Got some cash? Valve 'happy' to talk acquisition

If EA "buys" Valve, it most likely will be just like the Blizzard Activision thing. Valve will remain 100% independent and will suckle off EA's vast resources to get things out even faster.

The only good thing about EA even coming near valve would be using steam for digital distribution.

But that's all they should do, EA shouldn't be allowed to come anywhere near valve... EA tends to fuck up anything they touch.

Personally I think this would be a terrible idea. Valve really already has some all star games that just about everyone respects and loves. Steam itself is a goldmine and I can only see it getting stronger in the future. Possibly strong enough to really make them compete along side of the big boys helping distribute other games. Of course EA wants a piece of it, they can see the dollar signs. Im not comletely against EA and thing their evil, if anything I honestly do feel that they would let valve have free reign as a developer. However, seeing steam, its almost impossible for me to think that EA would really keep their hands off of it. We already know their track record with drm and how they run their own version of steam. I mean really, after a year you cant redownload the game? Thats called greed to me. I can definitely see them ruining steam in an effort to maximize profits. At least we know with valves track record that they really care about their customers and wouldnt shovel out sports games every year without any real advancement

If Valve isn't safe, no studio is safe.

Whatever keeps Valve in the business of making awesome games is cool with me. And come on people, EA isn't the devil.

no...noo..NOOOO!! Not EA. I don't care if they remain independent. NOT EA!

And I place my hotel...

Honestly, EA hasn't been all that bad lately, allowing DICE to be itself with Battlefield Bad Company, Harmonix be itself with Rock Band, Criterion be itself with Burnout Paradise, etc. I have no real reason to think why EA wouldn't do the same with Valve and the PC world.

That said, DICE was an exclusive PC developer before BF:BC and I wouldn't be surprised if the decision to make the Orange Box multi-platform wasn't due in part to pressure from EA (which ported it to the PS3 after all). And we all know how the console versions of the Orange Box turned out - not Valve's development style, which is very much control-freaky with constant updates, bug fixes, balance fixes, etc., which is why Steam works.

I really don't see why Valve would be looking to be acquired, it's doing very very well right now by itself and with its marketing/distribution contracts with EA. That said, if EA titles came to Steam and Valve got a hold of some EA talent that helps bring us those AWESOME Valve games faster, and that's all that an acquisition really meant... then I'm all for it. But more influencing forays into the console world and EA influencing creative decisions at Valve puts a big fat "go the fuck away" on this deal IMHO (really, does anyone expect Left 4 Dead to be any different than the Orange Box in terms of how often it's updated etc. between the consoles and the PC versions?)

If EA tookover valve, I don't know... I'd probably go and eat Gabe's arms off.