"We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons," Newell said. "There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here."
Hardware designer Jeri Ellsworth tweeted today that she was fired, and Valve's employee page has eight former-employee-shaped holes, including director of business development Jason Holtman. Early reports put the number of employees let go at 25, though Valve has yet to confirm anything.
