Tripwire Interactive president defends Steam

"Pitchford _did_ say he trusts Valve."

Whatever. First line in the interview:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/randy_pitchford_talks_borderlands_piracy_and_why_he_doesn%E2%80%99t_trust_valve?page=0%2C2
"As a guy in this industry though, I don’t trust Valve."

You know who I'm getting a little sick of? Randy Pitchford.

Gearbox built their entire company off doing expansions and sequels to franchises when the original developers couldn't be bothered, and then Randy Pitchford starts slamming good development studios for not being creative enough:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/22/gearbox-ceo-wants-bungie-and-infinity-ward-to-move-beyond-establis/

Then Randy Attention Whore tries to start a fake rumor that they will be developing a Halo game:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/28/gearbox-doesnt-not-admit-halo-involvement/

Then Randy comes up with a name for their new title, that is NOT intended to make you think of Activision's highest-selling franchises:
www.joystiq.com/2009/06/24/gearbox-trademarks-modern-war-hero-instrument-compatibility-u/

Then there's Valve, who gave Gearbox their big break by letting his overrated development team do an expansion to the legendary Half-Life franchise. As thanks, he starts publicly bitching about his Steam royalty percentages, which are a much better deal than you get from XBLA or PSN. (Gearbox, it should be noted, is large enough to find another publisher if they feel like they are getting raped so bad)

You know what's worse than Bobby Kotick? A Bobby-Kotick-wannabe.

reposting from my mis-post below--bear with me while I learn the kinks:

Quoting from the joystiq article that referred to that interview:
"Pitchford quickly couched that statement saying, 'I, personally, trust Valve. But I'm just saying, honestly, I think a lot of the industry doesn't.' "

I don't think the quality of Gearbox's games should be considered an indication of Pitchford's ability to appraise the business impact of a monopoly. For all we know (warning: probable fiction ahead), Bobby Kotick has incredibly fantastic game development ideas, and is a huge team player in ice hockey. (fiction off) That doesn't prevent him from being a douchebag CEO.

Not sure how you even think he's anything remotely like Bobby Kotick. Did you even read the interview? I just read the whole thing and there's nothing in there about keeping your employees in line with fear, or focusing solely on the bottom line. In the interview, he doesn't even complain about Valve's royalties! He's only complaining about the conflict of interest, which sounds like a valid concern to me.

And "slamming" Infinity Ward and Bungie? That's a little extreme. He said he wants to see what they're capable of if they branch out. Are you anti-new IP or something? You can say he's a Bobby Kotick-wannabe...which makes absolutely no sense if you read his comments and compare them to Kotick's.. Or you could say he thinks Infinity Ward and Bungie are better than his company, and are more capable of coming up with something new.

Copa, talk about trying to start rumors and misconstruing the facts. None of your conclusions or summations about those things are accurate.

Pitchford didn't slam IW or Bungie, he said he would love to see what they could do outside of CoD and Halo, because he has such a respect for the talent they have. Many, many, many people would love to see what those two devs could do with a new property. That's not a shocking statement.

Pitchford didn't start a Halo rumor, it was already being reported on in the press and he was directly asked about it. He said he couldn't talk about it, then the official PR rep present said he couldn't talk about it.

Trademarking something means nothing, at all. A ridiculous number of trademarks are filed every week that will never actually be used.

He wasn't bitching about his royalties, he was expressing concerns about having a major distribution channel in the hands of a developer/publisher because it can create a conflict of interest. Which is an entirely reasonable concern. If EA or Activision controlled the most well known digital distribution channel, people would constantly bring this up. But because it's Valve, it's a taboo subject.

Pitchford probably does need to learn the fine art of keeping his mouth shut some days, as he tends to be a lot more open in interviews than a number of other devs, but I appreciate that some days. Gives me something to read about and it's refreshing to get some different answers than the typical safe, PR speak that so many others give.

You're either a Valve fanboy or a Gearbox hater, as you have similar posts as this in other threads.

"Pitchford didn't start a Halo rumor, it was already being reported on in the press and he was directly asked about it."

Courtney, read more carefully. The Halo rumor originated in Variety, and it came from a Gearbox source.

Gearbox started the false rumor, and then refused to shoot it down in subsequent interviews with the gaming press just to keep it alive.

Randy is an annoying attention whore:

"I don't trust Valve! (Or I do trust Valve, but there are other people who don't trust Valve. Trust me.)"

"We're making a Halo game! (I don't know where you heard that. I will not confirm or deny that delicious rumor that you really should print."

"Bungie and Infinity Ward should stop being so boring and make something new! (Please hire us to make the next Halo / Modern Warfare game)"

copa, you still have failed to provide any compelling evidence that
Pitchford is a dorkface...and even less evidence that he's anything
like Kotick. I mean, you've provided ample evidence that you don't like the guy, by coloring otherwise neutral stories with words like "slamming", but you've given nothing of substance. As for the rumor thing, who cares? Rumors are rumors. For all we know, when that rumor started, it was true. If you're going to hold everyone accountable for rumors, I think the problem is on your end.

@copa, and again, you're twisting (or just flat making up) stuff to feed your dislike of Gearbox.

Variety didn't start the Halo rumor, OXM did.

"More Talent to Work on “Halo Things”

Microsoft Game Studios just nabbed some A-list talent to work on the Halo franchise. Folks from Kojima, Gearbox, id Software, Bungie, and Pseudo Interactive have recently joined the company in order to “develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe,” Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told Gamasutra. Spencer told GamesIndustry.biz last month that “there are more than two or three teams building Halo things right now.”

http://www.oxmonline.com/article/features/week-xbox/week-xbox-103

Sooo, perhaps you should read more carefully (that OXM was the originator was pointed out by Joystiq).

All you've done is make up quotes that don't actually reflect what was said or reported. The source for your hatred is nothing other than your own imagination.

Courtney, I can't tell if you are trying to deliberately spread false information, or if you are typing faster than you are thinking.

The text that you quoted is from October 3, 2008. It is an article about how MGS hired employees from other studios (including at least one from Gearbox) to work on an INTERNALLY-DEVELOPED Halo title. It has nothing to do with Gearbox involvement on Halo.

What I think you were trying to reference is a rumor that was posted on August 25, 2008, more than two months prior to the completely unrelated article you referenced.

Let me quote from the August 2008 article:
"The kids at OXM sure remembered and they sent their spies deep undercover into Gearbox territory and came back with one heck of a rumor for their October issue: Gearbox is working on Halo 4 as a launch title for the next Xbox."
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/25/oxm-rumor-gearbox-developing-halo-4-as-launch-title-for-next-xb/

I'm not sure about you, but I am actually trying to keep the facts straight here. So I stand corrected: Gearbox spread this bullshit rumor to OXM BEFORE they spread this bullshit rumor to Variety BEFORE they started issuing coy denials to the gaming press so that people would think they were associated with Halo 4. Which is absolute bullshit.

Let's see how Borderlands turns out. But so far, Gearbox has been better at making up imaginary stories about developing great games, than actually developing great games.

I did note the time difference between the Joystiq pieces and the online OXM pieces, but as near as I can tell, the stuff that the 'stiq is referencing was only put in the print version. Often, print mags don't update their sites with the print content for weeks, if ever. That was the closest post relating to Gearbox and Halo (within about 5 weeks of when the original Joystiq/Variety posts went up). As recaps of other sites content don't always capture the context of quotes, I much prefer the original source, but that doesn't appear to be available. Joystiq didn't even directly quote whatever was in OXM print, so we have no idea what that was.

You're spinning this into something much bigger, and more malignant, than it ever was. Look at the original Variety post that you keep going on about:

"I checked with a source I have who is close to Gearbox and the best info I can confirm is that Gearbox has definitely had conversations with Microsoft about doing a new "Halo" game and is very excited at the prospect. However, last my source heard, there was no deal in place."

That sounds quite valid, given that we know that MS is in fact outsourcing Halo to studios not named Bungie (see Halo Wars), and that Bungie has flat said they are done once Reach is finished. That isn't Pitchford trying to claim they are working on Halo 4 ("We're making a Halo game!" as you put it). It's someone related to Gearbox saying, "Yeah, we're in talks, and it's exciting."

You're the one who's been making up quotes and conclusions to fit your dislike of Pitchford and Gearbox. I'm not sure I've ever even played a Gearbox game (though I am looking forward to Borderlands), so I don't have any dog in this race. But your insistence on calling this out over and over again on posts just seems ridiculous and designed to spread false information.

Yea, but if something like that happened, people would notice. If steam stopped being better than the rest of the competition, customers and developers alike would abandon them. There's no evidence that some disaster at valve is about to happen, so assuming they're going to turn around and backstab the sources of their livelihood for no reason is kind of silly.

You know that you can disable that feature?

Well... Remove it from startup then. It's running in the background for updates and friend activity notifications.

Well in that case, I'm dumb and have no problem with Steam.

I just don't like it because a lot of games that don't really need it seem to want to use it. If I want to play Empire: Total War offline, I need to be online to authenticate after installation. This means I can't just toss it in a bag and install it on my laptop if I am going to travel with no internet. I mean, I understand it's not THAT onerous, I just don't see why it's necessary for a lot of games.

Sorry for the double post, but I just realised that on the surface, Gibson says the same thing as Pitchford - which is that on the surface Steam+Valve does represent a slight conflict of interest.

So actually both these guys statements are somewhat similar except that Pitchford doesn't harp on about all the things the royalties gave him :P

Ring ring. Hello, it's borderlands? Here, it's for you.

Ring! Ring! Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

Gearbox made the Half-Life expansions.

you know you only get a sports car if your game is good right?

Oh for frak's sake.. If I click on an email to reply to someone who replied to me, it always starts a new one?

2D Boy said that Steam was the fairest out of all the publishers they went to.

"Valve’s digital distribution agreement is the simplest and most developer friendly agreement I’ve seen so far, and we’ve signed over a dozen of those. Also, no other digital distribution service I know of, PC or console, pays a higher cut of the revenues out to developers."
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/12/the-steamy-issue-of-digital-distribution/#more-19483