Valve corporation

Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer. It became world famous for its first game, Half-Life, and for a modification of it, Counter-Strike.

Other of his most famous achievements are the creation of the Source game engine, used in many of his games, including Half-Life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 and Dota 2 and the creation of the digital video game platform Steam. Valve Software's headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington, United States.

Valve was founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Both were employees of the computer giant Microsoft and had worked on its Windows and OS/2 operating systems before turning to the world of video games. With Half-Life, their first video game, Valve achieved tremendous success by profiting from their expansions and mods. His work with the gaming community includes titles such as Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat. In May 2003, Valve Software caused quite a stir at the Electronic Entertainment Expo by unveiling what looked like a nearly finished version of Half-Life 2.

History

Foundation and Half-Life (1996-2003)

Valve offices in 2016

Valve was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Newell had spent all 13 years at Microsoft developing Windows. Wanting to move to a new company using their shared heritage, Newell and Harrington founded Valve, L.L.C. in Kirkland, Washington (about five miles from Microsoft's Redmond campus), on January 24. on August 1996, Newell's wedding day. Alternative names considered by Newell and Harrington include "Fruitfly Ensemble" and "Rhino Scar".

Valve's first product was Half-Life, a first-person shooter (FPS) game with elements of the horror genre. Development was aided by access to the Quake engine by id Software; Valve modified this engine into their GoldSrc engine. After struggling to find a publisher, Valve eventually signed on with Sierra On-Line. Half-Life was released in November 1998, and was a critical and commercial success.

Valve enlisted Gearbox Software to develop three expansions for Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift (2001), and Decay (2001). Valve acquired TF Software in 1998, a group that had created the popular mod Team Fortress for Quake, and redid the mod for GoldSrc as Team Fortress Classic, released in 1999. Valve released the software development kit (SDK) for the GoldSrc engine, which facilitates numerous user-created modifications. Valve acquired the developers of a popular mod, Counter-Strike, to create a standalone game. Happy with Valve's success, Harrington left in 2000.

Source, Steam and Half-Life 2 (2003–2010)

In 2003, Valve moved to Bellevue, Washington, and reincorporated as Valve Corporation. In 2010, the office moved to a larger location in Bellevue. In 2016, Valve signed a nine-story lease in the Lincoln Square complex in downtown Bellevue, doubling the size of its offices.

Valve began developing Half-Life 2 six months after the release of the first Half-Life, using its new in-house engine, Source. With advanced physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, it garnered praise from the criticism on its release in 2004; by 2011, it had sold 12 million copies. In 2002, Valve launched Steam, a digital distribution platform. When Valve became its own publisher through Steam, it became a flat organization; Outside of executive management, Valve has no bosses and the company uses an open assignment system, allowing employees to move between departments at will.

After spending years developing Half-Life 2, Valve has moved to episodic development, planning to release shorter games more frequently. Half-Life 2: Episode One, the first in a planned trilogy of games that continues the story of Half-Life 2, was released in 2006. Episode Two followed in 2007, along with the multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 and the game Portal puzzle, developed from the Narbacular Drop student project.

On October 10, 2007, Valve Software released The Orange Box, a compilation of games from this company. The Orange Box includes:

• Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two
• Team Fortress 2
• Portal, a video game of logic in first person

In January 2008, Valve announced the acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios, which was renamed Valve South. Turtle Rock developed Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 while in partnership with Valve. Turtle Rock Studios then parted ways with Valve again in March 2010.

Forbes estimated that Valve had grossed $70 million in 2005. Screen Digest analyst Ed Barton estimated Valve's 2010 revenue at "hundreds of millions of dollars". In 2011, Valve had an estimated value of $2–4 billion and was, according to Newell, the most profitable company per employee in the United States. Most of Valve's revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50–70% of the downloaded PC game market in 2011.

Transition to services (2010-2014)

In 2010, Valve hired IceFrog, the developer of Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod. IceFrog led the development of a sequel not associated with Warcraft elements, Dota 2, released in 2013. Along with Dota 2 in 2011, Valve started The International, an annual prize pool eSports tournament for Dota 2 backed by Valve. and player-purchased battle pass microtransaction funds.

Valve released Portal 2 in April 2011. As with the original Portal, Valve employed a team of Digipen students to help develop it; the team behind Tag: The Power of Paint implemented the new gel gameplay.

In December 2012, Valve acquired Star Filled Studios to open an office in San Francisco. Valve ended the deal in 2013 when they decided there was little benefit to the arrangement.

In 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit, Newell announced that he and film director J. J. Abrams were collaborating to produce a Half-Life or Portal film, as well as a possible game.

Valve released fewer games in the 2010s. Instead, it explored hardware. Newell intended to make Valve more like Nintendo, which co-develops games with hardware, allowing them to create innovative games like Super Mario 64. Valve initially focused on augmented reality, but in 2013 Newell fired many employees to focus on virtual reality (VR). In 2015, Valve launched the Steam Machine, a line of gaming computers that was not successful.

Media commentators speculated that Valve's transition to service provider with Steam, which generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017, had moved it away from game development.

Many players were frustrated with the anticipation of a new Half-Life game. Valve canceled games, including numerous Half-Life projects, Left 4 Dead 3, a Dark Souls-like fighting game, and a game based on in voxels, A.R.T.I. Other virtual reality projects included SimTrek, developed by members of the Kerbal Space Program, as well as a new virtual reality hardware, Vader, that was determined to be too expensive for consumers.

Source 2, virtual reality and Half-Life: Alyx (2015-present)

Valve announced the Source 2 engine in March 2015, coming to Dota 2 in September. That year, Valve collaborated with electronics company HTC to develop the HTC Vive, a virtual reality headset released in 2016. Valve experimented with with virtual reality games and, in 2016, launched The Lab, a collection of virtual reality mini-games.

Valve recognized that many gamers wanted a more ambitious AAA VR game and began exploring the development of a major VR game. They developed several prototypes, with another three VR projects in development for 2017. Finding that the portal systems in their Portal puzzle series were disorienting in VR, they settled on Half-Life. Walker said that Half-Life 3 had been a "terribly daunting prospect", and the team saw virtual reality as a way to return to the series.

Full development of a Half-Life virtual reality game began in late 2016, with the largest team in Valve history. Valve purchased Impulsonic, a developer of 3D audio software, in January 2017 and integrated it into its Bellevue offices. In April 2018, Valve acquired independent developer Campo Santo, known for the 2016 adventure game Firewatch. Campo Santo planned to develop its own games under Valve, though they initially helped develop Half-Life.: Alyx.

In November 2018, Valve released Artifact, a digital collectible card game based on Dota 2, featuring art by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering. Artifact had an unusual payment mechanic for acquiring new cards and did not attract a large player base, losing 95% of players months after release. In April 2021, Valve abandoned its efforts to restart the project, saying that it was not they had found enough interested players to justify development.

In June 2019, Valve released its virtual reality hardware, the Valve Index. In the same month, Valve released Dota Underlords.

In March 2020, Valve released Half-Life: Alyx, a virtual reality game, which was met with praise from the press. Newell stated in January 2021 that the success of Alyx created the desire within the company to develop more games, and that several games were in development. Valve collaborated with Netflix for Dota: Dragon's Blood, an animated television series based on Dota, which premiered in March 2021. Valve announced the Steam Deck, a portable gaming PC running SteamOS, in July 2021. The new console was launched in February 2022, using SteamOS as the operating system. In general, the device was well received by critics.

Steam

Valve announced its digital distribution platform Steam in 2002. Through Steam, Valve has shown broad support for its games, releasing updates for them every so often. Since the game's release there have been eight major updates, as well as many bug fixes and small additions. All these updates are provided completely free of charge.

There are over 10,000 games available on Steam, and in January 2010 Valve announced that they had surpassed 25 million active accounts. In January 2013 it was announced that the number had risen to 75 million active users. If the statistics available on the Steam website are observed, it can be seen that at any time of the day the number of connected users exceeds 10 million, and the daily peak varies between 13.5 and 15.5 million. The largest recorded peaks exceed 16 million. Of these users, the number of users playing a video game ranges from 2,500,000 to 5,000,000 users at the same time, at any time of the day. Looking at the Steam statistics, you can also check the number of users playing the 100 video games with the most players at that time, as well as the highest peak of users playing simultaneously in the last 48 hours.

Video games

Hardware

Steam Machine

In 2012, Valve announced that they were working on a console/PC hybrid for the living room, dubbed by the media as the "Steam Box". A precursor to such a unit is SteamOS, a Freely available Linux-based operating system that builds on Steam client functionality including media services, live streaming over home networks, game sharing within families, and parental controls. SteamOS was officially announced in September 2013 as the first of several announcements related to the Steam Machine platform as well as its unique game controller. In May 2014, Valve announced that the company's SteamOS Steam Machine would be delayed until 2015. due to issues with the controller. In 2015, Alienware, ZOTAC, and CyberPowerPC released their versions of the Steam Machine. As of June 2016, fewer than half a million had been sold. While the Steam Machine line was effectively discontinued, Valve continued to manufacture and sell the Steam Controller until the end of November 2019, and publishes both mobile apps and software for Steam. Link, allowing home streaming.

Steam Controller

Steam Controller is a gamepad developed by the video game development company Valve. It was presented on September 27, 2013 through the Steam website. This device is oriented both for use on consoles and PC. It is primarily designed to work with Steam Machines that have SteamOS built in and Steam, with its "Big picture" interface.

Steam Link

Steam Link is a standalone hardware device that enables streaming of Steam content from a personal computer or Steam Machine wirelessly to a television, including Steam Controller gamepad integration. The device was released alongside the Steam Machines debut in November 2015. Valve quietly discontinued Steam Link in November 2018, in favor of supporting its software-based Steam Link app for mobile devices, smart TVs, and a software package for Raspberry Pi.

Valve Index

Valve Index is a virtual reality system designed by Valve Corporation, the company responsible for the Steam video game distribution platform. The system was officially announced at the end of April 2019, and went on sale in June of the same year. at a starting price of $999. Valve Index virtual reality glasses have two LCD screens, one for each eye with a resolution of 1440x1600 pixels each, which allow a viewing angle of 130° with a density of 11.07 pixels per degree. The viewfinder can be set to a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, with an afterglow of 0.33 milliseconds.

Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is a portable gaming PC-inspired video console developed by Valve Corporation. Its release originally scheduled for December 2021 is due to a delay now with a new release date for February 2022, although many users will receive it later following the reserve stock established by Valve and may reach the first quarter of 2023. The main use of Steam Deck is intended for portable use. It includes a 7-inch (180mm) LCD touch screen with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, with a refresh rate of 60Hz. The Steam Deck will run a modified version of Arch Linux, called SteamOS, an iteration prior to the one used by the Steam Machine., now with support for Proton, a compatibility layer that lets you run Windows games and applications on a Linux-based operating system.

Valve Time

"Valve Time" ("Valve Time" or "Valve Time") is a term used as a joke among Valve fans and the rest of the community, pointing to the fact that Valve often significantly delay their games between the promised date and the date they finally come out. An example of this is their first game, Half Life, which was due to come out at the end of 1997 and was eventually delayed for another year. The beta versions of their games can be seen on the Internet through videos and the great difference between the product when it seemed finished and when it was finally finished. Valve is aware of that term and, apparently, takes it as a compliment, since for them the improvements of their products justify the delay. According to Jason Holtman, the company's former head of business development, Valve "try as much as they can to do the best thing possible in the right time frame, and give people content they want to consume. And if that takes more, that's okay."