Valve making Team Fortress 2 comic itself

By Oli Welsh Published 20 February, 2009

Becoming "entertainment company".

Valve founder Gabe Newell opened the DICE summit in Las Vegas yesterday with a talk on his favourite topic: the concept of entertainment as a service, rather than a product.

In the course of his oration - as reported by GameSpot - he revealed that Valve was working on a Team Fortress 2 comic, and that it would be made by the game's original creators. Newell said that he didn't want to hand over the project to "some third-party hoping to make a quick buck and take advantage of some opening weekend marketing push".

This, along with the popular Team Fortress 2 videos Valve makes to promote the game, was an example of Valve moving away from being a pure videogame developer. Customers want an entertainment company, not a games company, he said.

Newell spent the rest of his talk extolling the virtues of Steam: the intimate connection it builds between developer and player, the long tail it gives to game sales, and the flexibility it gives Valve in the marketplace. He likened Steam's move to "entertainment as a service" to the film industry's move to Netflix, or the music industry's to iTunes.

It was a familiar rant for seasoned Valve-watchers, much of it summed up in the company's championing of the PC last year. However, some interesting new facts came to light.

A recent "sale" of Left 4 Dead on Steam, which reduced it to half its retail price for a weekend, caused a 3000 per cent increase in sales, Newell said. However, it didn't undermine retail sales of the game (which Valve also tracks through Steam) at all, he said.

Meanwhile, the free updates to Team Fortress 2 aren't merely done out of the goodness of Valve's heart and its dedication to service. Each one causes a significant sales spike, Newell asserted. Valve has also distributed "guest passes" through Steam, which players use to encourage their friends to join them.

For console makers to ignore these innovations would be as bad an idea as sticking to 2D graphics, Newell said.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • viper_h #1 3 years ago

    Valve are the greatest video game company to exist. Ever.

    So long, Nintendo!

  • Tzetrik #2 3 years ago

    I love Valve, but Gabe's smug "everybody should do what we do" speeches REALLY piss me off.

  • rudedudejude #3 3 years ago

    Also the Left 4 dead sale was a bit unfair, half price! Everyone should have just waitied rather than paying £30ish.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #4 3 years ago

    @ viper_h

    You are correct. Now, if they put old LucasArts adventures up on Steam, I'd gladly bring my first born up in whatever religion of Gabe Newell's choice.

  • skillian #5 3 years ago

    After what was a really interesting and enlightening speech, I'm surprised that was the headline you chose :/

  • the_dudefather #6 3 years ago

    So will each issue take 2 years to come out then? ;)

  • crispyduckman #7 3 years ago

    patch the damn 360 version!

  • Buztafen #8 3 years ago

    ^^^this

    plus also give us mor campaigns and free stuff....kthxbye! x
    Edited by 1 at 20/02/09 @ 10:52

  • videogangs #9 3 years ago

    @ Tzetrik

    Somewhat agreed, although I think he deserves that smugness a little bit as long as it never manifests itself as complacency. After all, we have basically appointed him the patron saint of PC gaming. Bring on Episode 3, and Meet The Pyro!

    Oh, and give Black Mesa source Valve's official blessing when it launches :-P

  • sneetch #10 3 years ago

    However, it didn't undermine retail sales of the game (which Valve also tracks through Steam) at all, he said.

    Of course it didn't.

    For one thing, these sales aren't advertised in advance, so people who were planning on buying it in local or online shops would have probably done so without knowing it was on sale. Unless you just happened to buy it on that particular Saturday or Sunday and got it from Steam after you just happened to see the sale notice, in which case, let's be honest, it did undermine retail sales for those days, not by a lot perhaps but it did.

    L4D is normally €45 from Steam and it's between €30-€35 in most of the shops near me and on Play.com and other online retailers so, in general, you'd be a fool to buy it from Steam, unless you really like spending more than you have to.

    Although I love Valve for their games they've lost me as a Steam customer until they sort out more reasonable prices for Europe.
    Edited by 1 at 20/02/09 @ 12:18

  • ManicDrunkMonk #11 3 years ago

    Yeah I'd give him a reach-around for all the great games his company has made.

  • Eraysor #12 3 years ago

    Valve are easily the best gaming company on the planet at the moment. Their sales on Steam are great too.

  • Chufty #13 3 years ago

    There's no point in a sale that isn't advertised; the whole point of a sale is to attract new custom. If I had known about the sale, I certainly would have encouraged some of my friends to take a punt.

    Advertise more, Gabe!

  • Iain815 #14 3 years ago

    ...but where is Episode 3?

  • TheMoonRat #15 3 years ago

    The prices on Steam are the sticking point. I got Left 4 Dead via Amazon the day of release for pretty much the "sale" price on Steam! Then again, a while ago Bioshock was on sale for something stupid like £3 - a no brainer.

  • FromTheLandUnknown #16 3 years ago

    Apart from that I was more than disappointed in HL2 and episode 1 and 2, which is totally another, even if mildly related, story, I dislike the concept which Valve is promoting to the level of rage. I WANT TO BE AN OWNER OF A DISC, EVEN MORE SO, IF SOMETIMES IT COSTS MORE, IF YOU STREAM THE GAME THROUGH STEAM!!!AND A REGISTRATION OVER NET, EVEN IF YOU BUY AN ORIGINAL GAME DISC, REMEMBER?!
    So, fuck off, you ugly, fat moron of a Gabe, and die of a heart attack very soon, possibly right before you want to bite in a last burger you ever bought.
    Never saw so much overrated game either, even when it could be rated as good, but never as good as it was rated. And that is not only my opinion at all.
    Digital streaming is just another way of media industry exploiting us even more, and an end to second hand gaming and possibly even films and music, whether you see it or not.And to be propagated from such a greasy, fat and ever hungry dick as Gabe is, doesn't surprise me at all.And stop ranting against consoles, and especially ps3, if you are such a gaming Saint, Gabe, but learn to use and support them!

  • Drakron #17 3 years ago

    Considering Valve "episodic content" schedule ... I guess Megatokyo will be updated faster that Valve's TF2 comic ...