What will Valve do about Episode 3 for console owners?

F

FlotsamX

Newbie
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
As we all know, The Orange Box was a very large moneymaker for Valve. Until recently, Valve has dedicated almost all of its resources to PC gamers, and chose to completely ignore console owners when "Half Life 2: Episode 1" was released. But, assuredly, Valve has learned something, considering the greater majority of the revenue generated from The Orange Box came from the Xbox 360 version. So, I was thinking, how would Valve release Episode 3 for the consoles? They can't just release it by itself, the manufacturing of the disc and glossing materials would outweigh the theoretical value of the game content. They could try making another Orange Box, by pairing Episode 3 with Portal 2, or something of the sort. But I'm still unsure. Has Valve stated themselves what they are going to do?


And please, no PC elitist talk.
 
it could possibly have left 4 dead included as well as portal 2.
 
giant384 said:
it could possibly have left 4 dead included as well as portal 2.
Click to expand...

Great idea! Left 4 Dead fits the budget perfectly as a short game, which could be included with others. But Left 4 Dead is expected to ship this October, and Portal 2 hasn't even gone into early development stages yet, so I think I'll have to mark it out. Left 4 Dead and Episode 3 don't seem like the right 2 games to pair together exclusively.
 
FlotsamX said:
As we all know, The Orange Box was a very large moneymaker for Valve. Until recently, Valve has dedicated almost all of its resources to PC gamers, and chose to completely ignore console owners when "Half Life 2: Episode 1" was released. But, assuredly, Valve has learned something, considering the greater majority of the revenue generated from The Orange Box came from the Xbox 360 version. So, I was thinking, how would Valve release Episode 3 for the consoles? They can't just release it by itself, the manufacturing of the disc and glossing materials would outweigh the theoretical value of the game content. They could try making another Orange Box, by pairing Episode 3 with Portal 2, or something of the sort. But I'm still unsure. Has Valve stated themselves what they are going to do?


And please, no PC elitist talk.
Click to expand...

For starters, PC versions massively outsold both the PS3 and 360 versions put together. If your going to come here an state thing like that at least back it up with facts. I don't know why you say Valve can't release it on it's own, they did with Episode 1 on the PC, that just had Episode 1 on the disc. I think it all depends on the schedule, if Portal 2 and Episode 3 are finished at around the same time then perhaps, Valve will release them both together. The Orange box only happened because TF2, Portal and EP2 were all completed around the same time and Valve didn't want them competing against each other.
 
I think they might make a "Half-Life Series Bundle" with HL:S, HL2, EP1, EP2, and EP3.
 
If you ask me, its not going to get much atention on the console, it never did... most will probably get it for pc because you cant get hl2 mods on the xbox and such... itll probably either be a steam exclusive or be cheaper through steam, then again its probably more cost effective to sell it through steam, no need to manufacture disks and boxes.

Maby add the class achievements on an upgrade disk or something? dunno if theyre already available on xbl cause i dont have xbl (cause pc mp is free!)
 
FlotsamX said:
They can't just release it by itself, the manufacturing of the disc and glossing materials would outweigh the theoretical value of the game content.
Click to expand...

As well as being wrong about consoles selling more orange box than PC, the manufacturing and distribution of discs, boxes and "manuals" costs just a few cents per unit, so you're wrong about that too - how can you possibly say that outweighs the cost or value of making the game? Are you mental, or just talking about stuff you know nothing about?
 
so lets say 15 cents, times 2 million units (give or take) means $30000000000, and say that theyre sold for $50, but only 500000 units are sold, thats only $25000000

30000000000
___-2500000
...

well you get the idea, if the cost outweighs the sales, they wont sell the game on console, and id guess that theyll at first sell a limited quantity of console cds at first.

Theres also all the extra stuff capable with the pc version, like mods, custom skins, other things (garrysmod for example).
 
Vaun, I wouldn't quite say that... They will port it to console, and as far as I know that doesn't take a huge developing company like Valve longer than a few weeks to do it. (Performance tweaks, hardware study, and AI tweaks) With the combined sales even with the orange box they made a hell of a lot more than they would releasing on just PC. Besides, they have Console fans now anyways, so they can't ignore that. (My friend was very skeptical of HL, and I BOUGHT him the OB for Christmas, and now every time he calls me he's asking for hints on puzzles and stuff. He can't put it down. He used to be a halo fanboy until I showed him how much better HL was, and he hates halo now. XD)
 
Halo 3 was a failure, so releasing the arguably superior orange box for consoles was a smart plan, get people off halo and get them on hl2, even though i want to try halo wars (and am waiting on the hl2 mod, half-life:wars.
 
Vaun said:
so lets say 15 cents, times 2 million units (give or take) means $30000000000, and say that theyre sold for $50, but only 500000 units are sold, thats only $25000000

30000000000
___-2500000
...

well you get the idea, if the cost outweighs the sales, they wont sell the game on console, and id guess that theyll at first sell a limited quantity of console cds at first.

Theres also all the extra stuff capable with the pc version, like mods, custom skins, other things (garrysmod for example).
Click to expand...

Kill yourself, and whoever thought they taught you maths. You think that 15 cents times 2 million = 30 BILLION dollars, and that 500,000 times $50 = 2.5 million? Retard. Also, I have no idea where you got half a million console versions sold from, as their figures showed around 1.5 million. Also, why would they make 2 million right from the start, when again - their figures showed they should expect around 1.5 million console sales after a few months. I'm using the words instead of lots of zeros, because you seem to be confused by any number with a zero in it.

Lets use your example, but actually do it RIGHT, shall we?

15 CENTS times 1.5 MILLION units equals quarter of a million dollars. That's their COST of making the discs etc.

1.5 million sales times 50 dollars equals 75 million dollars. That's what they make from consoles alone.

Now lets minus the quarter of a million dollar production cost of the cds etc from that.

75,000,000
- 250,000
=74,750,000

Hell, even if they DID only sell half a million like you are trying to say, they'd still make almost $25 million from the consoles. Of course, there are also the real costs they need to work out - the cost of actually developing the game, but you weren't talking about that.

Get a clue.
 
Vaun said:
Halo 3 was a failure, so releasing the arguably superior orange box for consoles was a smart plan, get people off halo and get them on hl2, even though i want to try halo wars (and am waiting on the hl2 mod, half-life:wars.
Click to expand...

Okay, we can be sure that he's not Shasta because He's not a grammar nazi. :)

Or too smart, for that matter...
 
Valve aren't exactly losing money by putting it on consoles.
 
Mellish said:
Valve aren't exactly losing money by putting it on consoles.
Click to expand...

*Facepalm

We know. We just went over that. They seem to have grossed around $75 million from consoles. I wouldn't exactly call that losing money either. Try to keep up, captain obvious.
 
FishBulb said:
Huh, can I get your source on this? Doug says differently.
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking at long-term sales charts, I was just looking at the first few days, of which the Xbox 360 and PS3 version outsold the PC version. But now, yes, the PC has far more sales. But still, my stance stands firm that Valve has far too many fans on the consoles to abandon now.
 
I'm expecting a PC, PS3 and 360 release. Possibly being sold in a sort of 'Orange Box 2', or just as a single game.
 
As said before, the cost of the materials required to make the packaging for the disc is more valuable than the philosophical cost of the game itself, so I'm agreeing that Valve will make a new Orange Box.
 
The could do a 'Lambda Cache' or something with HL:S HL2(and it's episodes) TF1 TF2 Portal 1 and Portal 2.
But then it would cost more than Rock Band.....
 
FlotsamX said:
As said before, the cost of the materials required to make the packaging for the disc is more valuable than the philosophical cost of the game itself, so I'm agreeing that Valve will make a new Orange Box.
Click to expand...

Are you actually saying that the box and disc is worth more than the actual game? Are you kidding, the game cost millions to create, while DVDs are dead cheap especially as they are mass produced. There will only be an Orange box 2 if any other game is completed around the time of Episode 3. If not it will come on it's own just like Episode 1.
 
LackingSaint said:
I'm expecting a PC, PS3 and 360 release. Possibly being sold in a sort of 'Orange Box 2', or just as a single game.
Click to expand...
Sorry to disappoint you, but there probably won't be a PS3 version.
Valve practically admitted that the PS3 version of the Orange Box was a pain in the a*s to develop and support.
 
We won't see an Orange Box 2, that is ridiculous. Valve will certainly bring Episode 3 to consoles, what it will come with is any one's guess. L4D highly possible, or unannounced titles or very early titles in the pipeline....for example Counter Strike 2.
 
99.vikram said:
Sorry to disappoint you, but there probably won't be a PS3 version.
Valve practically admitted that the PS3 version of the Orange Box was a pain in the a*s to develop and support.
Click to expand...

I still think that it'll be released for the PS3. Surely being a 'pain in the ass' to make is worth it for the money they earn from it.

Also, it wasn't Valve who said it, it was Gabe Newell.
 
I did, and I didn't care. Is there anything that I might have missed that would contradict what I said?
 
FlotsamX said:
Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking at long-term sales charts, I was just looking at the first few days, of which the Xbox 360 and PS3 version outsold the PC version. But now, yes, the PC has far more sales. But still, my stance stands firm that Valve has far too many fans on the consoles to abandon now.
Click to expand...

Source...?
 
It was an old article on Gamespot. I've tried to bring it up, but I can't get any results. Either way, Gamespot doesn't have great sources itself. I'll see if I can get another one. But in the mean time, please discuss the topic at hand.
 
FlotsamX said:
As said before, the cost of the materials required to make the packaging for the disc is more valuable than the philosophical cost of the game itself
Click to expand...

Wow. Just wow. You actually think that printing the discs and boxes is the biggest cost and factor in creating and distributing a game, and that it costs so much that it makes it unviable to make games. Even after seeing that to make $75 million of games, it costs them only quarter of a million dollars to make the discs and boxes. You sir, are pants-on-head retarded.
 
LackingSaint said:
Also, it wasn't Valve who said it, it was Gabe Newell.
Click to expand...

Valve is Gabe Newell, what he says matters.

FlotsamX said:
It was an old article on Gamespot. I've tried to bring it up, but I can't get any results. Either way, Gamespot doesn't have great sources itself. I'll see if I can get another one. But in the mean time, please discuss the topic at hand.
Click to expand...

Gamespot is possibly the worst source of this kind of figures. Also PC sales figures do not include Steam sales they only do retail. So everyone who purchased on Steam don't get included. If Steam sales were included, it would have blown the console sales out of the water.

There is nothing to discuss. We are not guaranteed a package. If and only if another game is completed at around the same time as Episode 3 then it could be included. Counter Strike 2 is a strong possibility. Left for Dead is coming this year so it's unlikely to be in a package.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
From Warren Spector to Arkane Studios: Half-Life 2's cancelled Ravenholm episode
Replies
2
Views
10K
Clan Wolf 2
Clan Wolf 2
B
Barking Dog Studios' work for Valve
Replies
0
Views
12K
Barnz
B
B
The leaked maps of the Half-Life 2 episodes - Part 2
Replies
0
Views
9K
Barnz
B
V
I had a tour at the Valve HQ recently, this is what I found out.
Replies
8
Views
9K
UshankaCat
UshankaCat
MFL
Fascinating look at the ongoing psychological evolution of flat hieirarchies.
Replies
2
Views
2K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
Back
Top