Gabe Newell thinks gamers are smarter than publishers

Look man, Carnival Games was the most realistic game I ever played. Winning was completely up to chance instead of skill, and I really felt like I was being ripped off (just like a real carnival).

Garrys mod is not a great example, since it is just that: a mod. It used to be free too, and as far as i can tell, it only costs money now so Garry can get a little money for it, not because Valve have anything to do with it.

I think his view has to be a little skewed because hes from a pc gaming company that makes really good games. The average pc gamer who likes Valve games is going to be smarter about games than the average wii owner who's never owned a console before.

Gabe just knows who is reading this copy of Game Informer. The informed consumers of games. Just as there are a group of gamers who know all about the products that are launched in each fiscal quarter, there are those uninformed gamers who buy things like Cruis N' for the Wii. Those people won't be picking up Game Informer. So I think this is just him patting us all on the head and saying that we know what we're doing most of the time.

Also, lets face it that the average publisher is split between the development team that knows everything about the game and the rest of the company that knows nothing about the game and are there because they know how to run a business.

That Gabe Newell, hes good people.

I agree with ajaxender. In Gabe's world, the consumers are those who build their own PC's And know when they're being ripped off on lack of content and quality. Also, in his world, publishers are EA. ...so yeah.

Publishers don't really care if a game is good or not. They care if the game is marketable, if it will have an audience (at least when it first comes out), and why people would buy it (are these types of game selling well, is it similar to other titles in the genre but have one unique thing for it?).
They are in the business to make money, not to publish great games.

More like Gabe Newell thinks gamers are more delicious than publishers.

We want mother 3 Nintendo of america, publisher is too lazy to sell it in north america.

Wow, people know what they like? I'm honestly surprised.

If they're really that smart then why are they buying overrated garbage like Half Life?

@Jack8274

Please....go away.

This is just good PR for Newell and you would be foolish to see it as anything else. Newell knows that core gamers feel underfire with the Wii and DRM etc, and he also knows that Valve represent a true hardcore company. So he is just making huge generalisations about the industry to win the affection of the hardcore. It is clever, but it is PR in the same way that a publisher has PR. Don't believe it just because it makes you feel fuzzy inside!

I think Gabe Newell is fat.

I always had this skewed picture of publishers and developers in my mind for some reason.

It starts with a stuffy suit sitting in his/her office void of any decoration or signs of life, reading over stats and sales charts trying to find out which game to push in order to make more money. Meanwhile developers are instead actually playing games while talking to other designers and coders to find out what works and what doesn't. All the while it won't matter what they think because in the end its the publishers dollar bills that win the argument in anything.

Yes, these are vast generalizations and my views are not founded in anything. I could be completely wrong, but thats just how I view the whole dynamic when shitty games get pushed out the door instead of first asking a team of testers (knowledgeable gamers) to comb over their work with a nit picking comb of nerdyness, forcing the devs to go back and fix things before they decide to release it.

To me, companies like Blizzard and Valve are ahead of everyone else in their field, because they are able to mesh those parts of the equation together. They work for the best results for the GAME, not just the GREEN.

Plus they listen to the people that play their games. Going so far as to actually study how people play their games. Thats what really matters. Are your players enjoying and loving your game? Or have you tricked them out of their money?

now wait a minute, what about things like wii fit? We're still gobbling that crap up.

Or an even better example, remember how we turned our back on Beyond Good and Evil? And Psychonauts?

Gabe. If you're reading this, we need to talk. Hire me.

Publishers don't know what the fuck they're doing. Look at EA. Some* article's feature asked developers for their best ideas that publishers said no to. One guy** said he'd thought of a dog-care game. At the board meeting some CEO or otherwise disconnected money-lender said gamers didn't want to play w/dogs. Then Nintendo released Nintendogs. I reckon whatever you're into there're people somewhere else who'll dig it so make a game well on any subject and promotion will find the audience

*Coulda been in Wired, gamespot, or somewhere else. I don't remember.
**Ken Levine maybe or the guy who did Grim Fandango...maybe the guy who headed Oddworld.