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Comment by zelon88 | Hacker News Reader

Realistically they never had a vision for the future. It seems to be a combination of a bunch of visions. Nonetheless, I can't see much about Steam that took 360+ people 13 years to develop. It seems to me that there is a fear of commitment in an environment that tries to foster comfort for it's workforce. Maybe they need someone to point their finger at a goal and start demanding that progress be made to achieve that goal.

Finish the HL2 story arc for crying-out-loud. Or just cancel it so your fans can move on.

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Exactly. They're doing even worse in terms of vision for their game franchises, which is what got them where they are in the first place.

This is a gaming company that hasn't really done anything major for gaming in nearly a decade. How is that even possible?

Oh please.

Steam on Linux hasn't ushered in "Linux on every desktop" but it's done quite a bit for Linux gaming.

Dota 2 came out 4 years ago and is huge.

Greenlight was launched 5 years ago. That achieved nothing for indie game devs I guess.

Anyone of those was a pretty major event in "gaming".

I never claimed that Valve wasn't productive. I meant to highlight the seeming lack of discipline they sometimes display. They are a "Jack of all trades" but the master of none. They'll work on hardware or features for Steam that nobody asked for while (sometimes arrogantly) letting other projects (with actual demand) linger.

A master of none? They've created and still run the #1 content distribution platform for videogames, they've developed some of the highest-rated games ever, several of their games are still very popular with their most recent one in particular (Dota 2) even drawing massive crowds at live events. I'm right there with you that they've got some problems to solve, but they're absolutely very competent or at least very successful in other areas as well.

Dota 2 is in the last decade. I think that counts!

It took them 5 to 6 years to port the original DotA in its entirety to the Source Engine. They added the first major changes to the original game only a few weeks ago. Everything else was just copying Heroes, items and features from a really old mod. Don't get me wrong, I like and regularly play DotA2, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

I stand by what I said. The Orange Box was the last great hurrah for Valve gaming.

As an avid player of dota 2, I think your underestimating how much invisible work goes into dota 2 itself. It's probably the best MOBA in the market as far as game design.

Dota 2 is pretty much the only game that can keep my attention, everything else just falls by the wayside after a while.

You play DotA and you are claiming that 7.00 was the first major change? You are having a laugh. The game has made massive strides in UX, gameplay and graphics, all while also pushing a professional scene that is now running three multi-million dollar tournaments a year in a scene of nearly-constant tournaments around the game.

Also, Portal 2 was an incredibly polished, fun game.

They don't make the games you want (or I want, i.e., Half Life), but they clearly are still making games, and games they have made in the last decade are currently #1 and #2 in concurrent players:

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

Also in the last decade: Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2.

Left for Dead is Turtle Rock and published by Valve

I used to be a huge TF2 fan, I've got about 2k hours logged. But I haven't played in a long time, it really needs a breath of fresh air and to bring out TF3. I get that they are still making a killing off in game purchases, but they could do the same thing with a newer version, allowing people to bring items over with a 'vintage' like characterisation.

My main competitive game I play now is overwatch. They took a winning idea, and improved upon it with many more classes than TF2, and took elements from other genres (ie dota and 'ultimates')

So which other decent game distribution platform is out there? Which does support Linux? Which does provide its own OS?

Good Old Games is heading in that direction, though they aren't developing their own platform.

They're just "GOG.com" now, given that the "Old" part is no longer their exclusive focus.

Some of those 360 people were involved in other things, like developing the HTC Vive VR rig, which is nothing to thumb your nose at.

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