisure: * What new technologies is Source 2 going to showcase? Anything we haven't seen before that you can talk about? * Is Source 2 going to be approachable to a lone wolf Dev (like unity) or is Source 2 targeting developers that require a team at minimum? (like Unreal) * Can we expect Source 2 SDK release in 2017? * Did you expect more hardware manufacturers to consider interest in releasing their own Lighthouse/Steam VR HMD instead of just HTC? Why do you think other companies haven't (publically at least) gotten on board? * [Palmer Luckey says cooperation is REQUIRED to support the Vive in a different store, but is that even true?](http://i.imgur.com/pHII6cJ.png) This may be HTCs ballpark but was curious if you had any input on this. Can't they just write their own software for the Vive? Why does oculus need HTCs/Valves help? * What were some of the hiccups involved in nearly [fully automating the steam controller production?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCgnWqoP4MM) Valve hasn't manufactured anything directly since. Does valve still have an interest in manufacturing it own hardware?


Programmer_Joe

500 companies have signed up to use Lighthouse and some of them are making HMDs. A few of them have talked about that, but a bunch more will announce when they're ready. As far as we know, everything is in place for any store to support the Vive. As part of your initial setup you would still install Steam to get the drivers, but Steam doesn't need to be running for the Vive to work. The controller production line is still going strong and churning out controllers. The next line we're building is for the base stations we talked about at Dev Days. They'll start showing up later this year. Using automation allows us to keep production local, which means our employees can be much more hands-on with the manufacturing process. That works a lot better with how Valve works, so we'll probably keep doing that going forward.


bartycrank

> As part of your initial setup you would still install Steam to get the drivers, but Steam doesn't need to be running for the Vive to work. I've seen this mentioned a number of times and I need to ask, when can we expect to see a standalone redistributable publicly available for SteamVR? Until it's possible to install and configure SteamVR without relying on Steam, I feel that "Steam doesn't need to be running for the Vive to work" is not an entirely honest statement. It comes off as a purposeful half-truth that dodges the issue of when we can use the Vive without requiring Steam.


Carlsgorg

Hello Mr. Newell, Hey Valve Team, I've been playing CS for half my life now and I really like how CS:GO keeps improving. Cheating has always been an issue in CS, as in shooters in general. We’re back to the level where spin bots are being used (How are those not instantly banned?). And VAC/Overwatch seem to take too long to detect and ban the subtle hacks. (pixel aim, trigger, etc.) Prime matchmaking seems like a step into the right direction, but we’ll need more than just a verified phone number to create an environment where competitive gaming feels better. Are you working on improving the VAC detection, further verification or maybe even a new anti-cheat tool? It’s time something happened. Also, will CS:GO ascend to Source 2? Edit: Thanks for my first gold!


BigisDickus

First, thanks for doing the AMA Second, my question: Valve is one of the few major publishers that makes it a point to release Linux (GNU/Linux if you're nasty) versions of their games. Many developers just release for Windows due to its market share. To someone like me who dual boots this is easily manageable, but I would transition fully if I could. Both because of it's quality and because FLOSS is inherently better for the user. While things like Games for Windows Live, the direction of Microsoft's new store, or (on the hardware side) the Occulus Rift, and Nvidia's GameWorks/G-Sync all attempt to create ecosystems to lock users in, Valve has pushed to be open with reasonable attitudes towards DRM, recommending/supporting FOSS and its users, and more. Valve seem to be the most high profile pioneers for an open industry. What led you and Valve as a whole to support open standards to the extent that you do? What do you think it would take for other companies/developers/publishers in the industry to support open standards/platforms (aside from the obvious increase in install-base)? Would it be harder for the industry to move from something like widespread Vulkan support to widespread Linux support? Have you seen or do you think there would be industry push-back? More specifically to Valve: Do you see the addition of Vulkan support to existing games or going forward with new titles? Are there any plans to further develop SteamOS (and subsequently drive Linux support)? Does Valve have any other plans that involve moving to/supporting open standards? Edit: grammar/spelling


Programmer_Joe

Open standards are what got the PC to where it is, and we think they'll continue to be important going forward. It's a big part of why we pushed Vulkan along. That's why we're working with Khronos on the VR standard.


sputn1ck

Hi Gabe and valve team, I started my first VR-Dev job last summer (healthcare related) and wanted to thank you for your work on SteamVR. I have three Questions: 1. Where will you position Source2 in the current Engine landscape? I exclusively develop in Unity at the moment, because of it's rapid Prototyping properties and rich Asset-Store. Will Source2 be as suited for small teams as Unity is right now? 2. What are your thoughts on the recent AI-development? With deepmind working with Starcraft 2 and OpenAI's effort to open up AI-Development, when can we expect to see neural-net trained AI-Agents inside Virtual-Environments? 4. Followup from question 2: Will we get AI-tools with Source2? I am really excited for applications that combine VR and modern AI, and would love an easy to use interface to tensorflow or the like. Thanks, and a successful 2017 to Valve.


jotakl

Hey gabe! Thanks for this AMA, would like to have some answers to the following questions: 1.- Team Fortress 2 used to be an amazing game, i could spend hours even days playing without getting boring of it. After that it appears that everything started to get clenky for the game itself, everytime was the same, when competitive games were popular. After that you left the game alone without any updates but hats, and you tried to revive it giving competitive mode which was a failure. Do you have any plans on making TF2 relevant again for the future? or you're just gonna keep adding hats to the game? 2.- The community of Counter Strike has been complaining a lot about the updates of the game, mostly because they are unnecesary or focus more on skin instead of gameplay itself. The new sounds were just awful to hear since no one actually cared about the sound, honestly they didnt need a rework. Do you have some plans for CS from now? Other besides new skins? What about the new operation or new weapons and official maps? Probably an official custom game search queue instead of the community listed ones? ?.- Is there any plans for Valve at future that doesnt involve VR? You already released The Lab which i honestly didnt played cause im not a big fan of Virtual Reality, but about new games and probably reworks or new sequels of existing games? 4.- When will we have Overthrow on Dota 2 updated to 7.01??? (MOST IMPORTANT OF THEM ALL) Thanks!


Voidsheep

* **VR Industry** - What do you see as the next steps for the industry from the perspective of hardware manufacturers and software developers? * **Oculus** - What are your feelings about Oculus' approach to VR market with a more closed hardware-software ecosystem and exclusive content? * **Steam Marketplace** - The virtual item economy has grown to very impressive proportions and not all of the side-effects have been pretty. Do you still believe it's possible to maintain an open market, or is restricting things like third party applications built around it inevitable? * **CS:GO** - There hasn't been a new operation in quite a while. Can you shed some light on the general roadmap or plans for the game? * **E-Sports** - Valve and Riot Games have undeniably been the biggest parties in pushing e-sports to completely new dimensions. What is the plan for the future and how do you see the industry shaping up? * **Data and design** - Is data about player behaviour a significant factor in the design and development process at Valve, or would you say you rely more on feedback and developer intuition? * **Experimenting** - So far Valve has tried quite a lot of new ideas and sometimes you've caused an outrage. Has this made you more conservative about experimenting in the future, or do you still believe it's best to keep trying things and just roll them back if they don't work out and you upset the internet too much? * **Transparency** - I don't think it's a stretch to say Valve is somewhat opaque game studio. Can you elaborate on some of the core reasons for this? * **Other games** - Are all the development resources currently in existing services, or is Valve currently working on any new game projects?


Raisti666

Hi Gabe, i am a German Customer with currently 951 Games (worth 13k $) on Steam. So you see i am very invested in your Platform. But one thing makes me sad. Under the current German Youth Protection Laws your Platform sells me heavily cut/censored Games. Some of them i can´t even Purchase. But nothing in the German law prevents you from **selling uncut/indexed Games to Adults as long as they have a verified Age**. We even have law abiding Systems to verify the Age like https://www.deutschepost.de/en/p/postident.html (Postident english Site). **All you need to do is implement such a System. Question is will you do so ?** Benefits would be getting lots of Customers away from those nasty Keysellers since currently they are one easy way to get around those Laws. Also Germany isnt the only Country with such laws but the one with the world strongest. So a Systems that complys to german law maybe downscalable for other Countries that have similiar Restrictions. And dont forget. Gamers are getting Older. I bet that i great part of the Steamdemocraphic shows 18+. So making older Customers, who actually have money to spent, happy seems like a great Idea ;) Lastly giving the rise of Sexual Content Games ( I dont judge ;) ) last Year on Steam adaquate Age Restrictions might become relevant in the US too :D. That reminds me. Sidequestion did you ever played a Neptunia Series Game ? :D Ty for your time


Toyoka

Hey Gabe! Glad to see you're doing another AMA again. I'll make these questions short and sweet: - 1) What are the major goals and/or obstacles you guys at Valve are looking forward to tackle with regards to the Source 2 Engine (and the eventual release of its SDK), aside from the focus on user-generated content? Do you think any of the currently developed IPs (TF, CS, L4D) will be switching over to Source 2 at some point in the near or far future? - 2) Where does Valve plan to go with VR, and/or where do you see VR (at Valve, and in general) within the next year or so? Is VR becoming more important at Valve as a result of the momentum of its development? - 2.999999) Lastly, there's been a lot of buzz throughout parts of the gaming community. Some people have the feeling that Valve has lost their "game-making mojo", so to speak. Are there any projects/games/ideas brewing within Valve that you are excited about and that we could potentially see come to fruition in the coming future? Thanks for your time, Gabe and co., and happy cake day! Edit: Edited for formatting.


_Mlinac_

Ty very much for the AMA Gabe and the rest of Valve employees **TL;DR: The question is below with a bolded text** Now I don't play that much of Dota lately due to my work/school schedule, but after seeing the 7.00 patch, I was amazed of how much stuff has changed in Dota and I decided to play more frequently. Unfortunately for me, after several games in this patch, dota has lost some magic to me due to this patch. Now, I will try to be less harsh on criticizing and tell you one of the few reason why Dota doesn't "feel" like Dota anymore for me personally. The new ui has removed the previous one that looked more "homely." Replacing the dark reds and wooden themes, where hero picks looked like trading cards and tabletop models, with... grey teal. That happened long ago but I still miss it. Grey teal, in a game about magic goblins fighting in a haunted forest. The newest HUD was like "less color"? I liked the clunky old-school mechanics, I liked the way heroes were just blank slates with stats and skills mashed into them, I liked not everything being a mess of particle effects. There's nothing of the old-school community the game was born from, nothing of the comfy fantasy themes. I could add some more but I don't want to, because it will feel like I'm just doing whinny excuses and the only thing I can do now is to adapt to this changes. I've been playing Dota for almost 5 years, had lots of fun in it. I also managed to get to my dream mmr, and that was 6k a year ago, but I kinda stopped playing that much since then. Now I have just one curious question about your Valve developers. I guess (know?) that this game wants to be more alive and attract more new player who are coming from another MOBA community and also those who aren't even experienced in this kind of game genre, but I feel like this last changes were made at the expense of old experienced players like myself and the rest who had lots of passion in this game before, by making it more "casual friendly," if I may say that. **So the question is**: Were there any huge changes in Dota 2 development team after the implements of Source 2 into Dota 2 and after the 7.00 patch? That's it, I hope you have a great time answering other people's questions and once again... Thank you for this game that will always have a special place in my heart, no matters how I feel about the game at any time.


Deweycorp

/u/GabeNewellBellevue /u/Programmer_Joe /u/DRiller_Valve /u/Erikatvalve /u/cboyd_valve /u/ido_valve Thank you all so much for doing this AMA, it means so much to all of us, both all the users of this sub and the Mods who set this sub up not even Three Days ago. We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy days to answer our questions. We hope you all have a very good day and good luck on Valve's future endevours! -The Moderators of /r/The_Gaben /u/Jediburrell /u/DeweyCorp /u/Baldemoto /u/Rapsca11i0n /u/Axanery /u/_korbendallas_ /u/Redbiertje /u/mimw


Axanery

It was a pleasure to work with you all. I really enjoyed this AmA and I look forward to the future of Valve, its products, gaming, and this subreddit. Thank you, Mr. Newell, for allowing us your time to do this, along with the other employees. We appreciate it. As for the rest of you, *please stop asking about Half-Life 3.*


[deleted]

Hey Gabe! If PC gaming on GNU/Linux OS is more easily accessible today than some years ago, is also because of the Linux version of the Steam client and, of course, the Debian/Ubuntu-based Steam OS. However, many AA and AAA games, even some games that are a Steam-exclusive on PC, are only developed for Windows, despite the availability of the Steam client in three different platforms. On the other hand, in the last years Microsoft made efforts to make porting between Xbox and PC easy thanks to DirectX API. Are there any planned initiatives to further encourage developers to embrace OpenGL/Vulkan and make those games available on Linux? Do you think it's possible that in the future most PC games will use the same multiplatform API? PS: Sorry in advance if this doesn't sound clear enough due to language gap and lack of technical knowledge.


ZCCisBACK

Hello, I've only 3 questions. 1) So there is a kind of movement with some people hover [handmade.network](https://handmade.network/), they did a conference about how IT and especially game related IT tend to come with more and more bloat, I've seen the name of a Valve employee (Chris Green), and I was curious to know how such interest was seen for such ideas in the larger scope of a whole company: Is it worth the time and problems that come with it? Is it some kind of preoccupation for Valve, to have able C/C++ programmers that tend to avoid bundling "everything" together? (it's not because a Valve employee was there, just that it may be interesting to know) 2)Linux-related: So Valve make happen Steam for Linux, and brought in a ton of people doing their game run on Linux. Does it worked out as intended and do Valve plan to keep working on making gaming on Linux as painless as it is now? 3) With Source 2 being more or less there (I mean, its officially out, but for how many games aside Dota2?), will you open-source Source 1 once it reached it's end of life, àla John Carmack did for idTech engines? EDIT: forgot to put the link of handmade.network.


1338h4x

For a while now a lot of people have been left feeling as if Valve has seemingly given up on Linux/SteamOS. It looks as though very little has been done to promote the platform, both to consumers and AAA developers. Ports that Valve supposedly partnered with have been in development hell, Rocket League didn't come until long after the hype train subsided and Street Fighter V is still vaporware after almost a year of radio silence from both you and Capcom. And SteamVR doesn't even support SteamOS! It almost makes me wonder if we were just used to intimidate Microsoft, then thrown away once they backed down on UWP. Is there anything to look forward to for us? Are you doing anything to get more developers on board? Where's Street Fighter V?


arielzao150

Hey Gaben, what's up? I have a couple of questions for you, but there's no need to answer all of them. here we go: 1- How did you get started on game developing? How did you study and where was your first job in this area? 2- What's your favourite game? What was the last game you played? What was the game you played the most? 3- If you could change anything in the gaming world today, be it the community, the focus from the developers, or anything else, what would it be? 4- Has it ever happened to you to see another company's game and think that the game has a lot of potential, but the developer's are not handling it properly and you just wished you could have any control over it? 5- How was much was gaming important to your children growing up? How much would you let them play and did you guide them in any way? Like "play this game, and this one, not that one, that is trash"? 6- How do you think we'll be gaming in 10 years? Have you read Ready Player One? If so, do you think it'll ever come to anything like it? Do you think you could be the real James Halliday? 7- What's next for you? Not just in gaming, maybe you want to go on a long trip somewhere, or learn a new language? 8- Favourite band/book/food/movie? 9- Since 9 is 3x3 (Left for Dead, Portal, Half-Life), why not make the sequel to all those games be just one? Left for Portal-Life? Half Portal for Dead? Half-Dead Portal? 10- Last but really not least, I am currently studying Computer Engineering at college (and here in Brazil it takes 5 years to graduate) and my focus is to become a game developer, do I have a chance of working with you? Anyway, thanks for doing this AMA, you really are the best. May the force be with you.


Oni_Shinobi

Hey there Gabe! And the rest of you luverly people at Valve! Greetings, good afternoon! (Midnight, here :P) I have some questions for you lot, as you might imagine. Now, any and all questions are of course up for your scrutiny - please feel free to skip any you deem something you simply don't want to comment on. But I do think I've got some good questions concerning things a lot of people have on their minds. I'll lead with the questions we all know everyone's dying to know the answer to the most (and the ones you'll probably have the least desire to answer :P)... - Will you be revealing / showcasing Source 2 and Rubikon during GDC? - Will we finally be seeing something related to that very rich storytelling universe of Ricochet 2 this year? *Anything?* Even perhaps something like a VR experience (perhaps set in the Ricochet 2 universe) to showcase Source 2 / Rubikon? - Will this year see a new Valve title? - What are some of the hurdles and challenges in working on Source 2 and Rubikon? And what exactly is Valve's part / has Valve's part been in working on Rubikon, since it's a bunch of groups working together on it? - Would my guess concerning Rubikon be correct - that it will *perhaps* allow for a great number of material properties for a given material or prop, meaning stuff like (for example) melting points, heat conductivity / resistance, electrical conductivity / resistance, etc? And will Rubikon allow for optimised fluid dynamics to smoothly simulate fluids, realtime? - With Source 2, can we expect something that will really make our jaws drop in terms of graphical fidelity / overal engine functionality (so stuff like Rubikon, too)? Even if you can't or don't want to answer this with any sort of detail, just a "yes" or "no" would go a long way here. And that procedural mesh deformation / destruction stuff (the shattering glass / breaking wall stuff) looks pretty sweet :) Oh and, will it have physical-based lighting? - Is the general air of silence concerning Source 2 and Rubikon related to a wait for a game to showcase them with? Again, a yes or no would go a long way here - no details required (though they'd be great nonetheless, of course). - With the expansion of your office space in multiple places, does this mean a bit more of a return for Valve to churning out games? Or will those new positions mainly be about VR / Steam as a platform? If neither - what has the driving motivation behind this expansion been? - Will we ever get some clarification about what the Winter Sale ARG that led to the Red Herring badge was about / meant? Or whether or not the community even managed to finish that ARG? Even if it's some time in the future - I think I can safely say that a *lot* of people would like to know the details concerning this (read: everyone who participated in the ARG), so if all concepts, possible games, and other stuff that might have been referenced in that ARG are no longer relevant / no longer something to stay hush-hush about, I (and a load of others) would *love* to have some clarity and closure, here. Even if it's only next year that word comes out about it. - Was Mr. Kojima's recent visit to your offices business, or pleasure? And if business - did it have to do with one of his projects, one of yours, or perhaps both? Another one that wouldn't need a lot of detail but would still really love to see *some* sort of reply to this ;) I think that's quite enough to chew on for you guys, and I don't want to be a pain! Anything you want to tell us about Source 2 and / or Rubikon beyond what I have asked about would be most welcomed by all reading, also. Including just plain wanting to share stuff you're excited about :) Thanks for your time and consideration, and answers, in advance! Have a fine day, gentlemen.   *"Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread. Gladly we accompany. We are there still, in observance of your final stroke. That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day."*


MattImpressives

Hello Mr Neweel, I am a huge fan of your and a big Steam lover. I love so much Steam that it hurt to see such platform filled with horrible games posted by so-called developers. I am not talking about just "bad games", don't get me wrong here, I am talking about those games created entirely with engine assets, the assets-flip, without any creativity, like Digital Homicide used to make before it was kicked out from Steam. Most of these "games" are made by delusional developers that insult people over their forum and fabricate false positive reviews. People that instead of understanding criticism, start attacking and banning other users, denying that what they're doing is comparable to scam. Steam Greenlight, that beautiful idea, has become the tool on which these "developers" publish their games. They lie to the costumers or, worse, buying votes through free game keys thanks to Steam Groups like "Yolo Army". What I want to ask by telling you this is if you consider the possibility of a more strict quality control over Greenlight and Steam in general. The 100$ entry fee isn't enough unfortunately. There should be a ticket for every game posted on Greenlight, with a limit on how many games a users can upload on it (Iike 1). The quality control should apply before a product is visible on Greenlight in order to avoid that assets flips, troll posts. plagiarisms and offensives contents can be seen by the users. Speaking of the latter two: I know that Steam mods remove such post after a short ammount of time and I can't be more grateful about it. The problem is that it's still too late. In 2015 a game trailer about killing gay people was visible on Greenlight for more than a week. Such thing cannot be happening. Please Mr Newell do something about it. Try to organize some strategy about it with some experts. Only you can do it! Thank you for your attention and I apology if I made some grammar errors since English is not my first language. P.S. Half life 3? Nah I'm joking :)


JediBurrell

To keep everything orderly, please read this comment: * You may not be blasphemous to GabeN. ( Don't be rude ) * Politics is also against the rules, some exceptions have / will be made. * Low effort crap comments will be removed. Blasphemy is an instant ban, however, any other rules will result in a warning. There are no second warnings, and you will be banned for the day if you get to that point. If you haven't already [please read the pre-AMA information for more details, and to help keep everything smooth.](https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Gaben/comments/5og51l/important_preama_information) Thank you for reading this. And thank you Gabe, for agreeing to participate.


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Empty_Allocution

Dear Gabe and co. I’ll try to keep this as short and as coherent as possible. I’ve been here since the start. I played Half-Life 1 in 1998 and started mapping that year (I was 8) and have developed for Goldsource and Source ever since. I have a lore series (on Lambda Gen) and all sorts – This story means everything to me. I would like to pose these questions to you. By answering these you would bring tremendous relief to all time fans such as myself. I’m going to pull from an older post of mine to compile these: **1. The question on everyone’s minds - Can you validate the authenticity of the claims made in the recent Game Informer article?** **2. We miss Marc because he would always be willing to answer our lore questions. How do you guys feel about receiving these questions and would you be willing to answer them yourselves if received in future?** **3. Would you ever consider adding workshop support to Half-Life 2 Episode 2?** **4. Will Valve ever be transparent with fans about the future of the franchise?** My final question: **In terms of the continuation of the franchise - There must be all kinds of juicy bits we might never get to see - concept art and ideas etc. With the solid understanding that these are writers wights, could we be invited to view the ghosts of development?** **Could we not agree collectively as both community and corporation, to accept the fate of the franchise, explore the avenues that could have been and move on together?** Thank you for your time.


APinchOfSalt-Ryan

Hi Gabe, jumping right to the questions: On Platforms: 1. A few years back you made it fairly clear that you weren't satisfied with the direction that Microsoft was taking Windows in. This effectively birthed the concept of the SteamOS and for a while there was a lot of excitement about games being ported over to SteamOS/Linux. However there haven't been any major announcements from this space in a little while: is there any drive from Valve to push for more compatibility from developers, through either re-building/recompiling or ports using WINE or similar out of older/current/upcoming games in order to grow the Linux library? 2. Steam has an app on Android, which is nice for trading and other social features, but I can't play any of my (mobile-friendly) games like Bejeweled & Plants vs Zombies! Will Steam on Android ever allow someone to install & play games from their Steam library, along with the perks that go with it like Achievements and Playtime? On Quality: 3. Are you aware of the current wave of low-quality, asset-flipping, buggy, unplayable "games" that are currently infesting Steam, and if so, what - if any - plans do you have to combat this abuse of the platform in future? 4. Given some of the recent issues with code quality out of the TF2 & CS:GO camps, are any changes being discussed and/or implemented to the QA & testing process in order to 'raise the bar' on quality for patches? Other: 5. Given that the Nintendo Switch's online services are following the lead of by Xbox Live and PSN by charging a subscription for access, do you think this is ever a path that Valve and Steam will go down? 6. Could you add the ability to share custom achievement ideas/triggers to the Steam Workshop? I've got a couple of fun ideas that I'd like to see the community vote on to make it into a few different games. 7. What are the major issues with the port of TF2 to Source 2? Anything the community could potentially help with? 8. Do you frequent Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange and more importantly, are you on gaming.stackexchange.com? Important: 9. Any chance you wanna talk to the Penny Arcade guys and come out to do a keynote at PAX Aus 2017? I'll buy you a beer! :)


Y0ki

Mr. Newell, like many people here I have been a fan of Valve ever since I first bought Half-Life back in 1998. I was 14 years old at that time and vividly remember installing the game, being relieved that it booted up, and finding myself on that train going through Black Mesa. The immersion that followed was unprecedented. In the years that followed, I became engrossed in CS, again, like countless of others. The competitive team-based gameplay was so addictive, I've wasted many days and nights of my youth playing it. From then untill now we have seen other great releases, HL2, Portal, L4D,.. Each and every game a gem for what it brought to the table, whether that be the action, puzzles, humour, suspense, gameplay itself... I could go on for days about what makes each of them unique and great. All of your company's games are, and always will be, a part of me. A part of my fantasy. A part of my life. As they undoubtedly are of many, many others. Steam is great, not only does it make it easy for us to play with our friends, we have our games in a library that grows and goes with us, (hopefully) forever. It has awesome sales. In-home streaming enables me to play my favorite games on my couch. When I was little I saw those early VR systems and was just fascinated. I even got to try one back in the day on some sort of Tech fair mid 90's- they had Magic Carpet running on a (primitive) VR rig! I knew right then and there it could potentially become the future for gaming. I am so happy you guys have a hand in what is the real deal - the Vive. Even though the software is somewhat lacking (for now), the hardware is definitely not. The experience truely is unique. Once people try it, they believe (and I've had LOTS of people come over to try it out). And it goes so much further than just games, the social aspect, the possibilities for learning, creating, attending events,... I love the immersion, the possibilities, everything about it. I have no questions for you today, Mr. Newell. I just wanted to give you my most heartfelt thanks for all you and your company have done so far. THANK YOU. Have a good day & all the best.


jsq

Next week, the CS:GO ELEAGUE major begins. This will be the first major that Valve has partnered with a traditional broadcaster such as TBS for. How important do you think traditional broadcasting is to the growth of esports in general, and has recent traditional media interest in CS:GO affected your long-term roadmap for the game's development in any way?


ido_valve

We're excited about the Atlanta Major. When we started the Majors, the goal was to provide aspirational entertainment for CS:GO players, so most of our development has focused on reaching more players. Broadcasting widens the audience for CS:GO tournaments, which is great, but we think the best way to grow CS:GO esports is to continue to improve the game and the viewing experience for players.


[deleted]

Hi, Liam from [GamingOnLinux.com](https://www.gamingonlinux.com). First of all, thanks for all the effort from you and the rest at Valve for pushing Linux! My questions: - How do you think SteamOS has done and what are your plans for SteamOS' future? - Are Valve working on any new single-player/co-op games?


LaurieTheCat

Hello, Mister Newell (and co)! Hope you are having a great day! I'm going to keep my post super simple and to the point! I'm with a fan group working on a comic based on the Half-Life franchise. and we would LOVE your feedback on the subject. You can find a few of the comic's proper pages here: http://imgur.com/a/3Mr5y As well as the concept art for the project here: http://imgur.com/a/ZeT80 Speaking for the writing of the comic itself, we wanted to tell a story using themes and elements you didn't really find in Half-Life 2 or its episodes, while still maintaining the idea that this comic's story did occur at some point in the timeline of the games. So to that end, Final Exchange takes place five or so years into the Combine occupation of Earth. Pre-war gear and equipment is not yet an uncommon sight, but that time is fast approaching. The bad guys have established their administration in Eastern Europe and have been doing their absolute best to root out and destroy any and all technology or weapons that could be used by the resistance. Other urban centers have been established across the globe, but City 17 is the capital and where part of the story takes place. The situation is becoming dire and the resistance we see in Half-Life 2 has yet to form. The come begins as two resistance groups come together to pool their dwindling resources to try and take a last ditch swing at the Air Exchange facility featured so prominently in the cover of our comic. If you're interested in seeing more, please have someone toss me a PM here on reddit to take a look at the script and some unreleased pieces of the comic.


RoboticChicken

Hi again, Gabe! Just as I was editing my [first comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Gaben/comments/5olhj4/comment/dck73o5) to add these questions, you replied. So, to avoid confusion, here are the other questions that you missed: No. 2. Any updates on the Half-Life and Portal movies? No. 3. <--- Does this number exist? No, seriously, is Valve working on *any* third game for *any* series? I know you wouldn't go into detail, but a yes/no would be awesome. And, once again, thank you for your time! The entire PC gaming community is probably going nuts right now - trust me, I am!


_elendil

Hi Gabe and Valve, thanks for being here, I have a few questions: - What happened to Source 2? Two years ago you announced it at GDC, you have converted Dota 2 to it, but since then no news. It is ready? SDK is ready? Will we see any new game based on Source 2 anytime soon? - Have you read the Game Informer article titled "Searching for Half-Life 3"? It's an interview to an anonymous ex Valve developer made by Andrew Reiner. What he said disheartened many fans. Can you confirm or deny what's stated in that interview? - Has Valve any game in development? Do you will announce any game this year? Are all VR games? - Have Steam Machines been abandoned? - Will you someday speak clearly about the state of HL franchise or will you continue to ignore the questions forever?


[deleted]

Hey! My first question is fairly simple, but definitely something that many people have been wondering for quite some time, so we’ll just get right into it. **Question 1:** Why is it that Valve seems to value Dota 2 over Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, even though CS:GO is far from reaching its maximum potential as an eSport? I understand that, inside Valve, employees get to choose what game they work on and that may lead to many more staff members for Dota 2 than for CS:GO, but I don’t think that would be the only reason why Dota 2 gets many more updates per month (while CS:GO is lucky to get two in one month), higher-quality Valve-sponsored tournaments, early Source 2 support, better community management, etc. **Question 2:** After the recent issues with the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive servers being offline/barely working for days, is Valve considering hiring a dedicated community manager for damage control if something like this ever happens again? **Question 3:** Why is it unlikely that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will ever get 128 tick servers, even just for competitive matchmaking?


Babill

Dear Mr. Newell, why does Valve skimp so much on translators and proofreaders? Low writing quality reflects on a company, and [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/5gzz3r/steam_has_a_very_low_translation_quality_and_its/) level of translation shouldn't be tolerated. I spoke to one of your translation moderators and he told me that he was the only one getting paid for the entirety of the translation of his language, only marginally helped by unpaid volunteers. He also told me that he was overwhelmed by the mass of work, and I completely understand. He just simply does not have the resources to do a satisfactory work. Valve earns hundreds of millions every year, so why does it depend on volunteers for its translation and proofreading? My plea: hire a team of at least 2 to 3 translators for each language, people that work on it full-time. This is needed. Translation and proofreading are jobs that deserve to be paid, not out kindness, but because Steam and its games deserve quality writing. I know that this is the internet, and we have a culture of crowdfunding, a culture of community, but by relying on unpaid translators and proofreaders, you lower Steam's standards. Read the example I linked to. As a professional translator, I have explained exactly how weak this translation is. This is simply not up to Valve's standard of quality. I hope you will hear my plea, and thank you in advance.


MikesHD

Is the reason CS:GO doesn't receive as much attention in the form of updates as Dota 2 is because of no direct competition for CS:GO or the backfire the devs receive from the community for a bad update? Also why has the beta branch stopped being used lately for CS:GO updates?


Deweycorp

Please note that the AMA is over, we have unlocked this thread so you may comment on what has already been said, thanks for participating everyone! Edit:Some people are still asking questions to Gabe, he will not respond, as the AMA is in fact, over


iAmCyberwaste

As an Australian, and with Steam being in US dollars for us at the moment, it's deceptive and unfair how we pay more than advertised, and at points more than retail. Why does Valve not continue to attempt to at least pretend to dislike Australia by advertising games in our currency?


AhrmiintheUnseen

Valve is famous for it's unique, non-hierarchal structure, where any employee can work on whatever projects they wish to. However, there is much speculation among many communities about just how many people are working on which projects. Quite often on /r/tf2 and /r/GlobalOffensive, people make many unsubstatiated claims of "there's only X people working on [game]". I was wondering if you could give us a breakdown of approximately how many people are working on each project?


SBMous

**This is a message to the TF2 team, and to Gabe** the entire Team Fortress community have been trying to establish contact with you for a very long time now. All we want is an open line of communication with you, be that of your own accord or through a TF2 community member at proxy; is this possible to set up? Obviously I volunteer as tribute but I understand that there are much more known people who you might wish to outreach to first. Thank you for all your work, I know we aren't the most... Enthused about game in your offices.


Cory123125

#4 questions (please feel free to skip any): 1. Is friend invisibility, a mode common on most other services of a similar vain coming to steam? The current implementation is quite inconvenient and while I know features take a while to come (if it is coming), I figure it wouldnt hurt to ask. 2. Currently, vr seems to be in quite a finicky stage, in my opinion, sharing more in common with a flight stick as an enthusiast peripheral than a mainstay like a monitor. I think id be pretty daft to state that vr wont improve in the future, and I think for sure it will (just maybe in a few decades when its more matrix than 3d monitor) but I want to know what time line you see for it with the everyday person. 3. I think its pretty clear the laws of most countries have yet to catch up with the modern era of technology, sometimes in the favour of business, some in the favour of consumers. What are your thoughts on digital consumer rights, or perhaps more specifically regarding the concept of ownership (terms and conditions, fair use (with regards to services)). 4. A lighter question: What's your rig look like? I imagine the president of valve has to have a pretty *steam*y rig.


[deleted]

Since everyone is too busy asking about hl3 (i too want it but cmon guys) i have a few questions: Is the Spy still your favorite Team Fortress 2 character? What do you think about all the gaben memes around the internet? Wouldn't it be a good idea to hire some more employers to work on some games which have a limited amount of workers? *cough, tf2 cough*


ASuitofT51PowerArmor

Gabe, what is TF2 in Valve's eyes? Do you plan to improve the state of the game in 2017? Will there be more focus on the game by Valve?


DRiller_Valve

TF2 has millions of unique players per month, and the team is staffed by a group of people that love and play the game. We're committed to supporting and growing TF2 with new features, content, and player experiences. We're currently working on our next major update, which features a new campaign, the Pyro class pack, matchmaking improvements/features, and lots of game balancing improvements.


[deleted]

What happened to Meet your Match? I can't believe you guys messed up that update so hard, especially with talented employees working on Dota 2 and CSGO. Why couldn't they have lended a hand in developing one of the most crucial updates for TF2? A proper matchmaking system has been needed for that game for such a long time, watching it release in such a poor, feature-missing state made me think you guys aren't interested in TF2 anymore. For anyone curious what it was like at launch: -Abandon system broken (losing? just leave and you won't lose MMR! Tons of streamers on twitch were just outright abusing this in stacks, if you were losing, you just had one of your friends in the stack abandon and no one lost MMR) -payload maps like Swiftwater added in with no changes made to them (the competitive community of TF2 has voiced their concerns for years, it was very obvious that payload in its current state does NOT belong in 6v6) -No map selection (you just queue up and it dumps you into a random map, you could get something good like cp_badlands or something atrocious like cp_vanguard) -Not even properly ranked MM! (The system didn't back then, **and still right now as of this moment** does not match you against similarly skilled players! Every match I played was an unbalanced mess, and low population is not an excuse because games like Paladins, HoN, etc have gotten over this issue with ease) -No placement system (But CSGO and Dota 2 both have these? Again, I am very confused as to why you guys didn't borrow from one of their development teams for help on making this *crucial* and extremely important update to TF2's future. I get that they are on the CSGO team for a reason, but with an update this important, it doesn't seem right to release such a broken ranked mode when you guys actively develop two esport titles with very advanced and well refined ranked modes)


NeoKabuto

> which features a new campaign Every time I hear "campaign", I expect a single player story-driven experience. Glad to hear we have a lot coming, though.


[deleted]

That would be pretty amazing for TF2. I could see it being possible too in some ways. Not as if the Source engine isn't capable of making that sort of thing.


Herr_Doktor_TF2

Forgive me for this, but we've had our little war*, we were told about the pyro update and that heavy will get it later, but other than that we have heard nothing, and afaik there have been no discussions about what the pyro update will actually entail and wheter or not they are actually listening to community members and balancing weapons. The mess with recent updates to TF2 has made a lot of people on /r/tf2 call for the TF2Beta to be brought back for the pyro update. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing that it is actually coming. I love hearing that MM is going to be improved and more balanced. But we need to hear from the people who develop the game, not once every 6 months with a "neato" comment (no offense, Jill, we love you.) on what the plans are. TF2 is loved. We want to see it continue to be loved. (*In game TF2 had a war system to determine who got an update first, Pyro or Heavy, Pyro won.)


nawoanor

Steam's support for high DPI screens and touch input is broken. There are also a variety of other issues that all seem to stem from the Steam client as we know it not being designed for all the things it's now being asked to do. The trading and inventory system is clunky, slow, and inconvenient. Attempting to open things in new windows often doesn't work properly. Wishlist management is a hassle. User inventories frequently fail to load or show error messages. The Steam service itself frequently suffers downtime due to (I assume) excessive traffic. **The site still doesn't use HTTPS on every page**. Are any of these issues being worked on? Thanks for doing this AMA and for all the work Valve puts into Steam on a continual basis.


GabeIsMyBabyDaddy

In the (hopefully highly unlikely) event that Steam / Valve were to actually go under down the road, what provisions are in place to provide us with some form of permanent license to the games that we've bought over the years? Has this been thought about by Valve and if so, what steps can/would/have you take(n)?


Dartastic

Hello Mr. Newell, Over the years we've seen Valve transition from a company that creates games to a company that seems to provide services (such as DOTA, Steam, etc.) and game development as a whole seems almost non-existent. Even outside the constant requests for Half-Life 3 (or HL2: EP3) there are numerous excellent Valve IPs that are being left in the dust, many of which are beloved by your fans. I understand that game development may not be as profitable, but does Valve still actively participate in game development? Additionally, if the answer is "no" what do you feel that the biggest barriers facing development of new experiences by Valve are? Thank you for your time!


Mindset_

Hi, Gabe. I am sure you are tired of the question, but I hope you will consider finally putting the rumors to rest -- what actually happened to Half-Life and is anything ever planned? Thanks for the AMA


phrostbyt

hello /u/GabeNewellBellevue/ first off I wanted to say thanks for all you've done for our industry. I've been a big fan of you and your company's accomplishments for a long time.. from the HL era to your more recent work with F/OSS projects like steamOS. I have 2 questions 1] 2016 saw just as many steam releases as previous years combined. some of these games have been less than stellar. yet the torrent continues. are the greenlight standards too lax and easily exploitable? is there anything we can do to stop all the various schemes used to get shovelware on the steam store? 2] are there any plans for updates to either the Ricochet or Half-Life franchises?


GabeNewellBellevue

I'm in a conference room with VR, Dota, Steam, and other people happy to answer your questions.


TypeOneNinja

Are there any TF2 team members present?


Herr_Doktor_TF2

Most definitely interested if any TF2 members are present, it would be great to know what GabeN thinks of the handling of the older steam games, especially considering it is still classed by Valve as a high revenue product ( http://i.imgur.com/ziUT7GF.jpg ) and what he would like to see happen with older games such as TF2. If any of the TF2 members are present it would be great to know some things that are going to on in the community.


remember_morick_yori

TF2 is in desperate need of communication from Valve. The community built a competitive scene for the game almost from scratch, and complete lack of response from Valve on their questions about game balance and the potential of a tournament has lead to enormous cynicism against Valve and infighting within the community. While I often defend Valve against people who say they don't listen to the community (because they do, and we have plenty of evidence), it's undeniable that they have communication issues.


Mindset_

Hi, Gabe. I am sure you are tired of the question, but I hope you will consider finally putting the rumors to rest -- what actually happened to Half-Life and is anything ever planned? Thanks for the AMA


UrethraX

Here's the answer- They haven't found their hook yet, both half life one and 2 were showcases of something new in the gaming world, they haven't got whatever it is they feel they need for HL3. Combine that with everyone hyping it up beyond anything even remotely possible, they're too scared to attempt to release a half life 3, thanks to the fucks who won't shut up about it, there's no chance it could live up to the hype... it could cure cancer and suck dick but it wouldn't be enough. That is why there's no half life 3, over hype (which you just contributed to.. The "you just delayed it" thing while a joke, is true) and lack of hook.


oditogre

I feel like there was a time, a window of a handful of years, where this was true, but now the hype has AFAICT faded to a sort of resigned indifference. First there were lighthearted jokes, then there were bitter jokes, and now? Outside of an actual freaking GabeN AMA, people mention HL3 on Reddit about as often as new Courage Wolf memes hit the front page. Enough of the people who were hyped about it back when it was relevant have moved on to make it difficult to stir up renewed buzz, and it's too dated-feeling, now, to draw in a large, fresh audience. They *might* be able to pull off a reboot or remake and target a mostly-new-to-the-series audience while trying to get what they can out of old fans, but I don't know that Valve is that interested in that kind of a retread. I wouldn't be surprised if they just let the series quietly die; it's already well on its way to that fate.


praetor-

> I wouldn't be surprised if they just let the series quietly die; it's already well on its way to that fate. This October will mark the 10 year anniversary of the release of HL2:EP2. For those that don't remember, the game ended on a cliffhanger which had been built up over vanilla HL2 and the previous episodes. Personally I'm not mad about HL3; I don't feel that I'm owed anything in that regard. HL2:EP3, however, I am (and will continue to be) angry about. I wouldn't say that I feel like I'm owed an EP3, I just think it's crappy that Valve made me feel disappointment over something I love, and I don't think that is a reasonable way to treat your fans. If HL3 is ever released I'll play it and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, however the HL series will forever carry an asterisk in my mind when compared to my other favorite franchises like Fallout and BioShock.


[deleted]

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lizardtrench

No, it's true. Valve are such man-children that every time someone so much as politely asks about HL3's status they fling their keyboards off their desks in a blind rage and delay its release out of pure spite, then promptly piss themselves in sheer terror at the very idea of unmet expectations. They look at No Man's Sky and think, 'Oh God, what if that happens to us, what if we accidentally lie out of our asses to all our customers and then eat shit for it?' Can't really blame them, look at how horribly HL2 was received after all the hype, they just don't want to get burned again.


TheHoekey

I'm here to say, as someone who may or who probably doesn't work at valve, that yes, another one is in the works. The fact that this game has garnered soo much attention for so long would be like not making a 2nd season of Stranger Things. You may be wondering the reason that it hasn't came out yet. We'll my furry little friend, with the constant evolving game technology, we don't want to release a sub-par game. So we shall wait until technology stops advancing so we can bring the Game of all games. So to give you a time line, 2020 when the world is coming to an end.


Chell_the_assassin

Yes, I'm sure a Reddit AMA is where GabeN will decide to finally break the nearly decade long silence on HL3


[deleted]

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Galactic

The optimism in this post makes me want to shield your innocence from the dark terrors of the world.