Valve 'Interested' in Having You Fund Its Next Game

I'm sure he is. But after the way they handled announcing L4D2 I don't think as many folks have such rose-colored Valve-can-do-no-wrong glasses.

Very cool idea. I'd do it.

I love Valve games, but they don't come out with many do they? They have long production cycles and I'm not a fan of the episodic games - I haven't even played the second one yet. I'm waiting for Black Mesa Source to come out so I can play them all in order...but that's not the point. These guys make millions on their games and should have the ability to fund their own projects. How often do you hear about other developers projects that have been announced that are canceled while under development for various non-monetary reasons, then there all all the games that are canned before we ever hear about them because they just weren't fun or didn't fit in with a developers ethos.

I don't want to fund a game in advance only to have it get canceled, or maybe come out and suck. There are a lot of titles like that, and isn't a developer more likely to finish a game even if it sucks because they were funded by us the public. How often have you waited for a game under development to come out only to find it to be average or all together shitty.

Also, let's not forget the HL2 fiasco, the surprise E3 announcement that it's coming out in two months only to have the game not ship for another year and a half, fingers pointed at hackers for stealing game code trying to cover up delay times while "reworking" the game. This is America still, offer us a product worthy of our dollars and people will by it, I'm not putting two cents in for a project that I don't know anything about, that they can't guarantee delivery, or is any fun until it's released and reviewed by a few reputable people. This is the worst idea I've ever heard.

Didn't a studio already try this and they had to refund everyone's money for some reason?

I would help fund a 3rd person/FPS hybrid RPG sandbox like Neverwinternights 1 editor but with better tools and a much more grim and gritty feel. An overarching story as a backdrop would be helpful. Something like Hellgate with a toolbox with the potential for users to create constant and consistently good content. Loy of physics and weapon customization.

I wish Lucas Arts would try this. I would toss in a few grand to get them to remake Grim Fandango.

You want to talk about a sound investment.....

I'll send Valve money if they make Carmageddon.

i'll have a double order of what Gabe is smoking please

Someone asked if Steam is making any money, and I'm sure it is.

What this sounds like to me is that, given the current state of the financial sector, it's probably a giant pain in the butt to get a business loan from banks/investors to the tune of 10+ million at the moment.

By private investors contributing to the development of a game it reduces the need for lenders and banks to be involved. By cutting out the middleman, he's essentially saying they want to make a game, funded by gamers, for gamers. Banks don't need to profit off (what I can only assume is) the large amount of interest from a loan like that. Valve gets money for development and a larger profit margin in the end (from not paying off loan interest), gamers get a small return and a game in the end. It's a win-win and a giant middle finger to the banks.

I like it. Just take a look at the amounts that the Penny Arcade charity brings in every year. I would gladly pay $60 now for HL3 next year. Heck, I'd consider it a "preorder" instead of an investment.

We did that with L4D, and they used the money to make L4D2.

Let me fund HL3 right fucking now. Fuck L4D, L4D 2 and Team fortress 2. I want HL3.

There's an aspect to this most people aren't realising.

If the community funds Valve's games, they would never have a reason to be bought by EA.

Change your opinion a bit?

Basically what Mount & Blade did?

Interesting.

I would drop $5 or $10 "investment" in a Valve title, given that they wrote up a proper business plan for the game they're asking money for.

I'd give 50 dollars and a kidney right now to help get Episode 3 finished.

the kidney is easily worth 5k :)

Yo Dawg, I heard you like paying for new content so you can pay for new content while you pay for new content.

But what happens in a case like DNF? People would expect a reasonable turn around on their investment, and if the game gets canned, do you get a refund or do they just tell you "Thats the risk of investing"?

"There's a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative."

Like how sniper urine jarate was a conservative decision lol.. i know i know.. that's not a big decision by any means, but i did a little roffle when i read that quote with all the off the wall goofy shit they put in tf2

This isn't real ... right? This is ... umm ... yeah okay.

The percentage of games that are actually worth a fuck verses the ones released is so low, how could anyone in their right minds even ENTERTAIN a thought like this? I still kick myself in the ass for all the worthless-as-fuck games that I've spent $40-60 on in the past year. Never mind ponying up some bacon for a game that may or may not be decent (or get released at all for that matter).

This is beyond crazy.

Haha one little comment in an interview becomes a big PR tangle

Well, Ive never played any of these games before, but I am sure they make good games since I see everybody in this site praise them and really really like their service and games.

So I dont see why this wouldnt be a bad idea, when has this company ever made a bad game?
As far as I know, never. So surely if they were doing it for their fans, they would probably create something cool and enjoyable by all their fans. Like Half-Life meets WoW

Sounds like socialism in game development. I usually "blindly" buy any Valve game anyhow so there would not really be a big difference!

This would be an interesting idea, but I thought we funded them by buying their games in the first place?

Would we get games we invested in for free once released? Would we get some of the profit? Or would it literally just be a donation?

I think it's an interesting concept, but there're a lot of problems that could arise.

I don't get what more "funding" they want, I've already purchased nearly every game they've put out.

The problem I see here is... what happens when myself and a few thousand other folks send up ~$50 each for a massively hyped game, and that game is HELLGATE: LONDON? Or DAIKATANA? Or HORIZONS? Or WARHAMMER ONLINE? Or even worse, Duke?

You have about the same odds of making money and/or a great game as you would on the stock market, IMO. I know I wouldn't expect a heck of a lot of control over the game, so I'm pretty much stuck with whatever the people in charge want to do with my money. Now... how do you satisfy ten thousand gamers?

I think it's a good idea but would amount to a tremendous headache. Only the best and brightest companies would reach 10-30 million bucks investment, and new shops would be considered high-risk or junk stock. Do I invest in Blizzard or Jo Wood... that's an easy answer right there.

I'd gladly fund a Valve title, it's pretty much guaranteed to make money. Small independent developers? Not so much.

I think the one thing that hardcore gamers are lacking is the sense of entitlement that investing a small sum of money brings.

1 - Watch the interview yourselves: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/webexclusives/

2 - He's not necessarily talking about investing in VALVE titles, but more-so creating the avenue for developers so that they can offer this to fans/investors. A feature integrated in to Steam Works, for example.

3 - I'd gladly drop $100 to see a game who's design & philosophy which I am behind get developed. A copy of the game AND a possible return if the title does well? Even better.

Hell, I dropped $10 on Minecraft so that Notch can continue to develop it solely based on the fun I had within the first 10 minutes of playing it.

Does this mean we all get to go to the annual investor's conference?

don't they already make gazillions of dollars from steam?

As if gamers weren't feeling entitled enough...

Too many cooks, spoil the broth.

Valve (or any company) that does this should do what sven-coop did and give the investors (donators) a unique ingame item that's tied to the steamid (like the golden uzi in sven coop).

I don't see how getting the money from the community rather than a publisher or venture capital changes the risk. Shit still happens, games don't finish (DNF lulz!) or come out as complete ass (Diakatana lululululz!1)

Rather than a publisher or VC losing money on a bad bet, people who are probably understanding of the risk and have their investments spread, you have thousands of angry gamers who don't understand that type of investment or what they may be getting into.

Seems like a horrible idea. I might invest indirectly by buying public stock, but this doesn't seem like the type of investment the average gamer would or should make.

How much do you need for HL2: Episode Three? Seriously, where do I send the check? Just get it DONE!

Nick your title for this post is misleading. Valve wasn't just saying THEY'RE titles, but game titles in general.

So, they just don't want to pay royalties to investors? Because they know that the suckers that pay for games they can't resell will eat this shit up.

I would seriously do this for Episode 3.

Don't know why Valve would need this, they've never even had investors and they're a private company.