Once one of the most vociferous developer detractors of Sony’s PS3, Valve have done a complete 180 degrees. Ever since Gabe Newell nervously joined Sony on stage at E3 to announce Portal 2 and a “lite†version of Steam for the console, they’ve been extolling its virtues.
Their latest gushing praise even takes a very subtle stab at the competition, with them saying the PS3 open platform offers better value to customers than more closed platforms. I wonder which current-gen console is notoriously closed platform? Hmmm…
"Part of the reason the PS3 project is so exciting to us is because fundamentally Sony views the PS3 as a very open platform for developers and that’s kind of what we feel like. It is better for developers but more importantly it’s better for customers to have as many choices of software to run on whatever device they have," said Valve’s Erik Johnson to CVG at Gamescom
"Having Steam on that platform is incredibly valuable to us. In a lot of ways that is the way we define a customer having a good experience because it’s the way that we keep talking to that customer over time."
Incredible the difference that 6 months can make, eh?
source : CVG
Last Updated: August 24, 2010
Bobby Kotick
August 24, 2010 at 12:32
Incredible, and not so long ago Gabe was telling the world that the PS3 was “the next Sega Saturn”. It makes me wonder what the “real” deal between Valve and Sony.
Uncle
August 24, 2010 at 12:49
Lots and lots of money. Think Scrooge McDuck swimming in it all! :biggrin:
Bobby Kotick
August 24, 2010 at 12:55
HAHAHAHA! Indeed indeed!
Milesh Bhana ZA
August 24, 2010 at 15:14
i see no need for Steam on console though.
Isn’t that what XBOX Live and PSN are for? Why the extra layer?
Aequitas
August 24, 2010 at 15:25
agreed. Steam filled the gap on PC that PSN and XBL created. I mean come on, achievements? friend list? These are all console things that steam used. Why would you want more steam stuff on your console?
Geoffrey Tim
August 24, 2010 at 15:29
the big thing about Steamworks – which is what’s coming to the PS3 – is that it allows developers a platform to distribute their games without overheads, or certification.
In essence, it’ll be like “Xbox Live Indie games” for Ps3, and will also allow users to distribute mods, maps and other user generated content for Valve’s PS3 games.
Luna
August 24, 2010 at 17:19
I like both consoles quite a bit, but from a customer standpoint, the Xbox Live service is *considerably* better in my eyes then PSN.
Either way, Valve hasn’t given any reason as to why they had such a change of heart. I would love to know why they changed this.
As far as I knew, aren’t companies allowed to run their own servers for an XBL title?
Bobby Kotick
August 24, 2010 at 18:33
The user interface (dashboard) of the xbox is definitely better than the PS3 and it’s more intuitive to find things on Live than PSN (although… the new zune video service is definitely a step down for me).
Luna
August 24, 2010 at 19:21
I agree with you on all points. ^_^ The Zune service itself is fine. I just hate how the app interacts with the Xbox.
AlKi
August 25, 2010 at 08:58
I HATE VALVE….THEY NEVER HAD ANYTHING GOOD TO SAY ABOUT SONY AND PS3…I HATE THEM MORE THAN I HATE STEVE MOFMYER!I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A VALVE PRODUCT AND THAT I PROMISED MYSELF!THEY SHOULD STICK TO THEIR PC GAMES AND LEAVE THE CONSOLES FOR THE DEVS THATS GOT A BIT MORE KNOW HOW!
Field Marshall Robert Kotick
August 25, 2010 at 11:26
Hopefully the Kinect-based redesign of the dashboard will remove the need to individually install and run apps. It was quite nice before when everything worked seamlessly.
Hitman47
December 11, 2010 at 16:21
Oh yeah?…
But if microsoft is buying other IPs of third party developers, there is always no issue?..
I say that’s bullshit, open your eyes xbots, M$ paid 50 million dollars to Rockstart games for exclusivity of GTA5 remember?.
Grow up… That’s not healthy my friend
Hitman47
December 11, 2010 at 16:22
I mean GTA4 (typo)