> keep in mind that he is literally the only one who talks about the company that way from everyone whose ever worked there (many, many have left for various reasons since).

That's not true.

There's been lots of criticism coming at Valve's management style over the years: There are many people who _hate_ it, but also many people who love it. It really depends on the type of person you are. If you really really dislike bureaucracy Valve's a great place to be, but also don't expect them to enact any quality-of-life systems: If your coworker wants you dead, then that's something you yourself have to deal with.

This is also why you see a lot of different opinions when looking through e.g. glassdoor: Some people that do the murdering love it there and thrive, but that system only works if people are there that can be murdered. Some people I know have described the atmosphere as "prison yard style": You trade rigid bureaucracy against a "you have to know who you have to know" bureaucracy. Richard Geldreich's account lines up pretty well to what I have heard about valve's emergent self-organization system.

A couple of years ago there was a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41XgkLKYuic that summarized the working environment.

“I also can't help but not overlook that he's an UFO nut.”

Well, that’s your personal opinion but I’m not sure how his thoughts on UFOs discredits his view of the work culture at Valve. One can have metaphysical and spiritual beliefs and be an extraordinary scientist as well for example.

Many have left Valve but usually people in the relatively constrained game dev industry tend to be conservative in voicing their opinions if only for their future careers prospects.

Or, because he's a UFO nut he's willing to call out things that seem crazy when it's socially unacceptable to do so

Nah, many people spoke out about ruthless insider politic cliques and how they were at a mercy of invisible forces with "totally democratic" decisions about their work being made for them.

I've heard/read such reports about valve from various other people, including friends I trust saying so privately. He is an outlier in how vehement his criticism is but is hardly the only one that throws that criticism at Valve (keep in mind workers face massive disincentives to do so publicly).

> he is literally the only one who talks about the company that way from everyone whose ever worked there

false. wrong, wrong, wrong.

he's the only one you know about, is all. he's not even the only one that has spoken publicly about it.

Well I have several friends who have worked there and no one has had anything positive to say about the culture.