Valve making a MMO? Discuss...

[Kamakiri]

Do you guys think Valve is making a MMO?

Just thinking how the industry needs a MMOFPS. It would do quite well if done right and I think Valve could do it VERY right.

What do you think?

Besides making Left 4 Dead working on small updates for TF2 and doing making Episode 3. Really there could be another team working on a MMO.

How many employees do Valve have?

 

[Danimal]

Nahchar.

 

[Jintor]

Valve Planetside plz

 

[Operational]

Wrong section?

Valve have talked about wanting to do a MMO before so it's not a impossibility. Plus we all know Gabe is a fan of WoW and not just of the game itself - he often talks about how successful it is as a business model for the PC.

As for Valve's size

200 people work at Valve

30 Work on Steam
10 Work on TF2
<10 Work on Portal 2 (assuming the team size hasn't changed since Portal)

That leaves about 150 people working on Admin/Legal/Marketing stuff, Ep3, L4D and anything else they have going on.

 

[Darkside55]

They are making an MMO

it's called TF2

enjoy your grinding for equipment and new hats

 

[Kadayi]

Valve have talked about wanting to do a MMO before so it's not a impossibility. Plus we all know Gabe is a fan of WoW and not just of the game itself - he often talks about how successful it is as a business model for the PC.

Not quite, Gabe merely admires Blizzards business model. Plain truth of the matter is though, they have neither the staff or genre experience necessary to pull it off with any great degree of success (it would just prove to be a money pit). There is a finite audience for MMOs and the market place is pretty saturated already (including the myriad 'free' ones), with the lions share already beholden to WoW. Getting people to give up WoW and come over to your game long term has proven to be the stumbling point for many of the more recent MMOs. Sure everyone wanted to check out AoC and WHO to see what was new, but very few stayed before returning to their level 60s and guilds and friendships. A good premise/good game isn't necessarily enough these days.

 

[Operational]

They are making an MMO

it's called TF2

enjoy your grinding for equipment and new hats

Oh look Darkside bashing TF2... *yawn*

Not quite, Gabe merely admires Blizzards business model.

Isn't that what I said?

Plain truth of the matter is though, they have neither the staff or genre experience necessary to pull it off with any great degree of success

That's what they said about Half-Life.

I'm not saying a Valve MMO is being done or even should be done, I'm just saying if Valve came out tomorrow and said, "hey we're making a MMO" I'd be like, "yeah Valve's been interested in MMOs for a while now".

 

[Kadayi]

He admires a business model that delivers regular income (and thus provides long term security for the business), but he's never ever said he wants or plans to make an MMO.

Also whom ever said that Valve couldn't make Halflife? I'm pretty sure that given they'd not shipped any product beforehand there was no expectations regarding what they could or couldn't do. Still also let's not forget that Halflife was made in age when development teams were relatively small. Since then they've grown and pretty much specialised in the FPS genre. MMOs more than anything else require massive amounts of scriptwriters and modellers. Horses for courses.

 

[Warped]

Team Fortress World, Half Life World, or Left4Dead World. meh

 

[Slug Advisor]

They are making an MMO

it's called TF2

enjoy your grinding for equipment and new hats

STFU noob, Im a lvl60 heavy I can pwn ur ass in Pvp.

Really though, I don't see any reason why Valve should or shouldn't make a MMO, it could be interesting though.

 

[PJ]

If they made one, I would play it, and I've never played a proper MMO before

 

[Eejit]

I wouldn't like them to try and make a traditional MMO, but it would be awesome if they created some kind of Tribes-like FPS in a persitent world.
A cross between Tribes and WHO perhaps, set during the City 17 uprising or in some new IP.

No quests, limited/no levelling (maybe to the degree some other shooters have such as CoD or Killing Floor), no grinding. Focused on territory-based combat.

 

[CyberPitz]

He admires a business model that delivers regular income (and thus provides long term security for the business), but he's never ever said he wants or plans to make an MMO.

Also whom ever said that Valve couldn't make Halflife? I'm pretty sure that given they'd not shipped any product beforehand there was no expectations regarding what they could or couldn't do. Still also let's not forget that Halflife was made in age when development teams were relatively small. Since then they've grown and pretty much specialised in the FPS genre. MMOs more than anything else require massive amounts of scriptwriters and modellers. Horses for courses.

Didn't they mention something like that in Raising the Bar?

 

[Kadayi]

Didn't they mention something like that in Raising the Bar?

Not that I recall, but feel free to find it (personally I'm keeping my copy in mint condition )

 

[Operational]

He admires a business model that delivers regular income (and thus provides long term security for the business), but he's never ever said he wants or plans to make an MMO.

VG247: Are you interested in stepping outside the shooter genre? Any chance of a Valve MMO?

Gabe Newell: We’re always interested, but let me put it this way: I would love to do a Wii game, and how many Wii games have we shipped? So, it’s just a question of having way, way too many ideas for our ability to execute.

http://www.vg247.com/2008/08/21/gc08-one-on-one-with-valves-gabe-newell/

"Gabe is a huge fan of MMO RPGs and he's always wanted to make one," Lombardi said.

"But that's a big risk to venture out on," he points out, so we wouldn't hold our breath on that one

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=188138

Also whom ever said that Valve couldn't make Halflife? I'm pretty sure that given they'd not shipped any product beforehand there was no expectations regarding what they could or couldn't do.

Except for Abrash, no one at id was sure they'd ever be back. "Everyone at id wasn't very optimistic about what Mike and Gabe were going to do," states Abrash.

As soon as they suggested such a concept, "the publisher said, 'OK, meeting's over!' They didn't believe we could do it," says Newell, with a wide I-told-you-so grin.

"Valve set out to do a class B game and not a class A game," says Abrash. "The model for starting a company, and the one I think Gabe and Mike followed - Carmack would tell you this in a second - is to just ship something." As Abrash explains, if a company sets out to do a killer game, it gets stuck "behind the curve" and ends up being too late with the product, which generally turns out to be a B game (or worse) anyway.

Valve was intent on bringing something new to the game environment apart from snappy graphics. Not everyone thought it was a good idea.

"We'd occasionally get people who would say things like: 'Stories? Who needs them? I just want a rocket launcher that fires faster,'" says Newell.

Not everyone was so optimistic. John Carmack at id Software remembers that he was still very skeptical about Half-Life: "For whatever reasons, Half-Life was the license we paid the least attention to during development. The early showings and screenshots never really got us very excited."

http://au.gamespot.com/features/halflife_final/index.html

Still also let's not forget that Halflife was made in age when development teams were relatively small. Since then they've grown and pretty much specialised in the FPS genre. MMOs more than anything else require massive amounts of scriptwriters and modellers. Horses for courses.

Yes I know.

 

[MacBowes]

Not exactly sure as to why Valve would bother going in that direction. To me it would kind of be like seeing Blizzard attempting to make an FPS. I'm not saying that they couldn't do it (and perhaps make a good one), but why bother? When you're really good at something you should continue doing what you're really good at. Valve makes arguably the best FPS games out to date and is known for doing so. If they were to make an MMO, anything less than amazing would only tarnish their reputation as a A+ game developer. Not to mention how horrendously long it would take to make an MMO on Valve time.

OFF TOPIC: I'm sure that quite a few of you (if not all) have seen it already, but a MMO that could potentially take a bite out of WoW's market share is Aion. Now, I know that this kind of thing gets said every time a new MMO comes out but NCSoft is probably the biggest MMO developer other than Blizzard (GW1, Lineage, CoH/V, GW2, Aion, B&S). I'm not a very big fan of WoW, but I'm not going to bother bashing it cause it's a losing battle. I'll be playing Aion for sure (currently playing CABAL) and I think that it's going to be really, really amazing!

 

[Darkside55]

STFU noob, Im a lvl60 heavy I can pwn ur ass in Pvp.

1v1 MAGET

VG247: Are you interested in stepping outside the shooter genre? Any chance of a Valve MMO?

Gabe Newell: We’re always interested, but let me put it this way: I would love to do a Wii game, and how many Wii games have we shipped? So, it’s just a question of having way, way too many ideas for our ability to execute.

Valve MMO confirmed for Wii

 

[Hobopro]

How about a Left 4 Dead mixed with S.t.a.l.k.e.r. type freeroam sandbox thingy?
That wouldn't be an MMO tho'..

 

[Kamakiri]

Sorry I'm the OP and thought I would see if anyone actually replied to the thread. Sorry lol.

The boss guys, Gabe, loves MMO's. I so still think they are making one right now.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I love steak, but I'm not out slaughtering cows.

 

[Shem]

I'm not too crazy about the idea of Valve making an MMO, but it's their decision.

 

[Asknoone]

I love steak, but I'm not out slaughtering cows.

Do you really expect anyone to believe that?

 

[jeepis]

I love steak, but I'm not out slaughtering cows.

I am...

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Do you really expect anyone to believe that?

Unless you can provide concrete, court-of-law degree proof, yes. Those cow carcasses in my garden? They must have wandered in their on their own, officer.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Fact is that Valve have made their name on epic immersive storylines and memorable gameplay experiences which an MMO simply cannot provide. MMOs are all about keeping players playing for as long as possible, and I believe that just goes against Valve's game-making policy. They want to make games that are fun. Always.

That being said, if they get the idea for a new revolutionary kind of MMO which will blow away this quagmire, I can see them going for it.

 

[Operational]

Fact is that Valve have made their name on epic immersive storylines and memorable gameplay experiences which an MMO simply cannot provide. MMOs are all about keeping players playing for as long as possible, and I believe that just goes against Valve's game-making policy.

What about TF2 or L4D?

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

What about TF2 or L4D?

They didn't make their name with those. TF2 and CS started out as mods and were so successful that Valve took the opportunity to take control of the development. L4D is a direct offshoot of those multiplayer games.

These games aren't based on a commercial model of "more play-time equals more money". You can play as much or as little as you want, makes no odds to them. MMOs don't have that option; you have to keep your players playing for a long period of time otherwise you lose them fast.

 

[kupocake]

I think they're working on breaking into the far eastern market with a dating simulation game / hentai game based on their products.

The bad ending involves the Heavy and the phrase 'Cry Some More'.

 

[Kzaar]

Valve games do not have potential for MMO creation.

 

[Schall]

Maybe, but its probably not something worth arguing over, Let's just wait and see.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Partnering up with Blizzard to create Left the World 4 Dead.

 

[Darkside55]

You know...if you think about what Prospero proposed...I could see an MMO based off of that concept:

Exploration, user-created content, a library of 'worlds' running off multiple servers, Myst-like storyline.

 

[Danimal]

User-created content = big boobed zombies and dick-smokers.