Day of Defeat v3.0 & Valve

I finally figured out why the big MOD support for HL by Valve.

I imagine some of it is just for their fun, but when they release TF2, they will have 2 complete, marketable games, CS2 and TF2, then HL2 following. If they pick up DoD for themselves, there's another one to compete with the likes of MoH:AA, etc. or whatever is out there at the time.

Now this is similar to what Epic is doing. UT2003, engine licensing, U2, UC, etc. However, the sales from these products is diluted for Epic because the other developer houses need their cut as well. In the case of HL, TF, CS, etc. Valve can pick up "indie" mods and the associated talent for VERY cheap and get to capitalize on the release sales with a much bigger percentage. And by this time you already have generated the interest and fanbase of the previous generations of these "free" mods.

Don't forget, Valve/Gooseman are also getting a cut from CS: CZ, a product that is being modified by a professional development house from a homegrown piece of software bought by Valve on the cheap.

So basically the end result is the gamers get kick ass free mods, and Valve makes more money in the current iteration and by far in the next. Who wants to bet that CS2 will be a retail only game with no downloads?