Joystiq reported that people at Valve got fired. Normally this does not qualify as "on fire" for any other company, but according to Valve's handbook for new employees "Nobody has ever been fired at Valve for making a mistake." Apparently, the affected staff were part of the Android department and the hardware department.
i dunno- maybe they didn't make a mistake, and instead their services were no longer required? maybe they're transitioning from a r&d state to a production state? or maybe those who were fired weren't in line with where the company's headed? i think it's fairly sensationalist to say 'valve is on fire.' people get fired from apple, blizzard, microsoft, and (insert profitable and successful tech company here) all the time. i know we're used to only sunshine and butterflies coming off the newswire regarding valve- but shit happens. ambitions flare, relations sour, and professional dynamics change. so it goes.
But if you're ramping up to release some sort of hardware, and you have engineers/developers working on other hardware that you are no longer developing for, why not just reallocate that talent to the new project instead of laying them off?
It sucks for those who have been fired, but as for Valve, this is their first major stumbling block I've heard of in recent memory. Any company like theirs is bound to run into hiccups now and again. I'm sure that's all that this is. Now hopefully those workers can get picked up rapidly elsewhere.
A bunch of hardware people were let go right before a hardware launch. This is kind of a big deal.
I was under the impression that they were still a long way out from actually launching hardware.
they are. like all things valve, there is no timeline. they've made some broad strokes in announcing initiatives, but in terms of hardware in the public's hands...that'll most likely be a good while.
and as far as letting hardware people go- if i were to speculate, my guess is they've struck up some relationships with others in the field (that's apparently the primary reason for gabe going to CES '13). perhaps they're choosing to rely on others' expertise as opposed to keeping it entirely in-house. if that's the case, of course you'd let the people you hired on for that purpose go.
I think some of the posts in here are getting way too speculative and I think the opening post here is over-reacting. Valve seem far from on fire, I seriously doubt any of these people were laid off for making "a mistake", these people aren't really from the most vital part of Valve, and this laying off doesn't seem out of line with Newell's general philosophy on this kind of thing. I feel somewhat sorry for the people who ended up out of a job, but I'm sure they'll get snapped up in no time by other employers.
Sounds like Valve took a look at Android, said forget it, and moved on to something else.
Most of the people let go were working on specifically the controller they were developing for the official steam box. The Steam box is going to have an android base to it was my understanding.
Mostly, it's unsettling because Valve has typically been good about repurposing people when they cancel projects or transition from one project to the next. For them to actively let go of people is rather strange. Plus, there are all the rumours about shifts in strategy and all that stuff. Of course, Valve is also known for playing things close to the vest in the first place, so it's entirely possible that whatever project got canned that was big enough to not be able to re-integrate its staff was never revealed in the first place.
Either way, it sucks for those let go, and it's the last thing an industry coping with many, many people losing jobs wanted to hear this year. Best of luck to all affected.
Sounds like Valve took a look at Android, said forget it, and moved on to something else.
Most of the people let go were working on specifically the controller they were developing for the official steam box. The Steam box is going to have an android base to it was my understanding.
They were actually looking at Linux, but that's what android is based off of.
This is fucking bullshit. The guy in charge of making the "Meet The..." TF2 videos should have a job at Valve for life. Even if that job consisted solely of defecating on Gabe's desk every morning.
Probably because they haven't made a real game in like 6 years. I know, Portal 2 was released, but that's such a lite game. It's just a little puzzle game after all. Valve needs to get it's head out of it's own ass and be a developer again, not just a damn marketplace for other developers to publish their games on.
Honesty it kind of just sounds like they are trimming some fat. No reason to keep employees that as a company you no longer need.
If they are no longer needed, but steambox is still going to be a thing they make going forward, it could mean that some larger original device manufacturers were willing to make appropriate hardware but had no interest in competing with Valve. Setting up a high volume supply chain is a lot of work, so partnerships with an ODM (asus, foxconn, w/e) who already have substantial bases of manufacturing makes way more sense. Valve is probably not close to large enough to handle a console style launch.
Valve just really "gets" where the gaming industry is going. Brainlessly selling AAA franchises over and over again at 60$ is not where this is going ... There won't be any Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 18 or any NHL 2023 imo.
25:56 - "You have to be really aggressive about firing people."
Well fuck, this is worrying. Seems like all the money or the hollywood cocaine-heads have finally gotten to old Gabe Newell.
Quick hint: You don´t run a creative endeavor by ruling it with an iron fist.
Is it worrying? If you listened to the sections around 25:56, he said that "aggressive firing" mostly applied to interns and new hires. Their corporate structure is odd and somewhat like Google, in that you get time to just take initiative and work on a project of your choice. This is alien to people who are used to being bossed around at every job ever, and some people just don't adapt to that level of freedom and self-direction. If they're just not going to integrate into the way the company operates, it's better to fire them early than to keep them on staff for years.
From the sounds of it, I highly doubt it's a big "YOU FUCKED UP YOUR FIRED" situation, but more of a "Hey, look man, this setup isn't working for you, and I don't want to waste your time. We'll let you go, but give you a recommendation if you need one." Out of context that quote makes him sound like a tyrant, but I really don't think anybody is ruling Valve with an iron fist.
25:56 - "You have to be really aggressive about firing people."
Well fuck, this is worrying. Seems like all the money or the hollywood cocaine-heads have finally gotten to old Gabe Newell.
Quick hint: You don´t run a creative endeavor by ruling it with an iron fist.
Is it worrying? If you listened to the sections around 25:56, he said that "aggressive firing" mostly applied to interns and new hires. Their corporate structure is odd and somewhat like Google, in that you get time to just take initiative and work on a project of your choice. This is alien to people who are used to being bossed around at every job ever, and some people just don't adapt to that level of freedom and self-direction. If they're just not going to integrate into the way the company operates, it's better to fire them early than to keep them on staff for years.
From the sounds of it, I highly doubt it's a big "YOU FUCKED UP YOUR FIRED" situation, but more of a "Hey, look man, this setup isn't working for you, and I don't want to waste your time. We'll let you go, but give you a recommendation if you need one." Out of context that quote makes him sound like a tyrant, but I really don't think anybody is ruling Valve with an iron fist.
I think many of the people that were let go are gonna be fine. And the reason they were let go really doesn't matter. Companies layoff people for a bunch of reasons. It happens.
That said, I'm sure having Valve on your resume along with stuff like Portal and Half-Life is pretty good. I'd assume anyway. That said, best of luck to the people that were laid off.
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