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Gabe Newell thinks gamers are smarter than publishers photo

Valve’s co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell has a gem of knowledge to bestow upon the populace. In the latest issue of Game Informer, Newell said that videogame enthusiasts were better at judging a game’s quality than publishers.

An excerpt from the conversation provided by Ripten:

It seems by and large that gamers are incredibly smart; the average gamer seems to know more about what makes a good game than the average person at a publisher.

The fact that we’re smarter than the average person at a publisher practically speaks for itself. Simply go to the videogame retailer of your choice and browse the Wii aisle if you don't believe me. I probably shouldn't say that because even though the majority of us here make good choices, I’m sure publishers stockpile statistics like my car insurance company. I wonder if at age 25 you get a magical box of gaming knowledge delivered to your doorstep instead of driving talent.

I have a feeling that while publishers may not be the most adept at actually knowing what quantifies a great game, they’re aware of what most gamers are willing to buy – which is probably the reason there is a Carnival Games 2 on the way. What do you guys think? Is Newell right?


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35 comments | showing # 1 to 35

DonHonk's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:32
DonHonk
owned
Alexradl's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:33
Alexradl
Left 4 Dead PS3.

k, thanks Gabe.
nintendoll's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:34
nintendoll
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).
The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:35
The-Excel
I just got Garry's Mod the other day. The sparse documentation for it speaks volumes on his confidence on the intelligence of gamers in general.
ajaxender's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:44
ajaxender
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.
grafkhun's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:51
grafkhun
I don't know, I mean yeah I guess the core gaming demographic does know what's trash and what's gold but take gamers as a whole and no... the 'average' gamer is not that smart.
manasteel88's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 22:57
manasteel88
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.
Vanilla Gorilla's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:04
Vanilla Gorilla
If publishers were more concerned with making great games instead of making money, might be a different world.

Hint: Great games sell really well. Take notes from Valve and Blizzard: less deadlines, more finishing a product and polishing it.
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:14
falinter
That Gabe Newell, hes good people.
Pacopaco's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:16
Pacopaco
Hmm. I agree that there are a number of creators and publishers that often lose touch with reality or have absolutely no idea what makes a good game. I'll also agree that there are quite a few gamers that have a very strong grasp of what is fun and what makes a good or bad game.

However, just because many gamers know what makes a game good or bad doesn't mean they can do any better. I'll bet everyone here has a good idea of what makes a good movie, but I doubt 99% could actually make one. (These people are usually called "critics.") Sure, I bet most could point at a game and tell what's good about it and where it failed but it's easy to do that when you're looking at a completed work. Coming up with new characters, dialogue, scenarios, game mechanics, pacing, and a whole host of other creative and technical aspects and making it all work is a hell of a lot harder to do from scratch.

But yes, I do get the feeling that a number of creators and publishers need regularly-scheduled appointments with reality.
Shirley Temple's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:20
Shirley Temple
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.
MuddBstrd's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:24
MuddBstrd
The average gamer is very intelligent about video games. However, that's because were the connoisseurs of video games. In the same way that a wine lover knows good wine or a couture knows great fashion, gamers know what makes a great game because we've devoted a significant amount of time and attention to games and most of us have played the really great ones.

However, just like with wine and fashion, you'll have the vast majority of people who buy mediocre crap. The difference is the crap costs just as much as the good stuff. However, because the masses buy a lot of the mediocre stuff, publishers will continue to make it.

So I'd argue its not that publishers aren't intelligent enough to know what is a good game; they just don't care. Knowing what makes a great game isn't necessarily vital to one's bottom line as gaming becomes more mainstream.
ElRhino's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:27
ElRhino
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.
Technophile's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:32
Technophile
@ElRhino

Bingo. It's the developers who should know what makes a good game because ideally they are as much consumers of it as we are. Problem is, I think most developers want a paycheck.
Magesx's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/16/2008 23:53
Magesx
More like Gabe Newell thinks gamers are more delicious than publishers.
TehBuLL's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 00:10
TehBuLL
fuck gabe, i hate games and i think he should make more crossword puzzles before i care what he says. (also, thanks gabe, waiting for teh next half-life like an addicted hooker, i need my fix before i throw my computer away please, thanks.)
mr spooky's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 00:28
mr spooky
We want mother 3 Nintendo of america, publisher is too lazy to sell it in north america.
Altered Beets's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 01:12
Altered Beets
We gamers are gullible and weak minded, but in that but in our magic brains, we have an idea of what makes a good game.

Gamers buy based on whim, profile, popular characters, cover art, and all kinds of other stupid reasons, but if you look less at our purchase records and more at how we talk about games, we do know what's going to sell and what would be a decent sleeper hit, etc. We can smell bad ideas from a distance, but tend to buy before we really take a good whiff.

Cover your nose, incoming movie tie-in!
The Incredible Edible Egg's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 01:28
The Incredible Edible Egg
Wow, people know what they like? I'm honestly surprised.
exodus1925's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 03:31
exodus1925
Well, duh?
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 03:58
Kyousuke Nanbu
If they're really that smart then why are they buying overrated garbage like Half Life?
Jack8274's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 05:03
Jack8274
@Kyousuke Nanbu

Hey, get the fuck back under your bridge asshole or I will rip out your eyeballs and shove them up your ass so you can see what your face looks like.
Zombutler's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 05:36
Zombutler
@Jack8274

Please....go away.
bVork's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 06:06
bVork
The average person at a publisher works in PR or marketing. These people are retards. When you play games that had a spark of brilliance submerged in a pile of generic focus-tested muck, these are the people to blame. When you play a game where the only redeeming feature is the show or movie license, these are the people to blame. When you play a game that is filled with product placement to the point where it detracts from the atmosphere, these are the people to blame.

To them, a game is not a work of art or a means of expression. It is simply a product to be placed on shelves and then sold to consumers who have been conditioned by advertisements to purchase it. To them, it is no different than a music CD, a tube of toothpaste, or a towel rack.

I think what Newell means is that the average gamer is smarter than those marketers. They see games properly - based on the merits (or lack thereof) of gameplay, creativity, and expression. They don't simply see it as a consumer product, but as an experience.
mice elf's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 07:30
mice elf
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!
xollner's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 08:00
xollner
@mice elf

But it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...
Furius's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 08:13
Furius
I think Gabe Newell is fat.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 08:34
Holyetheline
He's totally right.
Demtor's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 08:53
Demtor
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?
welkstar's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 10:17
welkstar
@falinter

agreed.
hoboman725's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 10:55
hoboman725
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?
TehBoognish's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 11:00
TehBoognish
game informer is a sack of steaming crap.

that is all.
Respectable Gentleman's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 11:13
Respectable Gentleman
Gabe. If you're reading this, we need to talk. Hire me.
Face's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/17/2008 11:34
Face
Hes fat, his opinion doesn't matter. Seriously though, that is too big of a generalization. People buy shit games just as much as pubs make them. And it was happening before the Wii was around so it can't be pinned on "teh casualz".
S4U gaming's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/19/2008 09:08
S4U gaming
@ TehBuLL
If you don't Like gaming then pls get the fuck out of here!!!

&@ Kyousuke Nanbu
I understand your a noob and don't know shit about games & suck @ gaming but that's NO EXCUSE for saying HL is shit I guess you DON'T know TF2 THE MMO OF THE YEAR? that's an hl based game you fucktard!!


Now back to my own thougts:
This guy is the savior of pc gaming and a hero for all gamers.
PC GAMING 4 LIFE
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