this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Same tbh, I don't want to see it but I think it's a hard pill to swallow that eventually it's gonna go down the same route other massive companies have. It is amazing it held up so well this far, probably thanks to Gaben himself.
My biggest fear is steam workshop tbh. So many games depend on it that it's become synonymous with modding for many users, which hurts games not on steam or mods not on the workshop. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but such massive centralization and monopolization can't be good. Especially since the steam workshop isn't even that good - it lacks many features that other mod portals or managers have, like version control, preset switching, virtual installs, or even something as simple as mass subscribe/unsubscribe or a sortable list.
I don’t think we have anything to worry about with Steam. It’s privately held, so they aren’t bound by investors or shareholders squeezing them to wring out infinite growth and ROI every quarter
The bus factor of that is 1 though. If Gabe Newell gets hit by a bus all bets are off.
Gabe passing away doesn't inherently mean anything. Gabe is very smart and I'm sure he's picked his "heir" to the Valve/Steam business very very carefully. He's had a wonderful vision of PC Gaming for the last few decades and I doubt he'd pick some bean counter just looking to wring wallets in the way every other company does.
Valve has a pretty unique flat structure that could protect them from a corporate buyout, even more if Gaben decides to transfer ownership into an employee trust and turn it into a full co-op when he leaves.
Well I don't know what any of that means but let's hope it works out? ^^ Sounds like a democracy and I'm not sure that's a good way to lead a business. I kinda trust Gaben, I don't necessarily trust his employees or inheritors.