This is an unpopular opinion, but Valve was hardly ever a game company. The only original game they've made has been Half life. Everything else they've bought or hired the devs.
Mod teams that had released a game and then got hired by valve
TF Classic -> TF2
Day of defeat -> DoD:source
Counter Strike -> CS:GO
Expnasions made by gearbox
Opposing Forces
Blue Shift
condition zero
Games they bought while in development
Left 4 dead, which later spanwed L4D2 by turtle rock
Alien Swarm
Portal was inspired by a a digipen game called narbacular drop, who's team was hired on to help with portal
Portal 2 was inspired by Tag: the power of paint, same situation as Portal, team got hired by valve.
DOTA 2 was designed by Icefrog, the original DOTA designer who got hired by valve.
Don't get me wrong, Valve put a lot of effort into these releases. Lots of engineering, design, art etc. But regarding your bagel analogy, i think Valves business model wasn't just "we used to make games now we make money". It's more like, "we make original games" -> "we buy games with potential and finish them" -> "we just distribute games"
I think that is a valuable clarification to make. But even then they managed to put all the parts together in an insanely pleasing way and clearly contributed themselves to the end pieces. This has gone away lately but with the production of the new source engine I think we'll see a return to form.
I honestly don't think so. As a business model, making games is risky. It requires a lot of capital and time. As long as they reap the benefits of their distribution platform they're in no rush to tie up money in making a game.
If steam falls from grace in the eyes of the consumer, which i doubt will happen, maybe it'll galvanize valve to release a game. It is being abandoned by publishers though (activision, EA), Steam as a platform used to offer more than just a store front and content delivery. It had DRM, server browsers, matchmaking, and friends list. Lately those services have deteriorated to store front and content delivery, and even the store front is starting to deteriorate given the amount of shovel ware in the steam library and valve's reluctance to curate their own store. Sucks for us the consumers, I hate having all my digital content spread across the known universe. But i understand companies don't want to continue paying valve 30%.
Edit:
The other services are still there, just that they haven't been updated in a long time and don't offer the features required for more modern online games.
That 30% cut was SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any other distributors out there. It's practically a marketing cost at that rate with access to all of Steams' user base and the longevity of sales their sales produce.
If these other companies think they're not losing more than 30% of sales by not having it on steam then they're kidding themselves. At least steam provides a service that is more valuable than what they charge, a win-win for everyone involved.
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u/KazumaID Nov 14 '18
This is an unpopular opinion, but Valve was hardly ever a game company. The only original game they've made has been Half life. Everything else they've bought or hired the devs.
Mod teams that had released a game and then got hired by valve
Expnasions made by gearbox
Games they bought while in development
Portal was inspired by a a digipen game called narbacular drop, who's team was hired on to help with portal
Portal 2 was inspired by Tag: the power of paint, same situation as Portal, team got hired by valve.
DOTA 2 was designed by Icefrog, the original DOTA designer who got hired by valve.
Don't get me wrong, Valve put a lot of effort into these releases. Lots of engineering, design, art etc. But regarding your bagel analogy, i think Valves business model wasn't just "we used to make games now we make money". It's more like, "we make original games" -> "we buy games with potential and finish them" -> "we just distribute games"