Valve made an obscene amount of money last night.

[DarkStar]

Just looking at the polls here at HL2.NET and the number of servers ALREADY running CS:Source, seems to indicate that Valve really raked it in last night. I was among those waiting for the retail release, but the thought of playing CS:Source early was just to tempting to resist, so I bought it on Steam. It seems like a bunch of others felt the same way. Last night's sales represent a quantum leap in software publishing. This kind internet distribution of a game is really unprecedented, probably the largest in history. The lesson: offer special perks to downloaders (such as early access) and you can nearly bypass a publisher altogether.

Damn, the Valve guys must be giddy. Seeing those coffers fill up, it would be hard not to go straight out and buy a Porsche or something. So how much money do you think they made last night?

 

[rammstein]

No idea...

Don't forget about the people with ATI vouchers though

 

[switch]

Yup they made a lot of money, but dont forget how much they spent.

They financed all of HL2 and invested a lot of money into Steam, which will have cost them a hell of a lot.

But I can see there being expensive parties at the VALVe offices soon heh.

 

[cadaveca]

No idea...

Don't forget about the people with ATI vouchers though

ATI has shipped 1 million pci-e cards, 35% of which contain a coupon for HL2, nevermind the pople that got a coupon with a 9600xt, or 9800/pro/xt. These people are probably the majority right now.

 

[The Bait]

If VU sees how much money VALVe made in just one night they might end up announcing "HL2 gone gold!!!" in a few days or something!

 

[pyroCow]

They made so much money they bought Alaska and put their servers there to cool them off. And they said Bling bling.

 

[The Bait]

They made so much money they bought Alaska and put their servers there to cool them off.

Now the servers wont overload and blow up when HL2 hits shelves and everyone trys to start it up in Steam at the same time!

 

[DarkStar]

If VU sees how much money VALVe made in just one night they might end up announcing "HL2 gone gold!!!" in a few days or something!

Yeah, VU are really shooting themselves in the foot at this point by not getting on the ball with HL2. I think more and more people who were holding out for retail are going to get tired of waiting and basically say "Screw It" and and boot up Steam.....

 

[The Bait]

I didnt order off Steam since I have the game pre ordered at my local EB Games. I might just say

"screw it"

when I get tired of waiting. :bounce:

 

[Demonmerc]

you'll regret it later...

 

[chriso20]

Just imagine lets say that 1million a year was spent in valve on wages and resources (trips/research etc..).

So all together you're looking at 5 million to make up.

What if they made under that, they'd have to make the rest up in retail sales lol but what if they didnt, what if they spent $500,000 to make a game?!

Obviously the swamped it but what if

 

[ShinRa]

Hi, I'm guinny, and I'm a was-gonna-buy-retail-but-said-****-it-ill-get-steam-aholic.

 

[Liam]

I'm pretty sure Gabe said in an interview that they'd already spent $40 million on HL2. And that they could easily spend another $40 mil.

So the total spent on HL2 could be around $50 mil (or more) by now.

And they're going to make their money back.

 

[The Bait]

Hi, I'm guinny, and I'm a was-gonna-buy-retail-but-said-****-it-ill-get-steam-aholic.

*Gets the feeling guinny thinks he is in a rehab center. So he plays along* Hi Guinny, I'm Bait.

 

[A2597]

I'll wait...I want a box, but am NOT able to afford an 80$ purchase for the Gold edition.

 

[Wraithen]

plus they made a whole load of money on a game that isn't even out yet. You stick that in a bank, get a load of interest on it, you end up making more money that if you'd gotten the same number of sales on the release date. That Gabe's more than just a doughnut depository

 

[ne0_shiny]

I didnt order off Steam since I have the game pre ordered at my local EB Games. I might just say when I get tired of waiting. :bounce:

thats what i just did
except i pre ordered on online eb games :rolling:

 

[The Bait]

I'll wait...I want a box, but am NOT able to afford an 80$ purchase for the Gold edition.

I have the money. I just dont want to give it up for alot of extra stuff I dont need. All I want is my HL2 on a CD along with CSS

 

[Edcrab]

Even though it's not practical for me to get the game via Steam I'm loving every step taken to stab VU in their eye.

We'll run out of eyes-for-stabbing very soon, despite there being such a large group of gits in that organisation, so they'll end up bowing to financial pressure and allowing us mere mortals access to the damn game already.

 

[The Bait]

Even though it's not practical for me to get the game via Steam I'm loving every step taken to stab VU in their eye.

That made me laugh

 

[Shrink]

Good for them!

I hope they made a killing and get to keep the majority of it. I don't mind supporting a quality game company with a few extra bucks, rather than forking out money to a company that cranks out crap. :bounce:

Good work, Gabe et. al.! Enjoy your profits - you deserve it! :cheers:

 

[Some_God]

Anyone got any figuers to see how many people bought through Steam?

 

[Link]

I'm pretty sure Gabe said in an interview that they'd already spent $40 million on HL2. And that they could easily spend another $40 mil.

So the total spent on HL2 could be around $50 mil (or more) by now.

And they're going to make their money back.

Did a quick few sums, and came up with an estimate of what valve may have made last night.

The original HL sold over 8,000,000 copies in all its forms
At the time of writing 102,416 of those buyers are online playing the game
A quick sum tells us that that means 1.28% of the people who own the game are playing it online at any given moment.
So, if there are currently 5,923 players on CS:S, assuming the percentage above and assuming the average cost was $70 that tells us that 580454 bought the game and that the sales netted Valve some $40,992,409.

Bear in mind that this is based on some pretty wild assumptions, but even if we halve the figure we are looking at $20 million. Whatever the case, I think its safe to say valves bank manager is starting to feel more warm towards them right now

 

[deekey777]

No idea...

Don't forget about the people with ATI vouchers though

Hehe, I love my voucher. :E

 

[MetalliMyers]

Yeah, Valve definitely made a lot of money, and I'll bet there is more where that came from.

I would like to see some figures on that.

 

[cadaveca]

they probably only got about 1 mil last night, at the most. Vouchers are probably 50-90% of players right now.

 

[koopa]

So, if there are currently 5,923 players on CS:S, assuming the percentage above and assuming the average cost was $70 that tells us that 580454 bought the game and that the sales netted Valve some $40,992,409.

I know they're rough figures, but it's likely that with a brand new game + Steam delivery method almost everyone who has it is playing it online. I think a realistic figure is more like 40,000 purchases and therefore net sales of $2,800,000. Either way, party time

 

[Ownzed]

Can't forget about the people with the ATI vouchers and the people like me playing on my bro's account.

 

[Darth Valium]

...hmmm you guys don't really think that ati got those vouchers for free, do you?

 

[Some_God]

...hmmm you guys don't really think that ati got those vouchers for free, do you?

I do... ;(

 

[cadaveca]

vouchers cost about 20m, the videocard association was actually auctioned off by valve, with ATI being the highest budder.

 

[rammstein]

20 mill is a solid amount...

 

[Pjotr]

Damn, the Valve guys must be giddy. Seeing those coffers fill up, it would be hard not to go straight out and buy a Porsche or something. So how much money do you think they made last night?

Not close to the $30 million spent on making the game.

 

[kenny2]

easy

Do the math,2million copies average 60 bucks=120 million, I would think over the next 3 years they would sell somewhere around 10million copies. :sniper:

 

[cadaveca]

yes, but they(valve) only get about 7.50 per game, and then have to pay staff, and server costs, and utility bills...etc.
just because the game sells for 60, does not mean they get 60. the retailer's take a chunk& vivendi takes a chunk too. Off of STEAM, vivendi does not currently get a chunk, but that's what the court case is over.
valve says that they get about 2.5 times the money from steam sale(think about the merchendise they are offering...that stuff cost them too), but @ 7.50, that's what...18-19 dollars? not much.

And when you think about the cost of the vouchers, and the number that were printed, valve is not getting much more than 5-6 dollars a peice for the voucher versions.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

No idea...

Don't forget about the people with ATI vouchers though

some pple with vouchers may have upgraded as well.. so the voucher thing is kinda tricky to gauge with little to no info available on them.

 

[Edge]

No idea...

Don't forget about the people with ATI vouchers though

I think most of the people with the ATI vouchers went for Silver/Gold anyway because it seems like a freebie hehe. I had a voucher from my 9800XT and I bought the Gold Package because it was only49.99... just like buying a normal game hehe.

 

[Edge]

oops :smoking:

 

[peoplesuc]

Good! They aren't like EA who release 15+ games a year. What is this their 4th game in seven years? They deserve to have any money that people are willing to give to them. Those that don't like that concept should move to france and leech off their welfare society.

Valve employees can't feed their children off of 'positive reviews' and 'high fives' from the masses.

 

[groovy]

EA is a publisher, not a developer.

correct me if i'm wrong.