“Greenlight is a bad example of an election process. We came to the conclusion pretty quickly that we could just do away with Greenlight completely, because it was a bottleneck rather than a way for people to communicate choice.” PeopleWayChoicesProcessExampleElectionCommunicateConclusionBottlenecksElection Process Author:Gabe Newell
“What's the right way to think about the distribution part of Steam? You need to worry about viruses and people trying to publish other people's content, but the underlying thing is to eliminate that barrier between people who create stuff and people who want to have access to it.” PeopleThinkingWayWantNeedsTryingStuffWorryAccessBarriersRight WayDistributionPublishVirusesSteam Author:Gabe Newell
“A lot of times I make people better by getting stupid, distracting, bureaucratic stuff off their desk. That's an incredibly easy way to make a senior person more productive.” PeopleWayPersonsEasyStuffStupidProductiveDesksSeniorEasy Way Author:Gabe Newell
“If you look at the requirements for just one piece, like art, from one generation of games to the next, it will change radically. You need people who are adaptable because the thing that makes you the best in the world in one generation of games is going to be totally useless in the next.” PeopleIfsWorldNeedsLooksArtNextGamesPiecesGenerationsUselessJust OneRequirementsOne PieceAdaptable Author:Gabe Newell
“About half the people at Valve have run their own companies, so they always have the option not just to take a job at another game company, but to go start their own company. The question you always have to answer is, 'How are we making these people more valuable than they would be elsewhere?'” PeopleWould BeRunningJobsGamesAnswersHalfCompanyValuableElsewhereValve Author:Gabe Newell
“I have no direct knowledge of this, but I suspect that Apple will launch a living room product that redefines people's expectations really strongly, and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear concurrent with Apple's announcement.” PeopleRoomsProductsExpectationsDirectNotionDisappearApplesSuspectsPlatformsLiving RoomConsoleAnnouncements Author:Gabe Newell
“People who are constantly looking for the opportunity to do something new are also people who are not going to be helped by having job titles - job titles create expectations of specialization and focus which don't map really well to creating the best possible experience for your customers.” PeopleWellsJobsOpportunityFocusCreatingExpectationsCustomersTitlesMapsSomething NewSpecializationJob Titles Author:Gabe Newell
“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don't realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior. We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well.” PeopleWantWellsProblemBigsRunningGamesEasyRealizingBehaviorCriticalDrivingConsumersSteamBig ProblemsLinuxPurchasingHolding Back Author:Gabe Newell
“The Internet is changing what entertainment and sports is. It's not just a few people authoring an experience for others. It's really growing out of what everybody does.” PeopleDoeSportsGrowingInternetEntertainment Author:Gabe Newell
“The PC is successful because we're all benefiting from the competition with each other. If Twitter comes along, our games benefit. If Nvidia makes better graphics technology, all the games are going to shine. If we come out with a better game, people are going to buy more PCs.” PeopleIfsGamesTechnologySuccessfulBenefitsCompetitionShining Author:Gabe Newell
“Computing lets people express their creativity and unlock solutions, and code is computing's universal language. All young people, including girls, deserve to be fluent in the language of the future.” PeopleYoungGirlLanguageCreativitySolutionsDeserveUniversalIncludingCodeComputingUniversal LanguageFluent Author:Gabe Newell
“I think it's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a do over. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'.” PeopleThinkingShouldTryingWantedLostClearLateSorryTrackCustomersDisasterHorribleSellingConvinceStop TryingDevelopersSony Author:Gabe Newell
“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.” PeopleWayGivingTechnologyWorking ItReceivingPiratePiracy Author:Gabe Newell
“I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.” PeopleIfsThinkingBe GoodBunchDestroyedAlternativesMargins Author:Gabe Newell
“The internet is super smart. If you do something that is cool, that's actually worth people's time, then they'll adopt it. If you do something that's not cool and sucks, you can spend as many marketing dollars as you want, [they] just won't” PeopleIfsWantInternetSmartDollarsMarketingSuper Smart Author:Gabe Newell
“Most people who end up being successful have good grades, but it's orthogonal - there's no extra information than if they put together a website and have bunch of fans who love coming and seeing what they're doing.” PeopleIfsEndsTogetherSuccessfulSeeingFansInformationBunchExtrasGradesBeing SuccessfulWebsiteGood Grades Author:Gabe Newell
“If you look at a multi-player game, it's the people who are playing the game who are often more valuable than all of the animations and models and game logic that's associated with it.” PeopleIfsLooksGamesPlayerModelsLogicValuableAnimation Author:Gabe Newell
“Traditional credentialing really doesn't have a lot of predictive value to if people will be successful.” PeopleIfsValuesSuccessfulTraditionalBeing Successful Author:Gabe Newell
“I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people.” PeopleThinkingLosesSpaceWindowBunchDestroyedCatastropheMarginsExit Author:Gabe Newell
