Как пишется valve

Valve Corporation

The lobby of Valve’s former offices in Bellevue, Washington
Formerly	Valve, LLC (1996–2003)
Type	Private
Industry	Video games Digital distribution
Founded	August 24, 1996; 26 years ago in Kirkland, Washington, US
Founders	Gabe Newell Mike Harrington
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington , US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Gabe Newell (president) Scott Lynch (COO)
Products	Video games Counter-Strike Day of Defeat Dota Half-Life Left 4 Dead Portal Team Fortress Hardware HTC Vive Steam Controller Steam Deck Steam Link Steam Machine Valve Index Software GoldSrc Proton Source Source 2 Source Filmmaker Steam SteamOS Valve Anti-Cheat VOGL
Total equity	US$10 billion[1] (2019)
Owner	Gabe Newell (>50%)[2]
Number of employees	~360[3] (2016)
Subsidiaries	Valve S.a.r.l. Valve GmbH[4] Campo Santo
Website	valvesoftware.com

Valve Corporation^[a] is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota.

Valve was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Their debut game, the first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life (1998), was a critical and commercial success; with its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence on the FPS genre. Harrington left in 2000. In 2003, Valve launched Steam, followed by Half-Life 2 in 2004. With advanced physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim and sold 12 million copies by 2011. In 2006, Valve released the episodic sequel Half-Life 2: Episode One, followed in 2007 by Episode Two, the multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 and the puzzle game Portal. Portal 2 was released in 2011. In 2013, Valve released the multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2.

Valve released fewer games in the 2010s and experimented with hardware and virtual reality (VR). They entered the hardware market in 2015 with the Steam Machine, a line of gaming computers, which sold poorly, and released the HTC Vive and Valve Index VR headsets. They returned to the Half-Life series in 2020 with Half-Life: Alyx, their flagship VR game. In 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck, a portable gaming system.

Valve uses a flat structure, whereby employees decide what to work on themselves. They develop games through playtesting and iteration, describing game design as a kind of experimental psychology. By 2012, Valve employed around 250 people and was reportedly worth over US$3 billion. Most of Valve’s revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50 to 70% of the market for downloaded PC games in 2011 and generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017.

History

Founding and Half-Life (1996–2003)

Valve was founded as Valve, LLC, in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington.^[5] Newell had spent the prior 13 years at Microsoft developing Windows,^[5] including the Windows 95 port of Doom.^[6] Wanting to move onto a new venture using their shared wealth, Newell and Harrington founded Valve, L.L.C.^[7] in Kirkland, Washington (about five miles from the Microsoft campus in Redmond), on August 24, 1996, Newell’s wedding day.^{[8][9][5][10]} Alternative names considered by Newell and Harrington include Fruitfly Ensemble and Rhino Scar.^[11]

Valve’s first game was Half-Life, a first-person shooter (FPS) with elements of horror.^[12] The development was aided by access to the Quake engine by id Software; Valve modified this engine into their GoldSrc engine.^[5] After struggling to find a publisher, Valve eventually signed with Sierra On-Line.^[5] Half-Life was released in November 1998^[13] and was a critical and commercial success.^[14][15][16] With its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence; according to IGN in 2014, the history of the FPS genre «breaks down pretty cleanly into pre-Half-Life and post-Half-Life eras».^[17]

Valve enlisted Gearbox Software to develop three expansions for Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift (2001) and Decay (2001).^[5][18] In 1998, Valve acquired TF Software, a group that had made the popular Team Fortress mod for Quake, and remade it for GoldSrc as Team Fortress Classic in 1999.^[19] Valve released the software development kit (SDK) for the GoldSrc engine, facilitating numerous user-created mods. They acquired the developers of one popular mod, Counter-Strike, to create a standalone Counter-Strike game.^[5] Happy with Valve’s success, Harrington left in 2000.^[20]

Source, Steam, and Half-Life 2 (2003–2010)

In 2003, Valve moved to Bellevue, Washington, and reincorporated as Valve Corporation.^[5] In 2010, the office moved to a larger location in Bellevue. In 2016, Valve signed a nine-floor lease in the Lincoln Square complex in downtown Bellevue, doubling the size of their offices.^[21]

Valve began developing Half-Life 2 six months after the release of the first Half-Life, using its new in-house engine, Source.^[20] With advanced physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, it received critical acclaim upon its release in 2004; by 2011, it had sold 12 million copies.^[22] In 2002, Valve launched Steam, a digital storefront and delivery platform.^[23][24] Steam initially offered only Valve games, and was mandatory to install Half-Life 2, but became a publisher of third-party games.^[25] As Valve became its own publisher via Steam, it transitioned to a flat organization; outside of executive management, Valve does not have bosses, and the company uses an open allocation system, allowing employees to move between departments at will.^[26][27]

After having taken years to develop Half-Life 2, Valve moved to episodic development, planning to release shorter games more frequently. Half-Life 2: Episode One, the first in a planned trilogy of episodic Half-Life 2 sequels, was released in 2006.^[28] Episode Two followed in 2007, alongside the multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 and the puzzle game Portal, developed from the student project Narbacular Drop.^[29]

In January 2008, Valve announced the acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios,^[30] which was renamed Valve South.^[31] Turtle Rock developed Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 while associated with Valve. Turtle Rock Studios later spun out of Valve again in March 2010.^[32]

Forbes estimated that Valve had grossed $70 million in 2005.^[33] Screen Digest analyst Ed Barton estimated Valve’s 2010 revenue to be in the «high hundreds of millions of dollars».^[21] As of 2011, Valve had an estimated worth of $2 to 4 billion and employed 250 people; according to Newell, this made it more profitable per employee than Google or Apple. Most of Valve’s revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50 to 70% of the market for downloaded PC games in 2011.^[33]

Transition to services (2010–2014)

In 2010, Valve hired IceFrog, the developer of Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod. IceFrog led the development of a sequel not associated with the Warcraft elements, Dota 2, released in 2013.^[34] Alongside Dota 2 in 2011, Valve started The International, an annual eSports tournament for Dota 2 with a prize pool supported by Valve and funds from microtransactions from battle passes purchased by players.^[35] Valve released Portal 2 in April 2011.^[36] As with the original Portal, Valve employed a Digipen student team to help develop it; the team behind Tag: The Power of Paint implemented the new gel gameplay.^[37]

In December 2012, Valve acquired Star Filled Studios, a two-person studio, to open a San Francisco office.^[38] Valve ended the operation in August 2013 when they decided it had little benefit.^[39] At the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit, Newell announced that he and film director J. J. Abrams were collaborating to produce a Half-Life or Portal film, as well as a possible game.^[40]

Valve released fewer games in the 2010s. Instead, it explored hardware. Newell intended to make Valve more like Nintendo, which develops games in tandem with hardware, allowing them to create innovative games such as Super Mario 64.^[41] Valve initially focused on augmented reality, but in 2013 Newell laid off many staff to focus on virtual reality (VR).^[41] In 2015, Valve released the Steam Machine, a line of gaming computers, which sold poorly.^[41]

Media commentators speculated that Valve’s transition to service provider with Steam, which generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017, had driven it away from game development.^[42] Valve cancelled games including numerous Half-Life projects (including Episode Three), Left 4 Dead 3, a Soulslike game, and a voxel-based game, A.R.T.I. Additional VR projects included SimTrek, developed by members of Kerbal Space Program, as well as a new VR device, Vader, that was determined to be too costly for consumers.^[43][44] According to designer Robin Walker, the abundance of projects that failed to gain traction, with no shared vision, damaged morale.^[41] Many players grew frustrated in anticipation of a new Half-Life game.^[45]

Source 2, virtual reality and Half-Life: Alyx (2015–present)

Valve announced the Source 2 engine in March 2015 and ported Dota 2 to it that September.^[46][47] That year, Valve collaborated with the electronics company HTC to develop the HTC Vive, a VR headset released in 2016.^[48] Valve experimented with VR games, and in 2016 released The Lab, a collection of VR minigames.^[49]

Valve recognized that many players wanted a more ambitious VR AAA game, and began exploring the development of a major VR game.^[49] They developed several prototypes, with three further VR projects under development by 2017.^[50][51] Finding that the portal systems of their puzzle series Portal were disorienting in VR, they settled on Half-Life.^[48] Walker said that Half-Life 3 had been a «terrifyingly daunting prospect», and the team saw VR as a way to return to the series.^[48]

Full development of a VR Half-Life game started around late 2016, with the largest team in Valve’s history.^[52][53] Valve bought Impulsonic, a developer of 3D audio software, in January 2017 and integrated it into its Bellevue offices.^[54] In April 2018, Valve acquired the independent developer Campo Santo, known for the 2016 adventure game Firewatch. Campo Santo planned to develop its own games under Valve, though they initially helped develop Half-Life: Alyx.^[55][56]

In November 2018, Valve released Artifact, a digital collectible card game based on Dota 2, with design by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering. Artifact had unusual pay-for mechanics to acquire new cards, and did not draw a large playerbase, losing 95% of players months after release.^[57] In April 2021, Valve abandoned efforts to reboot the project, saying they had not found enough interested players to justify development.^[58] In June 2019, Valve released its second-generation VR hardware, the Valve Index.^[59] In the same month, Valve released Dota Underlords into early access, an auto battler based on a Dota 2 community-created mode Dota Auto Chess.^[60]

In March 2020, Valve released Half-Life: Alyx, a VR game.^[61] It received acclaim^[62] and was described as VR’s first killer app.^{[63][64][65][66]} Newell said in January 2021 that the success of Alyx created desire within the company to develop more games, and that several were under development.^[67] Valve collaborated with Netflix for Dota: Dragon’s Blood, an animated television series based on Dota, to premiere in March 2021.^[68] In February 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck, a portable game system that runs on SteamOS.^[69]

Structure

Initially, Valve used a hierarchical structure more typical of other development firms, driven by the nature of physical game releases through publishers that required tasks to be completed by deadlines.^[70] However, as Valve became its own publisher via Steam, it found the hierarchal structure was hindering progress.^[52]

After completing Half-Life 2, Valve transitioned to a flat organization; outside of executive management, Valve does not have bosses, and uses an open allocation system.^[71][72] Valve’s marketing manager, Doug Lombardi, said: «Nobody writes a design doc and hands it to somebody and says, ‘you go build this’. It’s the teams that are coming up with the ideas and pushing in the directions that they want to take the product.»^[73] This approach allows employees to work on whatever interests them but requires them to take ownership of their product and mistakes they may make, according to Newell. Newell recognized that this structure works well for some but that «there are plenty of great developers for whom this is a terrible place to work».^[70]

Although Valve has no bosses, some employees hold more influence due to seniority or relationships. De facto project leads became «centralized conduits» for organization and sharing information, and decisions are made collectively. Valve uses an «Overwatch» process to gather feedback from senior members, which teams may use or ignore.^[41]

The lack of organization structure has led to project cancellations, as it can be difficult to convince other employees to work on them.^[74][75][76] In 2020, Valve acknowledged that its structure had made it difficult to gather momentum, slowing their output during the 2010s.^[77] Their VR projects and Half-Life: Alyx became a turning point, setting short-term studio-wide goals to focus the company. According to Walker, «We sort of had to collectively admit we were wrong on the premise that you will be happiest if you work on something you personally want to work on the most.»^[52]

Valve time

«Valve Time» redirects here. For timing of the opening and closing of valves, see Valve timing.

Valve time is an industry term used jokingly with game releases from Valve, used to acknowledge the difference between the «promised» date for released content stated by Valve and to the «actual» release date; «Valve Time» includes delays but also includes some content that was released earlier than expected. Valve itself has fully acknowledged the term, including tracking known discrepancies between ideal and actual releases on their public development wiki^[78] and using it in announcements about such delays.^[79][80] Valve ascribes delays to their mentality of team-driven initiatives over corporate deadlines.^[81]

Playtesting

Valve playtests its games extensively, starting from the beginning of development,^[82] and iterates based on the results.^[41] Its website states: «We believe that all game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists.»^[41] The Valve writer Chet Faliszek said he initially blamed testers when they failed to engage with designs as expected, but changed his mind when multiple testers had the same problem: «By the third or fourth time, all of a sudden you’re realizing, ‘I’m an idiot. This is pretty obvious this doesn’t work. It’s not their fault, it’s our fault.'»^[82] He gave an example from the development of Left 4 Dead, wherein a texture change caused every tester to miss a ladder and become stuck.^[82]

Products

Games

Valve is the main developer and publisher of the single-player Half-Life and Portal games and the multiplayer games Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Day of Defeat, and Artifact. Valve also published the multiplayer game Left 4 Dead and developed and published Left 4 Dead 2. Unreleased and canceled Valve games include the fantasy role-playing game Prospero and numerous Half-Life projects, including Episode Three.^[83] Valve worked with Arkane Studios on The Crossing, which was canceled in May 2009.^[84]

Steam

Valve announced Steam, its digital distribution service, at the 2002 Game Developers Conference.^[85][86] It was launched in September 2003 and was first used to deliver patches and other updates to Valve’s online games.^[87][88]

On August 1, 2012, Valve announced revisions to the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA) to prohibit class action lawsuits by users against the service provider.^[89][90] By July 2014, there were over 3,400 games available on Steam, with over 150 million registered accounts by January 2018.^[91][92]

Alongside these changes to the SSA, the company also declared publicly the incorporation of Valve S.a.r.l., a subsidiary based in Luxembourg.^[89][90] Valve set up a physical office in Luxembourg Kirchberg. According to Valve’s project manager Mike Dunkle, the location was chosen for eCommerce capabilities and infrastructure, talent acquisition, tax advantages and central geographic location – most major partners are accessible, 50% within driving distance.^[93]

Valve S.a.r.l. was used to sell games to UK users to avoid paying the full 20% value-added tax (VAT).^[94] The tax loophole was expected to close on January 1, 2015.^[95] In December 2015, the French consumer group UFC Que Choisir initiated a lawsuit against Valve for several of their Steam policies that conflict or run afoul of French law. One of the reasons was for using the tax loophole.^[96] Valve S.a.r.l. ceased business on January 1, 2017, with the main company taking over EU sales again.^[97] In August 2017, Valve announced that Steam had reached over 67 million monthly and 33 million daily active users on the platform.^[98]

Steam Machine

Newell has been critical of the direction that Microsoft has taken with making Windows a closed architecture similar to Apple’s products, and has stated that he believes that the changes made in Windows 8 are «a catastrophe for everyone in the [personal computer] space».^[99] Newell identified the open-source Linux platform as an ideal platform for Steam and said the only thing holding back its adoption is the lack of games.^[99]

In 2012, Valve announced that they were working on a console/PC hybrid for the living room, dubbed by media as the «Steam Box».^[100][101] A precursor to such a unit is SteamOS, a freely available Linux-based operating system that builds upon the Steam client functionality that includes media services, live streaming across home networks, game sharing within families, and parental controls. SteamOS was officially announced in September 2013 as the first of several announcements related to the Steam Machine platform^[102] as well as their unique game controller.^[8] In May 2014, Valve announced that the company’s own SteamOS-powered Steam Machine would be delayed until 2015 due to problems with the game controller.^[103] In 2015, Alienware, ZOTAC, and CyberPowerPC launched their versions of the Steam Machine. By June 2016, fewer than half a million had been sold.^[104] While the Steam Machine line has been effectively canceled, Valve continued to manufacture and sell Steam Controllers until late November 2019,^[105] and publishes both mobile apps and software for the Steam Link, allowing in-home streaming.

Steam Deck

Announced in July 2021, the Steam Deck is a hybrid game console similar to the Nintendo Switch. It is primarily a handheld device that supports playing of Steam games, but through a separate dock unit, the console can output to an external monitor and use external power, networking, and USB accessories connected to the dock. The hardware is based on customized AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2 chipsets. The unit started shipping in February 2022.^[106]

Virtual reality

At the Game Developers Conference in March 2015, Valve and Taiwanese electronics company HTC unveiled SteamVR and the HTC Vive—a virtual reality platform and a virtual reality headset. The platform would be distinguished by its «Lighthouse» motion tracking system, where sensors on the headset and its included motion controllers read the position of two base station devices mounted in the play area. This would allow for «room-scale» VR experiences, where the player would not be required to remain in a stationary position in front of a camera and would be able to freely walk around the space.^[107][108]

In November 2017, Microsoft added beta support for the SteamVR service for Windows Mixed Reality headsets.^[109][110] In June 2019, Valve released their own VR headset, known as the Index, positioned as a higher-end device with wider field of view and higher refresh rate. They were accompanied by updated motion controllers, which are strapped against the user’s palms and have sensors for detecting input pressure and individual fingers.^{[111][112][113]}

Other projects

PowerPlay

PowerPlay was a technological initiative headed by Valve and Cisco Systems to decrease the latency for online games, announced in January 2000.^[114] It was described as a set of protocols and deployment standards at the router level to improve performance. It was claimed that a player with 1000 ms ping was able to play against another player on a LAN connection with no noticeable disadvantage.^[115] Initially the protocol was to be released with PowerPlay 1.0 focusing on quality of service (QoS) and later a revision, PowerPlay 2.0 that would focus on functionality. Cisco and Valve intended to deliver a single dial-up service in Q1 2000 in the United States with a 30-day free trial with a bundled copy of Team Fortress modified to support PowerPlay.^[116]

The standard was to involve purchasing PowerPlay approved Cisco hardware and infrastructure that had adequate bandwidth and QoS standards that prioritize PowerPlay gaming packets at all others’ expense. Newell conceded that Internet service providers (ISPs) would bear the brunt of this expense: «The ISPs are going to need to spend a fair amount of money to be compliant with PowerPlay. But how they get that back is up to them. Some will have a tiered service, and some will just try to recoup their investment through reduced customer churn and customer acquisition.»^[117] Despite never deploying the dial-up plan featuring PowerPlay 1.0, Valve announced in January 2001 that the standard had indeed been finalized.^[115] 12 months after its announcement, PowerPlay was abandoned.^{[citation needed]}

Pipeline

In July 2013, Valve announced Pipeline, an intern project consisting of ten high school students working together to learn how to create video game content.^[118] Pipeline serves to discuss and answer questions that teenagers often ask about the video game industry,^[119] and see if it is possible to train a group of teenagers with minimal work experience to work for a company like Valve.^[119] The latter purpose breaks Valve’s tradition of employing experienced developers, as the company is not good at «teaching people straight out of school».^[119]

Legal disputes

Valve Corporation v. Vivendi Universal Games

Between 2002 and 2005, Valve was involved in a complex legal dispute with its publisher, Vivendi Universal Games (under Vivendi’s brand Sierra Entertainment). Valve had entered into a publishing agreement with Sierra to release Half-Life and subsequent games in 1997, with the contract giving Sierra some intellectual property (IP) rights to Valve’s games. After Valve began development of Half-Life 2, it agreed a new contract with Sierra in 2001, removing these rights from Sierra and giving Valve some rights for digital distribution.^[120] Internally, Valve started work on Steam as a means to digitally distribute these games, and first revealed this project at the March 2002 Game Developers Conference.^[120]

By August 2002, Valve had found that Sierra was distributing copies of their games to Internet cafes against the terms of their contracts and filed a lawsuit against Sierra and Vivendi. In addition to claims of copyright infringement, Valve asserted that Sierra breached contract by withholding royalties and delaying the release of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero until after the holiday season. Vivendi and Sierra countersued, stating that Valve had misrepresented their position in the revised 2001 contract since they had been working on Steam at that point as a means to circumvent the publishing agreement. Vivendi sought intellectual property rights to Half-Life and a ruling preventing Valve from using Steam to distribute Half-Life 2.^[120]

On November 29, 2004, Judge Thomas Samuel Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled in favor of Valve. The ruling stated that Vivendi Universal and its affiliates (including Sierra) were not authorized to distribute Valve games, either directly or indirectly, through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties’ publishing agreement. In addition, Judge Zilly ruled that Valve could recover copyright damages for infringements without regard to the publishing agreement’s limitation of liability clause.^[121] Valve posted on the Steam website that the companies had come to a settlement in court on April 29, 2005.^[122] Electronic Arts announced on July 18, 2005, that they would partner with Valve in a multi-year deal to distribute their games, replacing Vivendi Universal.^[123] As a result of the trial, the arbitrator also awarded Valve $2,391,932.^{[citation needed]}

Valve Corporation v. Activision Blizzard

In April 2009, Valve sued Activision Blizzard, which acquired Sierra Entertainment after a merger with its parent company, Vivendi Universal Games. Activision had allegedly refused to honor the Valve v. Vivendi arbitration agreement. Activision had only paid Valve $1,967,796 of the $2,391,932 award, refusing to pay the remaining $424,136, claiming it had overpaid that sum in the past years.^[124][125]

Dota intellectual property ownership

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was a landmark mod first released in 2003 that created the basis of the genre of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). It was originally developed by Kyle Sommer (who goes by the alias Eul) within Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos via its world editor, and spawned several similar efforts, notably DotA-Allstars. While there had been several that contributed to DotA-Allstars, the project was managed primarily by Steve «Guinsoo» Feak, and later by «IceFrog». IceFrog was eventually hired by Valve in 2009, with the rights to the DotA intellectual property being sold to Valve the following year. Eul was also hired into Valve by 2010.^[126] Valve then subsequently filed trademarks towards a sequel to DotA, titled Dota 2. DotA-Allstars, LLC, a group of former contributors to the DotA-Allstars project, filed an opposing trademark in August 2010 to contest Valve’s claim it owned the property rights.^[127]

DotA-Allstars, LLC was eventually acquired by Blizzard to start development of Blizzard All-Stars. Blizzard took over the trademark challenge. The United States Patent & Trademark Office initially ruled in Valve’s favor. By this point, Riot Games had hired Guinsoo to help develop their own MOBA, League of Legends. As with IceFrog, Feak transferred his rights to the Dota property to Riot, who in turn sold those to Blizzard. Blizzard filed a lawsuit against Valve to challenge Valve’s ownership, pitting the rights assigned through IceFrog to Guinsoo at odds.^[128] The case Blizzard Entertainment v. Valve Corporation was settled out of court in May 2012; Valve retained the right to use Dota commercially, while Blizzard reserved the right for fans to use Dota non-commercially.^[129] Blizzard changed the names of its own projects to remove the Dota term, and renamed Blizzard All-Stars as Heroes of the Storm. Valve’s Dota 2 was released in 2013.^[130]

In 2014, mobile developers Lilith and uCool released their games Dota Legends and Heroes Charge, respectively. Both were influenced by Dota and the sequels. In 2017, Valve and Blizzard took joint action against these companies, citing copyright issues related to the Dota names. uCool argued that the Dota games were a collective work and could not be copyrighted by anyone in particular, but the presiding judge, Charles R. Breyer, felt that, due to the trio’s actions as maintainers of the Dota mods, they had a rightful copyright claim to this. Separately, Lilith and uCool argued that Eul had, in a forum post from September 2004, assigned an open-source copyright license to Dota, which would make Valve and Blizzard’s copyright claims void. The case was later heard by a jury.^[126]

ACCC v. Valve Corporation

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it was taking action against Valve in 2014. On March 29, 2016, Valve was found guilty of breaching Australian consumer law because:^[131][132]

• Valve claimed consumers were not entitled to a refund for digitally downloaded games purchased from Valve via the Steam website or Steam Client (in any circumstances);
• Valve had excluded statutory guarantees and/or warranties that goods would be of acceptable quality; and
• Valve had restricted or modified statutory guarantees and/or warranties of acceptable quality.

During the prosecution of this case, Valve implemented a refund policy for Steam purchases, but the case still reviewed Valve’s actions prior to the onset of the lawsuit. The court overseeing the case sided with the ACCC in assigning a A$3 million (about US$2.1 million) fine against Valve in December 2016, as well as requiring Valve to inform Australian consumers of their rights when purchasing games from Steam.^[133] Valve appealed the court’s determination that it «engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading representations about consumer guarantees», as well as seeking to appeal the fine, but the Australian higher courts rejected the appeals in December 2017.^[134] In January 2018, Valve filed for a «special leave» of the court’s decision, appealing to the High Court of Australia.^[135] The High Court dismissed this claim in April 2018, asserting that Valve still was liable under Australian law since it sold products directly to its citizens.^[136]

UFC Que Choisir v. Valve Corporation

Consumer rights group UFC Que Choisir, based in France, filed a lawsuit against Valve in December 2015, claiming users should be able to resell their software.^[137][138] The High Court of Paris ruled in favor of UFC Que Choisir in September 2019, stating that Valve must allow the resale of Steam games. Valve stated it will appeal the decision.^[139]

Skins gambling

Valve was named as a defendant in two lawsuits in June and July 2016 related to third-party gambling sites that use the Steamworks API to allow betting with the virtual currency of cosmetic weapon replacement textures, better known as «skins», from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which through these sites can be converted from or to real-world money. Both suits assert Valve aiding in underaged gambling.^[140] Valve subsequently stated it has no commercial ties with these sites, and that it would demand these sites cease their use of the Steamworks API as they violate the authorized use policies.^[141][142] In October 2016, the Washington State Gambling Commission required Valve to stop the use of virtual skins for gambling on Steam, stating they would face legal repercussions if they failed to co-operate.^[143] On October 17, 2016, Valve sent a letter to the Washington State Gambling Commission stating that they had «no business relationship with such gambling sites», asserting that they come into existence, operate, and go out of existence without their knowledge and consent, adding that they were not aware of any such law that Steam or any of their games were violating.^[144]

Anti-competitive practices

In February 2017, the European Commission began investigating Valve and five other publishers—Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media and ZeniMax Media—for anti-competitive practices, specifically the use of geo-blocking through the Steam storefront and Steam product keys to prevent access to software to citizens of certain countries. Such practices would be against the Digital Single Market initiative by the European Union.^[145] While the other five companies named are in stages of settling with the EU as of August 2019, Valve has stated it plans to fight the charges, asserting that geo-blocking affects less than 3% of its games, and that it had turned off such geo-blocking within the EU in 2015.^[146]

Discrimination lawsuit

In 2016, a former employee filed a suit against Valve alleging poor working conditions and harassment.^[147] The jury ruled in favor of Valve in 2017.^[148]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

Valve Corporation

The lobby of Valve’s former offices in Bellevue, Washington
Formerly	Valve, LLC (1996–2003)
Type	Private
Industry	Video games Digital distribution
Founded	August 24, 1996; 26 years ago in Kirkland, Washington, US
Founders	Gabe Newell Mike Harrington
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington , US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Gabe Newell (president) Scott Lynch (COO)
Products	Video games Counter-Strike Day of Defeat Dota Half-Life Left 4 Dead Portal Team Fortress Hardware HTC Vive Steam Controller Steam Deck Steam Link Steam Machine Valve Index Software GoldSrc Proton Source Source 2 Source Filmmaker Steam SteamOS Valve Anti-Cheat VOGL
Total equity	US$10 billion[1] (2019)
Owner	Gabe Newell (>50%)[2]
Number of employees	~360[3] (2016)
Subsidiaries	Valve S.a.r.l. Valve GmbH[4] Campo Santo
Website	valvesoftware.com

Valve Corporation^[a] is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota.

Valve was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Their debut game, the first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life (1998), was a critical and commercial success; with its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence on the FPS genre. Harrington left in 2000. In 2003, Valve launched Steam, followed by Half-Life 2 in 2004. With advanced physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim and sold 12 million copies by 2011. In 2006, Valve released the episodic sequel Half-Life 2: Episode One, followed in 2007 by Episode Two, the multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 and the puzzle game Portal. Portal 2 was released in 2011. In 2013, Valve released the multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2.

Valve released fewer games in the 2010s and experimented with hardware and virtual reality (VR). They entered the hardware market in 2015 with the Steam Machine, a line of gaming computers, which sold poorly, and released the HTC Vive and Valve Index VR headsets. They returned to the Half-Life series in 2020 with Half-Life: Alyx, their flagship VR game. In 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck, a portable gaming system.

Valve uses a flat structure, whereby employees decide what to work on themselves. They develop games through playtesting and iteration, describing game design as a kind of experimental psychology. By 2012, Valve employed around 250 people and was reportedly worth over US$3 billion. Most of Valve’s revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50 to 70% of the market for downloaded PC games in 2011 and generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017.

History

Founding and Half-Life (1996–2003)

Valve was founded as Valve, LLC, in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington.^[5] Newell had spent the prior 13 years at Microsoft developing Windows,^[5] including the Windows 95 port of Doom.^[6] Wanting to move onto a new venture using their shared wealth, Newell and Harrington founded Valve, L.L.C.^[7] in Kirkland, Washington (about five miles from the Microsoft campus in Redmond), on August 24, 1996, Newell’s wedding day.^{[8][9][5][10]} Alternative names considered by Newell and Harrington include Fruitfly Ensemble and Rhino Scar.^[11]

Valve’s first game was Half-Life, a first-person shooter (FPS) with elements of horror.^[12] The development was aided by access to the Quake engine by id Software; Valve modified this engine into their GoldSrc engine.^[5] After struggling to find a publisher, Valve eventually signed with Sierra On-Line.^[5] Half-Life was released in November 1998^[13] and was a critical and commercial success.^[14][15][16] With its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence; according to IGN in 2014, the history of the FPS genre «breaks down pretty cleanly into pre-Half-Life and post-Half-Life eras».^[17]

Valve enlisted Gearbox Software to develop three expansions for Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift (2001) and Decay (2001).^[5][18] In 1998, Valve acquired TF Software, a group that had made the popular Team Fortress mod for Quake, and remade it for GoldSrc as Team Fortress Classic in 1999.^[19] Valve released the software development kit (SDK) for the GoldSrc engine, facilitating numerous user-created mods. They acquired the developers of one popular mod, Counter-Strike, to create a standalone Counter-Strike game.^[5] Happy with Valve’s success, Harrington left in 2000.^[20]

Source, Steam, and Half-Life 2 (2003–2010)

In 2003, Valve moved to Bellevue, Washington, and reincorporated as Valve Corporation.^[5] In 2010, the office moved to a larger location in Bellevue. In 2016, Valve signed a nine-floor lease in the Lincoln Square complex in downtown Bellevue, doubling the size of their offices.^[21]

Valve began developing Half-Life 2 six months after the release of the first Half-Life, using its new in-house engine, Source.^[20] With advanced physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, it received critical acclaim upon its release in 2004; by 2011, it had sold 12 million copies.^[22] In 2002, Valve launched Steam, a digital storefront and delivery platform.^[23][24] Steam initially offered only Valve games, and was mandatory to install Half-Life 2, but became a publisher of third-party games.^[25] As Valve became its own publisher via Steam, it transitioned to a flat organization; outside of executive management, Valve does not have bosses, and the company uses an open allocation system, allowing employees to move between departments at will.^[26][27]

After having taken years to develop Half-Life 2, Valve moved to episodic development, planning to release shorter games more frequently. Half-Life 2: Episode One, the first in a planned trilogy of episodic Half-Life 2 sequels, was released in 2006.^[28] Episode Two followed in 2007, alongside the multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 and the puzzle game Portal, developed from the student project Narbacular Drop.^[29]

In January 2008, Valve announced the acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios,^[30] which was renamed Valve South.^[31] Turtle Rock developed Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 while associated with Valve. Turtle Rock Studios later spun out of Valve again in March 2010.^[32]

Forbes estimated that Valve had grossed $70 million in 2005.^[33] Screen Digest analyst Ed Barton estimated Valve’s 2010 revenue to be in the «high hundreds of millions of dollars».^[21] As of 2011, Valve had an estimated worth of $2 to 4 billion and employed 250 people; according to Newell, this made it more profitable per employee than Google or Apple. Most of Valve’s revenue comes from Steam, which controlled 50 to 70% of the market for downloaded PC games in 2011.^[33]

Transition to services (2010–2014)

In 2010, Valve hired IceFrog, the developer of Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod. IceFrog led the development of a sequel not associated with the Warcraft elements, Dota 2, released in 2013.^[34] Alongside Dota 2 in 2011, Valve started The International, an annual eSports tournament for Dota 2 with a prize pool supported by Valve and funds from microtransactions from battle passes purchased by players.^[35] Valve released Portal 2 in April 2011.^[36] As with the original Portal, Valve employed a Digipen student team to help develop it; the team behind Tag: The Power of Paint implemented the new gel gameplay.^[37]

In December 2012, Valve acquired Star Filled Studios, a two-person studio, to open a San Francisco office.^[38] Valve ended the operation in August 2013 when they decided it had little benefit.^[39] At the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit, Newell announced that he and film director J. J. Abrams were collaborating to produce a Half-Life or Portal film, as well as a possible game.^[40]

Valve released fewer games in the 2010s. Instead, it explored hardware. Newell intended to make Valve more like Nintendo, which develops games in tandem with hardware, allowing them to create innovative games such as Super Mario 64.^[41] Valve initially focused on augmented reality, but in 2013 Newell laid off many staff to focus on virtual reality (VR).^[41] In 2015, Valve released the Steam Machine, a line of gaming computers, which sold poorly.^[41]

Media commentators speculated that Valve’s transition to service provider with Steam, which generated an estimated $3.4 billion in 2017, had driven it away from game development.^[42] Valve cancelled games including numerous Half-Life projects (including Episode Three), Left 4 Dead 3, a Soulslike game, and a voxel-based game, A.R.T.I. Additional VR projects included SimTrek, developed by members of Kerbal Space Program, as well as a new VR device, Vader, that was determined to be too costly for consumers.^[43][44] According to designer Robin Walker, the abundance of projects that failed to gain traction, with no shared vision, damaged morale.^[41] Many players grew frustrated in anticipation of a new Half-Life game.^[45]

Source 2, virtual reality and Half-Life: Alyx (2015–present)

Valve announced the Source 2 engine in March 2015 and ported Dota 2 to it that September.^[46][47] That year, Valve collaborated with the electronics company HTC to develop the HTC Vive, a VR headset released in 2016.^[48] Valve experimented with VR games, and in 2016 released The Lab, a collection of VR minigames.^[49]

Valve recognized that many players wanted a more ambitious VR AAA game, and began exploring the development of a major VR game.^[49] They developed several prototypes, with three further VR projects under development by 2017.^[50][51] Finding that the portal systems of their puzzle series Portal were disorienting in VR, they settled on Half-Life.^[48] Walker said that Half-Life 3 had been a «terrifyingly daunting prospect», and the team saw VR as a way to return to the series.^[48]

Full development of a VR Half-Life game started around late 2016, with the largest team in Valve’s history.^[52][53] Valve bought Impulsonic, a developer of 3D audio software, in January 2017 and integrated it into its Bellevue offices.^[54] In April 2018, Valve acquired the independent developer Campo Santo, known for the 2016 adventure game Firewatch. Campo Santo planned to develop its own games under Valve, though they initially helped develop Half-Life: Alyx.^[55][56]

In November 2018, Valve released Artifact, a digital collectible card game based on Dota 2, with design by Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering. Artifact had unusual pay-for mechanics to acquire new cards, and did not draw a large playerbase, losing 95% of players months after release.^[57] In April 2021, Valve abandoned efforts to reboot the project, saying they had not found enough interested players to justify development.^[58] In June 2019, Valve released its second-generation VR hardware, the Valve Index.^[59] In the same month, Valve released Dota Underlords into early access, an auto battler based on a Dota 2 community-created mode Dota Auto Chess.^[60]

In March 2020, Valve released Half-Life: Alyx, a VR game.^[61] It received acclaim^[62] and was described as VR’s first killer app.^{[63][64][65][66]} Newell said in January 2021 that the success of Alyx created desire within the company to develop more games, and that several were under development.^[67] Valve collaborated with Netflix for Dota: Dragon’s Blood, an animated television series based on Dota, to premiere in March 2021.^[68] In February 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck, a portable game system that runs on SteamOS.^[69]

Structure

Initially, Valve used a hierarchical structure more typical of other development firms, driven by the nature of physical game releases through publishers that required tasks to be completed by deadlines.^[70] However, as Valve became its own publisher via Steam, it found the hierarchal structure was hindering progress.^[52]

After completing Half-Life 2, Valve transitioned to a flat organization; outside of executive management, Valve does not have bosses, and uses an open allocation system.^[71][72] Valve’s marketing manager, Doug Lombardi, said: «Nobody writes a design doc and hands it to somebody and says, ‘you go build this’. It’s the teams that are coming up with the ideas and pushing in the directions that they want to take the product.»^[73] This approach allows employees to work on whatever interests them but requires them to take ownership of their product and mistakes they may make, according to Newell. Newell recognized that this structure works well for some but that «there are plenty of great developers for whom this is a terrible place to work».^[70]

Although Valve has no bosses, some employees hold more influence due to seniority or relationships. De facto project leads became «centralized conduits» for organization and sharing information, and decisions are made collectively. Valve uses an «Overwatch» process to gather feedback from senior members, which teams may use or ignore.^[41]

The lack of organization structure has led to project cancellations, as it can be difficult to convince other employees to work on them.^[74][75][76] In 2020, Valve acknowledged that its structure had made it difficult to gather momentum, slowing their output during the 2010s.^[77] Their VR projects and Half-Life: Alyx became a turning point, setting short-term studio-wide goals to focus the company. According to Walker, «We sort of had to collectively admit we were wrong on the premise that you will be happiest if you work on something you personally want to work on the most.»^[52]

Valve time

«Valve Time» redirects here. For timing of the opening and closing of valves, see Valve timing.

Valve time is an industry term used jokingly with game releases from Valve, used to acknowledge the difference between the «promised» date for released content stated by Valve and to the «actual» release date; «Valve Time» includes delays but also includes some content that was released earlier than expected. Valve itself has fully acknowledged the term, including tracking known discrepancies between ideal and actual releases on their public development wiki^[78] and using it in announcements about such delays.^[79][80] Valve ascribes delays to their mentality of team-driven initiatives over corporate deadlines.^[81]

Playtesting

Valve playtests its games extensively, starting from the beginning of development,^[82] and iterates based on the results.^[41] Its website states: «We believe that all game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists.»^[41] The Valve writer Chet Faliszek said he initially blamed testers when they failed to engage with designs as expected, but changed his mind when multiple testers had the same problem: «By the third or fourth time, all of a sudden you’re realizing, ‘I’m an idiot. This is pretty obvious this doesn’t work. It’s not their fault, it’s our fault.'»^[82] He gave an example from the development of Left 4 Dead, wherein a texture change caused every tester to miss a ladder and become stuck.^[82]

Products

Games

Valve is the main developer and publisher of the single-player Half-Life and Portal games and the multiplayer games Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Day of Defeat, and Artifact. Valve also published the multiplayer game Left 4 Dead and developed and published Left 4 Dead 2. Unreleased and canceled Valve games include the fantasy role-playing game Prospero and numerous Half-Life projects, including Episode Three.^[83] Valve worked with Arkane Studios on The Crossing, which was canceled in May 2009.^[84]

Steam

Valve announced Steam, its digital distribution service, at the 2002 Game Developers Conference.^[85][86] It was launched in September 2003 and was first used to deliver patches and other updates to Valve’s online games.^[87][88]

On August 1, 2012, Valve announced revisions to the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA) to prohibit class action lawsuits by users against the service provider.^[89][90] By July 2014, there were over 3,400 games available on Steam, with over 150 million registered accounts by January 2018.^[91][92]

Alongside these changes to the SSA, the company also declared publicly the incorporation of Valve S.a.r.l., a subsidiary based in Luxembourg.^[89][90] Valve set up a physical office in Luxembourg Kirchberg. According to Valve’s project manager Mike Dunkle, the location was chosen for eCommerce capabilities and infrastructure, talent acquisition, tax advantages and central geographic location – most major partners are accessible, 50% within driving distance.^[93]

Valve S.a.r.l. was used to sell games to UK users to avoid paying the full 20% value-added tax (VAT).^[94] The tax loophole was expected to close on January 1, 2015.^[95] In December 2015, the French consumer group UFC Que Choisir initiated a lawsuit against Valve for several of their Steam policies that conflict or run afoul of French law. One of the reasons was for using the tax loophole.^[96] Valve S.a.r.l. ceased business on January 1, 2017, with the main company taking over EU sales again.^[97] In August 2017, Valve announced that Steam had reached over 67 million monthly and 33 million daily active users on the platform.^[98]

Steam Machine

Newell has been critical of the direction that Microsoft has taken with making Windows a closed architecture similar to Apple’s products, and has stated that he believes that the changes made in Windows 8 are «a catastrophe for everyone in the [personal computer] space».^[99] Newell identified the open-source Linux platform as an ideal platform for Steam and said the only thing holding back its adoption is the lack of games.^[99]

In 2012, Valve announced that they were working on a console/PC hybrid for the living room, dubbed by media as the «Steam Box».^[100][101] A precursor to such a unit is SteamOS, a freely available Linux-based operating system that builds upon the Steam client functionality that includes media services, live streaming across home networks, game sharing within families, and parental controls. SteamOS was officially announced in September 2013 as the first of several announcements related to the Steam Machine platform^[102] as well as their unique game controller.^[8] In May 2014, Valve announced that the company’s own SteamOS-powered Steam Machine would be delayed until 2015 due to problems with the game controller.^[103] In 2015, Alienware, ZOTAC, and CyberPowerPC launched their versions of the Steam Machine. By June 2016, fewer than half a million had been sold.^[104] While the Steam Machine line has been effectively canceled, Valve continued to manufacture and sell Steam Controllers until late November 2019,^[105] and publishes both mobile apps and software for the Steam Link, allowing in-home streaming.

Steam Deck

Announced in July 2021, the Steam Deck is a hybrid game console similar to the Nintendo Switch. It is primarily a handheld device that supports playing of Steam games, but through a separate dock unit, the console can output to an external monitor and use external power, networking, and USB accessories connected to the dock. The hardware is based on customized AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2 chipsets. The unit started shipping in February 2022.^[106]

Virtual reality

At the Game Developers Conference in March 2015, Valve and Taiwanese electronics company HTC unveiled SteamVR and the HTC Vive—a virtual reality platform and a virtual reality headset. The platform would be distinguished by its «Lighthouse» motion tracking system, where sensors on the headset and its included motion controllers read the position of two base station devices mounted in the play area. This would allow for «room-scale» VR experiences, where the player would not be required to remain in a stationary position in front of a camera and would be able to freely walk around the space.^[107][108]

In November 2017, Microsoft added beta support for the SteamVR service for Windows Mixed Reality headsets.^[109][110] In June 2019, Valve released their own VR headset, known as the Index, positioned as a higher-end device with wider field of view and higher refresh rate. They were accompanied by updated motion controllers, which are strapped against the user’s palms and have sensors for detecting input pressure and individual fingers.^{[111][112][113]}

Other projects

PowerPlay

PowerPlay was a technological initiative headed by Valve and Cisco Systems to decrease the latency for online games, announced in January 2000.^[114] It was described as a set of protocols and deployment standards at the router level to improve performance. It was claimed that a player with 1000 ms ping was able to play against another player on a LAN connection with no noticeable disadvantage.^[115] Initially the protocol was to be released with PowerPlay 1.0 focusing on quality of service (QoS) and later a revision, PowerPlay 2.0 that would focus on functionality. Cisco and Valve intended to deliver a single dial-up service in Q1 2000 in the United States with a 30-day free trial with a bundled copy of Team Fortress modified to support PowerPlay.^[116]

The standard was to involve purchasing PowerPlay approved Cisco hardware and infrastructure that had adequate bandwidth and QoS standards that prioritize PowerPlay gaming packets at all others’ expense. Newell conceded that Internet service providers (ISPs) would bear the brunt of this expense: «The ISPs are going to need to spend a fair amount of money to be compliant with PowerPlay. But how they get that back is up to them. Some will have a tiered service, and some will just try to recoup their investment through reduced customer churn and customer acquisition.»^[117] Despite never deploying the dial-up plan featuring PowerPlay 1.0, Valve announced in January 2001 that the standard had indeed been finalized.^[115] 12 months after its announcement, PowerPlay was abandoned.^{[citation needed]}

Pipeline

In July 2013, Valve announced Pipeline, an intern project consisting of ten high school students working together to learn how to create video game content.^[118] Pipeline serves to discuss and answer questions that teenagers often ask about the video game industry,^[119] and see if it is possible to train a group of teenagers with minimal work experience to work for a company like Valve.^[119] The latter purpose breaks Valve’s tradition of employing experienced developers, as the company is not good at «teaching people straight out of school».^[119]

Legal disputes

Valve Corporation v. Vivendi Universal Games

Between 2002 and 2005, Valve was involved in a complex legal dispute with its publisher, Vivendi Universal Games (under Vivendi’s brand Sierra Entertainment). Valve had entered into a publishing agreement with Sierra to release Half-Life and subsequent games in 1997, with the contract giving Sierra some intellectual property (IP) rights to Valve’s games. After Valve began development of Half-Life 2, it agreed a new contract with Sierra in 2001, removing these rights from Sierra and giving Valve some rights for digital distribution.^[120] Internally, Valve started work on Steam as a means to digitally distribute these games, and first revealed this project at the March 2002 Game Developers Conference.^[120]

By August 2002, Valve had found that Sierra was distributing copies of their games to Internet cafes against the terms of their contracts and filed a lawsuit against Sierra and Vivendi. In addition to claims of copyright infringement, Valve asserted that Sierra breached contract by withholding royalties and delaying the release of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero until after the holiday season. Vivendi and Sierra countersued, stating that Valve had misrepresented their position in the revised 2001 contract since they had been working on Steam at that point as a means to circumvent the publishing agreement. Vivendi sought intellectual property rights to Half-Life and a ruling preventing Valve from using Steam to distribute Half-Life 2.^[120]

On November 29, 2004, Judge Thomas Samuel Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled in favor of Valve. The ruling stated that Vivendi Universal and its affiliates (including Sierra) were not authorized to distribute Valve games, either directly or indirectly, through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties’ publishing agreement. In addition, Judge Zilly ruled that Valve could recover copyright damages for infringements without regard to the publishing agreement’s limitation of liability clause.^[121] Valve posted on the Steam website that the companies had come to a settlement in court on April 29, 2005.^[122] Electronic Arts announced on July 18, 2005, that they would partner with Valve in a multi-year deal to distribute their games, replacing Vivendi Universal.^[123] As a result of the trial, the arbitrator also awarded Valve $2,391,932.^{[citation needed]}

Valve Corporation v. Activision Blizzard

In April 2009, Valve sued Activision Blizzard, which acquired Sierra Entertainment after a merger with its parent company, Vivendi Universal Games. Activision had allegedly refused to honor the Valve v. Vivendi arbitration agreement. Activision had only paid Valve $1,967,796 of the $2,391,932 award, refusing to pay the remaining $424,136, claiming it had overpaid that sum in the past years.^[124][125]

Dota intellectual property ownership

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was a landmark mod first released in 2003 that created the basis of the genre of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). It was originally developed by Kyle Sommer (who goes by the alias Eul) within Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos via its world editor, and spawned several similar efforts, notably DotA-Allstars. While there had been several that contributed to DotA-Allstars, the project was managed primarily by Steve «Guinsoo» Feak, and later by «IceFrog». IceFrog was eventually hired by Valve in 2009, with the rights to the DotA intellectual property being sold to Valve the following year. Eul was also hired into Valve by 2010.^[126] Valve then subsequently filed trademarks towards a sequel to DotA, titled Dota 2. DotA-Allstars, LLC, a group of former contributors to the DotA-Allstars project, filed an opposing trademark in August 2010 to contest Valve’s claim it owned the property rights.^[127]

DotA-Allstars, LLC was eventually acquired by Blizzard to start development of Blizzard All-Stars. Blizzard took over the trademark challenge. The United States Patent & Trademark Office initially ruled in Valve’s favor. By this point, Riot Games had hired Guinsoo to help develop their own MOBA, League of Legends. As with IceFrog, Feak transferred his rights to the Dota property to Riot, who in turn sold those to Blizzard. Blizzard filed a lawsuit against Valve to challenge Valve’s ownership, pitting the rights assigned through IceFrog to Guinsoo at odds.^[128] The case Blizzard Entertainment v. Valve Corporation was settled out of court in May 2012; Valve retained the right to use Dota commercially, while Blizzard reserved the right for fans to use Dota non-commercially.^[129] Blizzard changed the names of its own projects to remove the Dota term, and renamed Blizzard All-Stars as Heroes of the Storm. Valve’s Dota 2 was released in 2013.^[130]

In 2014, mobile developers Lilith and uCool released their games Dota Legends and Heroes Charge, respectively. Both were influenced by Dota and the sequels. In 2017, Valve and Blizzard took joint action against these companies, citing copyright issues related to the Dota names. uCool argued that the Dota games were a collective work and could not be copyrighted by anyone in particular, but the presiding judge, Charles R. Breyer, felt that, due to the trio’s actions as maintainers of the Dota mods, they had a rightful copyright claim to this. Separately, Lilith and uCool argued that Eul had, in a forum post from September 2004, assigned an open-source copyright license to Dota, which would make Valve and Blizzard’s copyright claims void. The case was later heard by a jury.^[126]

ACCC v. Valve Corporation

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it was taking action against Valve in 2014. On March 29, 2016, Valve was found guilty of breaching Australian consumer law because:^[131][132]

• Valve claimed consumers were not entitled to a refund for digitally downloaded games purchased from Valve via the Steam website or Steam Client (in any circumstances);
• Valve had excluded statutory guarantees and/or warranties that goods would be of acceptable quality; and
• Valve had restricted or modified statutory guarantees and/or warranties of acceptable quality.

During the prosecution of this case, Valve implemented a refund policy for Steam purchases, but the case still reviewed Valve’s actions prior to the onset of the lawsuit. The court overseeing the case sided with the ACCC in assigning a A$3 million (about US$2.1 million) fine against Valve in December 2016, as well as requiring Valve to inform Australian consumers of their rights when purchasing games from Steam.^[133] Valve appealed the court’s determination that it «engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading representations about consumer guarantees», as well as seeking to appeal the fine, but the Australian higher courts rejected the appeals in December 2017.^[134] In January 2018, Valve filed for a «special leave» of the court’s decision, appealing to the High Court of Australia.^[135] The High Court dismissed this claim in April 2018, asserting that Valve still was liable under Australian law since it sold products directly to its citizens.^[136]

UFC Que Choisir v. Valve Corporation

Consumer rights group UFC Que Choisir, based in France, filed a lawsuit against Valve in December 2015, claiming users should be able to resell their software.^[137][138] The High Court of Paris ruled in favor of UFC Que Choisir in September 2019, stating that Valve must allow the resale of Steam games. Valve stated it will appeal the decision.^[139]

Skins gambling

Valve was named as a defendant in two lawsuits in June and July 2016 related to third-party gambling sites that use the Steamworks API to allow betting with the virtual currency of cosmetic weapon replacement textures, better known as «skins», from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which through these sites can be converted from or to real-world money. Both suits assert Valve aiding in underaged gambling.^[140] Valve subsequently stated it has no commercial ties with these sites, and that it would demand these sites cease their use of the Steamworks API as they violate the authorized use policies.^[141][142] In October 2016, the Washington State Gambling Commission required Valve to stop the use of virtual skins for gambling on Steam, stating they would face legal repercussions if they failed to co-operate.^[143] On October 17, 2016, Valve sent a letter to the Washington State Gambling Commission stating that they had «no business relationship with such gambling sites», asserting that they come into existence, operate, and go out of existence without their knowledge and consent, adding that they were not aware of any such law that Steam or any of their games were violating.^[144]

Anti-competitive practices

In February 2017, the European Commission began investigating Valve and five other publishers—Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom, Focus Home Interactive, Koch Media and ZeniMax Media—for anti-competitive practices, specifically the use of geo-blocking through the Steam storefront and Steam product keys to prevent access to software to citizens of certain countries. Such practices would be against the Digital Single Market initiative by the European Union.^[145] While the other five companies named are in stages of settling with the EU as of August 2019, Valve has stated it plans to fight the charges, asserting that geo-blocking affects less than 3% of its games, and that it had turned off such geo-blocking within the EU in 2015.^[146]

Discrimination lawsuit

In 2016, a former employee filed a suit against Valve alleging poor working conditions and harassment.^[147] The jury ruled in favor of Valve in 2017.^[148]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

Valve Corporation
Тип	частная компания
Год основания	1996
Основатели	Гейб Ньюэлл Майк Харрингтон
Расположение	Белвью, Вашингтон, Сиэтл
Ключевые фигуры	Гейб Ньюэлл (соучредитель и управляющий директор)
Отрасль	индустрия компьютерных игр
Продукция	серия Half-Life серия Counter-Strike серия Team Fortress серия Day of Defeat серия Left 4 Dead Deathmatch Classic Ricochet Alien Swarm Dota 2 GoldSrc Source Source 2 [источник?] Steam Valve Anti-Cheat Source Filmmaker
Чистая прибыль	▲ $1 млрд (на 2010 год)
Число сотрудников	300[1] (на 2012 год)
Дочерние компании	Valve S.a.r.l
Сайт	http://valvesoftware.com/

Valve Corporation — американская фирма-разработчик компьютерных игр, а также их издатель со штаб-квартирой в городе Белвью, Вашингтон. Она была основана в 1996 году бывшими сотрудниками Microsoft Гейбом Ньэллом и Майком Харрингтоном и получила известность, выпустив первую же, крайне успешную и хорошо принятую критиками игру Half-Life в ноябре 1998 года.

История

Основание и Half-Life

После продолжительного времени работы в компании Microsoft, Гейб Ньюэлл и Майк Харрингтон в 1996 году основали фирму Valve Software. Основатели потратили довольно много времени, пытаясь подобрать максимально говорящее название. «Чтобы было проще определиться, мы даже стали визуализировать некоторые варианты названий, и в итоге лучшим оказалось изображение вентиля» — признался Ньюэлл. Среди других вариантов были такие именования как Rhino Scar и Fruitfly Ensemble, которые так и не были использованы^[2]. После покупки лицензии движка Quake, они приступили к разработке игры Quiver (рабочее название игры Half-Life). Для работы над сценарием был приглашён профессиональный писатель-фантаст Марк Лэйдлоу.

Впервые игра была продемонстрирована на выставке E3 в 1997 году, и стала настоящим хитом выставки. Игру планировали выпустить в 1997 году, однако релиз состоялся 31 октября 1998 года. Игра стала знаковой и принесла известность разработчику. После выхода Half-Life Valve долгое время не выпускали ничего, а дополнения к их игре-бестселлеру создавали в Gearbox Software.

Так на волне успеха игры были выпущены несколько дополнений: Half-Life: Opposing Force (OpFor), Half-Life: Blue Shift (BS) и эксклюзивный аддон для PS2-версии — Half-Life: Decay. Кроме того, было создано много официальных модификаций, в том числе сетевых: Counter-Strike (CS), Team Fortress Classic (TFC), Deathmatch Classic (DMC), Day of Defeat (DoD), Ricochet. В официальных дополнениях инцидент происходивший в оригинальной игре проигрывался с разных точек зрения: Адриана Шепарда (в Opposing Force), Барни Калхауна (охранника) (Blue Shift), Колетт Грин и Джины Кросс (в Decay). В комплексе со вторым дополнением от Gearbox Software была выпущена модификация, затрагивающая графическую составляющую игры, названная High Definition Pack.

Half-Life 2 и движок Source

В 2003 году на ежегодной выставке достижений индустрии развлечений E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) состоялась первая демонстрация Half-Life 2, продолжения первого хита Valve. Вместе с ней компания рассказала о нескольких своих технологиях, которые со временем стали весьма популярными. Одной из технологий был игровой движок Source, обладающий модульной архитектурой, которая позволяет расширять его возможности легко и неограничено, с возможностью интеграции в уже выпущенные игры. Вторым достижением программистов из Белвью стала программная оболочка Steam — единая утилита для запуска, обновления и покупки всех игр Valve (а впоследствии, и других знаменитых разработчиков, включая вечного конкурента, авторов Doom, id Software). Спустя несколько отсрочек и кражи альфа-версии, Half-Life 2 была выпущена 16 ноября 2004 и получила высокие оценки от многих игровых изданий. Следом, в Steam появился дополнительный уровень для HL2, демонстрирующий изменчивость игрового движка. Он получил название Half-Life 2: Lost Coast и основной его особенностью была поддержка новомодного тогда HDR-освещения. Следующим шагом в развитии своих идей и демонстрации возможностей Steam стал переход на эпизодический выпуск новых игр. Заявив, что на создание полноценной третьей части Half-Life ушло бы ещё девять лет, разработчик разбил продолжение на три части (Episode One, Two и Three), обязуясь выпустить их в течение двух-трёх лет с момента выхода HL2. Однако, произошёл ряд задержек, и выпуск эпизодов растянулся. На данный момент были выпущены только две части, а подробности третьей пока не раскрываются.

The Orange Box

The Orange Box — это сборник компьютерных игр, выпущенный компанией Valve 10 октября 2007 года. В сборник игр входили обновлённые версии Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One и новые игры Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal и Team Fortress 2. Этот сборник появился одновременно, как на ПК, так и на Xbox 360 и PlayStation 3. В ходе создания сборника компания позаимствовала идею достижений (англ. achievments), появившуюся с Xbox 360, где достижения есть в каждой игре, для ПК-версии The Orange Box. Valve разработали свою собственную систему, интегрированную со Steam. Первой игрой, включившей в себя поддержку достижений, но созданной не самой компанией, стала аркада Audiosurf.

К моменту выпуска The Orange Box в Steam появилась своя социальная сеть — Steam Community. Любой человек, имеющий Steam-аккаунт, мог заполнить небольшую форму, добавить графический аватар и получить на выходе свою собственную страницу, на которой отображались бы данные о нём, пройденных им играх и его Steam-друзьях. Участники также получили возможность создавать группы, в связи с этим был расширен функционал чата (в одном из обновлений Steam появилась возможность включить отображение даты и времени когда было написано сообщение в чате) и системы Друзья (англ. Friends).

Left 4 Dead и наши дни

Новая игра от Valve носила название Left 4 Dead, и сочетала в себе survival horror с многопользовательским режимом от первого лица. Игра создавалась студией Turtle Rock, которая с 10 января 2008 года стала частью Valve Corporation. Игра создана на движке Source версии 37 для платформ Windows NT и Xbox 360. За портирование игры на Xbox 360 отвечает студия Certain Affinity^[3]. Версия для консоли Xbox 360 отличается наличием режима split screen и другой системой создания матчей.

Впервые информация о Left 4 Dead появилась в рождественском номере журнала PC Gamer UK за 2006 год в виде шестистраничной статьи. А впервые опробовать игру публика смогла на QuakeCon 2007 и Showdown 2007 LAN, прошедшей в городе Сан-Хосе. 6 ноября демоверсия Left 4 Dead стала доступна тем, кто сделал предварительный заказ через систему цифровой дистрибуции Steam. 11 ноября 2008 года она стала доступна публично. 18 ноября игра стала доступна через Steam. 20 ноября произошёл релиз коробочных версий в Америке, а 21 ноября в Старом свете^[4]. Игра была хорошо принята на игровых рынках и среди игроков.

16 июля 2010 года компания выпустила бесплатный кооперативный шутер Alien Swarm. Игра является ремейком модификации для Unreal Tournament 2004, созданного командой разработчиков, ставшие в том же году частью Valve.

13 октября 2010 года была анонсирована очередная игра. DOTA 2 является ремейком популярной модификации DotA для Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Автором модификации является IceFrog, разработчик, который попал в компанию по приглашению Valve.

19 апреля 2011 года Valve выпустила Portal 2 — продолжение к ставшей весьма популярной игре-головоломке Portal. Игра была очень высоко оценена критиками.

21 августа 2012 года Valve выпустила свою новую игру Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Список продуктов

Компьютерные игры

• Half-Life (1998)
  • Half-Life: Day One (1998)
  • Half-Life: Uplink (1999)
  • Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999) (разработана компанией Gearbox Software)
  • Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001) (разработана компанией Gearbox Software)
  • Half-Life: Decay (2001) (разработана компанией Gearbox Software)
  • Half-Life: Source (2004)
    • Half-Life Deathmach: Source (2005)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
  • Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (2004)
  • Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005)
  • Half-Life 2: Survivor (2006) (разработана совместно с Taito Corporation)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode Three (игра была анонсирована, текущее состояние не известно)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode Four (игра разрабатывалась, но была отменена)
• Counter-Strike (2000) (коммерческая версия, разработанная совместно с Gearbox Software)
  • Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (2004) (разработана компанией Gearbox Software)
  • Counter-Strike Neo (2003)
  • Counter-Strike: Source (2004)
  • Counter-Strike Online (2007)
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012) (разработана совместно с Hidden Path Entertainment)
  • Counter-Strike Online 2 (в разработке)
• Team Fortress Classic (1999)
• Team Fortress 2 (2007)
• Day of Defeat (2003)
  • Day of Defeat: Source (2005)
• Ricochet (2000)
• Deathmatch Classic (2001)
• ThreeWave CTF (2001)
• Prospero (отменённая игра)
• Portal (2007)
  • Portal: Still Alive (2008)
• Portal 2 (2011)
  • Portal 2: «Sixense MotionPack» DLC (2011)
  • Portal 2: Peer Review DLC (2011)
  • Portal 2: Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC (2012)
• Left 4 Dead (2008)
  • Left 4 Dead: Survival Pack DLC (2009)
  • Left 4 Dead: Crash Course DLC (2009)
  • Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice DLC (2010)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (2009)
  • Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing DLC (2010)
  • Left 4 Dead 2: The Sacrifice DLC (2010)
  • Left 4 Dead 2: Cold Stream DLC (2012)
• Alien Swarm (2010)
• Dota 2 (2012)

Игровые движки

• GoldSrc (1998)
• Source (2004)
• Source 2 (в разработке)^{[источник?]}

Программное обеспечение

• Steam (2003)
• Source Filmmaker (2012)

Прочее

• До Half-Life 2 Gearbox работали над каждым проектом в серии Half-Life, за исключением оригинальной Half-Life на PC (это были Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, Condition Zero, Half-Life PS2/Decay, Half-Life Dreamcast).
• В Half-Life: Opposing Force чтобы убить Глубинного Червя, игрок должен активировать VALVE (англ. Клапан) и GEARBOX (англ. коробка передач), очевидная ссылка на названия компаний разработчиков Valve Software и Gearbox Software. Так же на рычаге для подачи пара можно увидеть надпись STEAM (англ. Пар) — примечательное совпадение с названием системы онлайн-загрузки Steam, на которую компания Valve перешла в 2003 году.
• В сервисе Steam есть комплект Valve Complete Pack, который включает в себя практически все выпущенные игры Valve Software за 1499 рублей, в то время как сумарная игр, если покупать по отдельности, составляет 4629 рублей ^[5].

Примечания

Ссылки

• Официальный сайт Valve Corporation

Компьютерные игры, разработанные Valve

Half-Life (Opposing Force • Blue Shift • Decay • Uplink • Day One • Source) • Half-Life 2 (Episode One • Episode Two • Episode Three • Episode Four • Deathmatch • Lost Coast • Survivor) • Counter-Strike (Condition Zero • Neo • Source • Online • Global Offensive) • Team Fortress Classic (Team Fortress 2) • Portal (Portal 2) • Day of Defeat (Source) • Left 4 Dead (Left 4 Dead 2) • Deathmatch Classic • Ricochet • Alien Swarm • Dota 2

Технологии компании Valve Corporation
Предоставление контента	Steam · Steamworks · Grid (Game) Cache File · Valve Pack File
Игровые движки	GoldSrc · Source
Инструменты	Source SDK · Valve Hammer Editor · Faceposer · Model Viewer · Filmmaker
Сторонние разработки	Список модификаций игр на движке Source (GoldSrc) · Список ботов к играм серии Counter-Strike
Сетевая игра	Half-Life TV · Source TV · Valve Anti-Cheat

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Valve Corporation ([vælv], также известная как Valve Software, с англ. — «вентиль, клапан») — американская частная компания, занимающаяся разработкой, изданием и цифровой дистрибуцией компьютерных игр. Её наиболее известные продукты — сервис цифровой дистрибуции игр и программного обеспечения Steam, компьютерные игры и серии Half-Life, Portal, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead и Dota 2. Большинство разработанных Valve игр использует её собственные игровые движки GoldSrc, Source и Source 2. Штаб-квартира компании находится в городе Белвью, штат Вашингтон, недалеко от Сиэтла^[3].

Valve была основана в 1996 году Гейбом Ньюэллом и Майком Харрингтоном, выходцами из Microsoft. Уже её дебютная игра Half-Life приобрела огромный успех и множество наград, как и её продолжение Half-Life 2. Харрингтон покинул компанию в 2000 году, оставив её в руках Ньюэлла. В 2003 году компания запустила сервис Steam, с годами выросший в крупнейшую в мире площадку по цифровой дистрибуции игр для персональных компьютеров — к 2010-м годам именно Steam, а не игры, стал основным источником дохода для Valve. В 2010-х годах компания также занялась разработкой и выпуском аппаратного обеспечения для игр, такого как шлем виртуальной реальности Valve Index или портативный компьютер Steam Deck.

При относительно небольшом количестве сотрудников — 360 человек в 2016 году — прибыль компании составляет около миллиарда долларов в год. Для Valve характерна плоская организационная структура без начальников и подчинённых — сотрудники равны между собой и собираются в группы по интересам; компания направляет финансирование тем проектам, к которым присоединяется больше сотрудников. Среди этих проектов были и провальные, как игра Artifact или серия компьютеров Steam Machines, однако Valve удавалось окупать их за счёт Steam и других успешных проектов.

История

Основание и Half-Life

После тринадцати лет работы в компании Microsoft Гейб Ньюэлл, совместно с Майком Харрингтоном, в 1996 году основывает компанию Valve Software^[4], под попечительством Sierra Studios. Для упрощения была приобретена лицензия движка игры Quake — Quake engine, и на его основе разработан собственный движок GoldSrc, после чего началась полуторагодовая разработка игры Half-Life (HL)^[4].

Рабочим названием игры был «Quiver»^[5]. Для работы над сценарием был приглашён профессиональный писатель-фантаст Марк Лэйдлоу^[6]. Игра стала научно-фантастическим трёхмерным шутером от первого лица^[4]. Гейб и Майк хотели создать нечто похожее на DOOM, такое же мрачное творение^[4][5]. Игра получила более пятидесяти наград издательств, среди которых титул «Лучшая игра всех времён»^[5][7].

Впервые игра была продемонстрирована на выставке E3 в 1997 году и стала настоящим хитом мероприятия. Игру планировали выпустить в 1997 году, однако релиз состоялся 31 октября 1998 года. Игра стала знаковой и принесла известность разработчику.

Далее Valve сосредоточилась на разработке SDK, который вышел в апреле 1999 года. Мин Ли, совместно с разработчиком, скрывающимся под ником «Cliffea», использует его для создания модификации HL — Counter-Strike (CS)^[5], многопользовательского шутера, основанного на идее противостояния группировки террористов и специального подразделения полиции. Игра стала одной из ведущих киберспортивных дисциплин^[4].

Создание собственного движка и окончание Half-Life

Успех игры воодушевил компанию, и она сразу^[7] принялась создавать игру не менее масштабную, чем предшественник^[5]. Вся разработка держалась под строжайшим секретом^[5]. Спустя 5 лет разработки на E3 2003 была презентована Half-Life 2^[5][7]. Игра была выполнена на новом игровом движке — Source Engine^[7], потому графическая часть на тот момент была вне конкуренции^[5]. Почти все предметы в игре можно было передвигать и деформировать^[5]. Игра заняла первое место на сайте Metacritic.com в списке лучших игр всех времён^[8][9].

Новый движок стал отличным подспорьем для создателей модификаций и сулил компании за этот счёт «вечную молодость»^[7]. Компания рассчитывала на сообщество: предоставлен SDK, документация и набор утилит^[7]. Компания хотела сконцентрировать мододелов на новшествах и геймплее и сделала всё возможное для этого^[7]. В игре не были использованы реализованные в движке такие системы, как смена дня и ночи и деформация^[7].

Но показать и выпустить игру — разные вещи. Игра не была выпущена в сентябре 2003-го, как обещалось^[10]. Напротив, релиз игры отодвигался уже на неопределённое время^[10]. Но произошла утечка, и в открытый доступ попала демоверсия HL2^[10]. Такая ситуация почти «убила» компанию, но она не сдалась, нашла деньги и выпустила игру 16 ноября 2004 года^[10], собрав более 30 наград «Игра года»^[11].

По словам основателя, Гейба Ньюэлла, компания решила, что не стоит заставлять ждать фанатов ещё шесть лет, потому и была взята модель создания эпизодов, которая позволяла выпускать не менее качественные игры всего за полтора года^[12].

Выпуск последних одиночных игр

Заключительным этапом и сокрушительным ударом по конкурентам^[13] 9 октября 2007 года Valve выпускают The Orange Box^[14], который включал в себя следующие игры^[15]: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal и Team Fortress 2. Сборник одновременно поставлялся для ПК, PS3 и Xbox 360^[13].

В качестве особой черты для всех этих игр был разработан сервис достижений (аналогичный достижениям на Xbox 360), который работал через сервис Steam и был доступен для внедрения в игры, распространяемые через сервис^[16]. Появилась и своя социальная сеть — Steam Community, также на базе Steam. Для этого были реализованы личные профили, возможность добавления в друзья и доработан внутрисервисный чат.

Многопользовательские игры в Steam

18 ноября 2008 года выпущена игра Left 4 Dead. Год спустя, 17 ноября 2009 года — её сиквел, Left 4 Dead 2. 5 марта 2010 года анонсирована Portal 2. 19 июля 2010 года выпущен сетевой шутер от третьего лица Alien Swarm. 19 апреля 2011 года выпущен Portal 2. 21 августа 2012 года выпущен Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

В 2011 году Valve объявила, что выпустит многопользовательскую игру Dota 2, которая станет продолжением модификации DotA для игры Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos и дополнения к ней Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. В компанию также перешёл работать основной разработчик этой модификации, известный под ником IceFrog.

Развитие технологий Steam

23 сентября 2013 компания опубликовала операционную систему SteamOS на основе Debian^[17][18].

В качестве первого шага помощи сообществу Debian Valve сделала бесплатной возможность загрузки игр компании для всех разработчиков Debian^[17].

SteamOS использует пользовательский интерфейс режима Big Picture^[18]. Операционная система будет поставляться в мини-компьютере Steam Machines, однако, эта бесплатная ОС будет выпускаться и обособленно для самостоятельных установок^[18], что позволит сторонним компаниям создавать собственные устройства для SteamOS^[18]. В этой операционной системе есть возможность трансляции на телевизор со стационарного ПК, доступ к Steam Cloud (доступ ко всем купленным играм с любого устройства при использовании единого аккаунта)^[18]. Операционная система, помимо игр, способна воспроизводить аудио и видеофайлы^[19].

Через клиент Steam официально распространяется и музыка, аудиоплеер встроен непосредственно в клиент^[20]. Интерфейс доступен в режиме Steam Overlay^[20]. На конец 2014 года предоставлены только базовые возможности воспроизведения, но, например, есть возможность, создания плей-листа^[20]. Для воспроизведения доступны как локальные аудиофайлы на машине пользователя, так и купленные в Steam саундтреки из игр^[20]. В честь открытия Valve сделала бесплатными музыкальные альбомы игр серий Half-Life и Portal и документальный фильм Free to play^[20].

Новым этапом развития стал релиз видеоприставки и контроллера к ней^[21].

1 марта 2015 года корпорация Valve на Mobile World Congress представила шлем виртуальной реальности HTC Vive, который был разработан совместно с компанией HTC. Начало продажи — ноябрь 2015^[22].

28 июня 2019 года корпорация Valve выпустила новый шлем виртуальной реальности Valve Index.

15 июля 2021 года корпорация Valve представила свой будущий портативный игровой компьютер — Steam Deck. Начало продаж намечено на декабрь 2021 только в США, Канаде, Великобритании, и в странах Западной Европы. Во всём остальном мире намечено на 2022. В 2022 году была отменена продажа Steam Deck в России из-за санкций.

Продукты компании

Игры

В конце девяностых годов Valve выпустила 7 игр: в 1998 году демоверсию Half-Life: Day One, за ней полноценную игру — Half-Life; в 1999 году — демоверсию Half-Life: Uplink, Half-Life: Opposing Force (совместно с Gearbox Software) и оригинальную Team Fortress Classic; в 2000 году, благодаря возможности модификации движка, выходит мод Counter-Strike и новинка — Ricochet.

В начале нулевых выпускались дополнения прошлых удачных релизов: в 2001 году — Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life: Decay (обе игры также разработаны совместно с Gearbox Software) и Deathmatch Classic; в 2003 году — оригинальная игра Day of Defeat и версия CS для игровых автоматов — Counter-Strike Neo.

2004 год стал началом новой эпохи в стане Valve — с релизом нового движка Source вышли такие игры, как Half-Life 2 и её многопользовательская сетевая модификация — Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. Обновилась линейка Counter-Strike: новинка под названием Counter-Strike: Condition Zero и отдельно вырезанные сцены из неё — Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes. Также на новом движке выпущены Counter-Strike: Source и Half-Life: Source.

В середине нулевых были заново выпущены старые игры на новом движке и продолжения истории HL: в 2005 году — Day of Defeat: Source, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast и Half-Life Deathmach: Source; в 2006 году — Half-Life 2: Survivor и Half-Life 2: Episode One. В 2007 году вышел так называемый Orange Box, сборник, в который вошли также три новых игры: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 и Portal.

В конце нулевых, помимо новых игр, были выпущены продолжения и дополнения, а также созданы игры специально для азиатского рынка: в 2008 году — Portal: Still Alive, Counter-Strike Online, Left 4 Dead; в 2009 году — Left 4 Dead 2 и Left 4 Dead: Survival Pack DLC с Left 4 Dead: Crash Course DLC. В 2010 году стал богат на дополнения к L4D двух поколений: Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice DLC, Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing DLC и Left 4 Dead 2: The Sacrifice DLC; однако появилась и новинка — Alien Swarm.

В начале 2010-х годов компания выпускает ещё больше игр: в 2011 году — продолжение Portal, Portal 2, и дополнения к нему: Portal 2: Peer Review DLC и Portal 2: Sixense MotionPack DLC; в 2012 году — дополнения Left 4 Dead 2: Cold Stream DLC, Portal 2: Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC, а также новая игра — Counter-Strike: Global Offensive; в 2013 году — новинка Dota 2 и Counter-Strike Online 2. В 2014 году Valve не выпустила какого-либо отдельного игрового продукта, за исключением дополнения к Left 4 Dead 2 — Uncensored, выпущенного для австралийской публики.

10 сентября 2015 года Dota 2 была окончательно переведена на движок Source 2 с выходом обновления Dota 2: Reborn. 7 марта 2016 года компания анонсировала игру The Lab из серии Portal: игра будет представлять собой набор экспериментов для очков виртуальной реальности HTC Vive^[23].

8 августа 2017 года во время The International 2017 была анонсирована карточная игра по вселенной Dota 2 — Artifact. Никаких подробностей Valve не представила. Известно лишь, что в игре нас ждут различные персонажи Dota 2^[24]. Релиз игры состоялся в Steam 28 ноября 2018 года.

20 июня 2019 года Valve выпустили стратегическую игру во вселенной Dota 2^[24] — Dota Underlords.

19 ноября 2019 года состоялся анонс новой игры в серии Half-Life — Half-Life: Alyx. Сюжетная линия Half-Life: Alyx разворачивается между сюжетными линиями игр Half-Life 1 и Half-Life 2, где главным героем является не Гордон Фримен, а Аликс Вэнс. Релиз игры в Steam состоялся 23 марта 2020 года.

21 января 2021 года Гейб Ньюэл проговорился, что Valve разрабатывают 2 новые одиночные игры. Так же, в интервью был упомянут тайный проект Valve Citadel^[25].

Steam Deck

26 мая 2021 года стало известно, что компания разрабатывает новое игровое портативное устройство под рабочим названием SteamPal^[26].

15 июля 2021 года был анонсирован портативный компьютер Steam Deck^[27].

Структура

По мнению Ньюэлла, в технологической индустрии неуместна и бесполезна иерархия, нет нужды в формальном менеджменте и карьерном росте^[28]. В интервью газете The New York Times Грек Кумер (один из первых сотрудников) сомневался, что Ньюэлл является СЕО, но отмечал, что технически он им, скорее всего, является^[28]. В пособии для новичков Valve написано, что Гейб Ньюэлл в наибольшей степени, среди прочих, не является начальником^[28].

Плоская иерархическая структура компании предполагает, что сотрудники самостоятельно выбирают, над каким проектом им работать, никто в Valve не имеет права им указывать, чем заниматься^[28]. Они образуют рабочие группы, переманивая друг друга из проекта в проект^[28]. Между собой группа лишь решает, кто станет текущим лидером, кто станет держать в голове всю информацию о проекте и координировать его^[28]. Valve стимулирует частую смену составов групп, чтобы их не поглотила бюрократия, и они оставались на стороне пользователя^[28]. Этот подход проявляется, в частности, в том, что столы всех сотрудников снабжены колёсиками: это упрощает постоянные перемещения^[28].

Майкл Абраш отмечал, что в первые недели коллеги предполагали, что ему стоит присмотреться к какой-то сфере, после чего он стал думать иначе: думать, что ценное он сделает для компании, чего пока никто не делает^[28]. После чего он стал заниматься созданием очков виртуальной реальности^[28]. Такая свобода крайне усложняет поиск новых сотрудников^[28]. Фактически вся компания нацелена на поиск новобранцев, потенциальных сотрудников регулярно зовут на собеседования^[28].

Компанию привлекают люди с богатым опытом, которые «лучше остальных в этом деле»^[28]. Например, в компании работал греческий экономист Янис Варуфакис, нанятый за то, что его блог про европейский финансовый кризис понравился Гейбу; бывшая артистка кукольного театра; создатель спецэффектов для фильмов «Властелин колец» и «Кинг-Конг»^[28]. В компании ценятся люди, способные упростить или быстро решить проблему, а также понятно объяснить, как именно они это сделали^[28].

Такая система может существовать только при полной независимости компании^[28]. Независимость от издателей обеспечивает сервис Steam, делающий издателем саму Valve. Компания была основана без инвесторов, и на момент конца 2014 года все её активы находились у сотрудников компании^[28]. По словам Ньюэлла, если дела пойдут плохо, компания будет распущена, а не продана^[28]. Отсутствие иерархии создаёт проблемы сотрудникам вне корпорации: им приходится выдумывать себе должности, чтобы их воспринимали всерьёз^[28].

Аудитория и капитализация

По данным журнала «Форбс», на момент 2011 года аудитория магазина Steam — 30 миллионов человек^[8].

По состоянию на 2011 год на сервис приходится 50—70 % четырёхмиллиардного (в долларах США) рынка онлайн-дистрибуции игр^[8].

Финансовые показатели Valve неизвестны, но, по словам основателя — Гейба, — компания «чрезвычайно прибыльна»^[8]. В октябре 2011 года пресс-служба корпорации объявила о рекордной для Valve прибыли, на 200 % превысившей прибыль предыдущего года^[8]. По данным «Форбс», Valve оценивается различными источниками в промежутке от 2 до 4 млрд долларов США^[8]. В 2012 году Майкл Пэчтер в статье в «Нью-Йорк Таймс» оценил корпорацию в 2,5 млрд долларов США^[29].

Михаил Хомич на страницах «Коммерсанта» утверждал, что чистая прибыль компании за 2013 год составила порядка 1 млрд долларов США^[4].

По традиционному отчёту Valve на 2020 год аудитория Steam составила 120 миллионов человек^[30].

Примечания

Фоторепортажи

• Илья Варламов. Valve: как делают самые популярные игры. varlamov.ru (9 сентября 2016). Дата обращения: 10 сентября 2016.

Литература

• Начальники и менеджеры больше не нужны: анархия как технология.
• Александр Тараканов. История создания Half-Life // ЛКИ : журнал. — 2006. — № 3 (52).
• Valve Corporation, David SJ Hodgson. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. — Prima Games, 2004. — ISBN 0-7615-4364-3.
• Юрий Ильин. Игровые движки: Valve GoldSrc и Source. — Mir3D. — 2010.
• Движок Source Engine от Valve Software. Пламенный двигатель Half-Life 2.
• Half-Life 2: кража века.
• Half-Life Inside: официальный русский фан-сайт игры. Дата обращения: 29 декабря 2014.

Ссылки

• valvesoftware.com​ (англ.) — официальный сайт Valve
• Вселенная Steam будет расширяться в 2014. Дата обращения: 25 декабря 2014.

Эта страница в последний раз была отредактирована 3 февраля 2023 в 19:50.

Как только страница обновилась в Википедии она обновляется в Вики 2.
Обычно почти сразу, изредка в течении часа.

клапан, вентиль, заслонка, золотник, клапанный, ламповый

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

cam lifts the valve — кулачок поднимает клапан  
a reciprocating valve — двусторонний клапан  
slide-valve rod — золотниковый шток  
slide-valve port — окно золотника  
valve burns — клапан прогорает  
valve chatters — клапан стучит  
to grind a valve — притирать клапан  
float-type fueling valve — поплавковый клапан заправки топливом  
hydraulic bypass valve — клапан перепуска гидросистемы  
hydraulic relief valve — предохранительный клапан гидросистемы  

Примеры с переводом

Возможные однокоренные слова

valvate  — створчатый, клапанный,
valved  — клапанный, вентильный, электронный, оснащенный клапаном

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): valve
мн. ч.(plural): valves

Варианты (v1)

Варианты (v2)

• valve [vælv] сущ

  1. клапанм, вентильм, задвижкаж, заслонкаж, кранм, затворм, золотникм

     (flap, gate, gate valve, damper, tap, spool)

     • solenoid valve – электромагнитный клапан
     • pressure relief valve – предохранительный клапан
     • mitral valve prolapse – пролапс митрального клапана
     • artificial heart valve – искусственный клапан сердца
     • bicuspid aortic valve – двустворчатый аортальный клапан
     • flow control valve – расходный клапан
     • angle valve – угловой вентиль
     • wedge gate valve – клиновая задвижка
     • fuel valve – топливный кран

  2. арматураж, запорная арматура

     (fittings, stop valve)

     • pipeline valve – трубопроводная арматура

  3. пневмораспределительм

  4. лампаж

     (lamp)

  5. створкаж

     (sash)

     • right valve – правая створка

  6. запорный кран

     (stopcock)

• valve [vælv] прил

  1. клапанный, вентильный, ламповый

     (valval, gate, lamp)

     • valve bag – клапанный мешок

noun
	клапан	valve, flap, vent, gate, piston, flapper
	вентиль	valve, faucet, ventil, flap, stop
	заслонка	damper, flap, valve, shutter, gate, door
	золотник	valve, slide valve, slide
	створка	leaf, flap, valve
	пистон	piston, valve, percussion cap, cap, pellet
	электронная лампа	vacuum tube, tube, valve, vacuum valve
	вальва	valve
adjective
	клапанный	valve, valvular
	ламповый	lamp, valve

Предложения со словом «valve»

So I dropped out and invented a new heart valve .	Так что я бросил и изобрел новый сердечный клапан.
I was harvesting sheep hearts for valve replacement surgeries.	Я доставал овечьи сердца для операций по замене клапана.
I dismantled that valve and I put out that free cake	Я раскрутил этот клапан и оставил этот бесплатный торт.
I can’t even see the valve from this side.	Я даже не могу увидеть клапан с этой стороны.
Threaded a new valve into the side, removed the handle from the base, unscrewed the packing nut from the stem.	Вставил сбоку новый вентиль, убрал снизу рукоять, отвинтил герметизирующую гайку.
That must be what went on inside one of Mr. Watt’s steam engines when the safety valve did not function.	Нечто подобное происходит в паровых машинах мистера Уатта, когда не работает выпускной клапан.
There was no time to call for help so I crawled into the tube and I shut the valve .	Не было времени звать на помощь поэтому я заполз в тоннель и закрыл вентиль.
The garage said the brake drum valve had definitely been loosened.	Сказали, что крепление клапана в тормозном цилиндре было ослаблено.
The fate of the debris littering the valve’s upper surface could be determined by simple physical equations.	Судьбу обломков, засорявших верхнюю поверхность клапана, можно было рассчитать путем несложных математических выкладок.
She was born with a heart valve condition that required emergency surgery.	У нее был врожденный порок сердца, что требовало немедленного вмешательства.
The valve released the gas pressure Faster than the tank could build it up.	Клапан ослабил давление газа быстрее, чем оно поднялось в баллоне.
Reach a finger inside the pulmonary vein, run it across the valve .	Вскрыть грудную клетку, залезть пальцем через лёгочную вену и ощупать клапан.
Empty the water pail, shut the valve in the propane tank.	Слили остававшуюся в баке воду, завернули вентиль газового баллона.
He produced a big piece of crumpled paper from the bale, lit it, and thrust it hastily through the man-hole valve .	Он нашел обрывок смятой бумаги, зажег ее и поспешно выбросил через люк.
We have proof that your Melee Valve is defective.	У нас есть доказательства, что ваш сердечный клапан был неисправен.
We know Steve was about to go public on his company’s defective valve .	Мы знаем, что Стив собирался выступить публично по поводу неисправных клапанов его компании.
One-way valve joins up with the main trunk under the street outside.	Односторонний трубопровод соединяется с главной магистралью на другой стороне улицы.
Soulcatcher did not want the more potent shadows pushing through that valve .	Душелов не желала, чтобы через этот клапан просочились более сильные Тени.
Do you have an emergency valve that accessed an outside vent in case the system failed?	Есть ли у аварийного клапана доступ к внешнему вентилированию на случай, если система не работает?
The valve began to open after they had been working at it for twenty revs.	Клапан начал открываться после того, как они ударно отработали двадцать оборотов.
He hurried back to the ancient compressor, and opened the control valve to its deadly maximum — fifty parts per million of carbon monoxide.	Он поспешил к древнему компрессору и открыл кран до упора.
After the thaw began, all that water and a respectable tonnage of broken branches would pool at the valve .	Когда же начнется оттепель, вся растаявшая вода и солидный тоннаж сломанных веток соберутся на клапане.
Uranium enters the reactor through this valve at a rate of 24 milligrams per second.	Уран поступает в реактор через этот клапан со скоростью 24 миллиграмма в секунду.
Orry led him down a great, empty, glowing corridor and through a valve-door into a small room.	Орри повел его вниз по огромному радужному коридору через тамбур — шлюз в какую — то небольшую комнатку.
He sought for the better part of an hour before he located the valve in a ditch.	Принц искал почти час и в конце концов в какой — то канаве нашел — таки вентиль.
We were hoping to repair your heart by replacing the valve ; that didn’t work.	Мы надеялись подправить твоё сердце, земенить клапан, это не сработало.
I’m afraid I couldn’t get to the valve to repair it.	Я боюсь, что не смогу восстановить клапан.
I can put him on ECMO, try to repair the valve .	Мы можем сделать ему ЭКМО, попробовать восстановить клапан.
The valve unit are installed in a test fixture corresponding to the manufacturer’s specifications for installation.	Клапанный узел устанавливают на испытательную арматуру в соответствии с указаниями изготовителя.
This means that the discharged gas will remain at short distance to the valve , dispersing in the air quickly.	Это означает, что выбросы газа концентрируются на небольшом расстоянии от клапана и быстро растворяются в атмосфере.
The brass valves leaked due to cracks in the valve body and the steel valves leaked internally at the valve seat.	У латунных клапанов наблюдалась утечка в результате образования трещин в корпусе клапана, а у стальных клапанов — внутренняя утечка в зоне седла клапана.
The current text of the Regulation requires the valve to be closed when the engine is switched off.	Согласно действующему тексту Правил, при выключенном двигателе клапан закрывается.
Conformance with paragraphs 8.2. to 8.8. below is to be determined by connecting a length of tubing to the valve outlet.	8.1.2 Соответствие предписаниям пунктов 8.2 — 8.8, ниже, определяется путем подсоединения трубки определенной длины к выходному отверстию клапана.
Then his strong, skillful fingers… as sensitive as those of a surgeon… make their first sure contact with the key valve .	Затем его сильные, искусные пальцы… с точностью хирурга вступили в первый уверенный контакт с вентилями управления.
The outlet channel is in the form of a nozzle with an electromagnetic valve and an air conduit channel.	Выпускной канал выполнен в виде форсунки с электромагнитным клапаном и каналом воздухопровода.
The axis of the spring-loaded rod of each control valve is situated in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the nozzle.	Ось подпружиненного штока каждого управляющего клапана расположена в плоскости, перпендикулярной оси форсунки.
You can connect the modern cable to the joystick and the valve without any problems.	Вы можете использовать этот трос вместо старого без каких — либо проблем.
A ball valve is mounted in the housing between the separating partition and the inlet coupling pipe.	Шаровой затвор установлен в корпусе между разделительной перемычкой и входным муфтовым патрубком.
The combustion chamber is provided with a valve which can hermetically cover the outlet opening of said chamber.	Камера сгорания снабжена клапаном, выполненным с возможностью герметично перекрывать ее выходное отверстие.
Equivalent safety is assured through having a recessed valve chest, which is unlikely to be damaged in the event of an accident.	Обеспечивается эквивалентный уровень безопасности благодаря наличию утопленной в корпус клапанной коробки, которая вряд ли будет повреждена в случае аварии.
The working volume of the engine is formed by means of closing a wedge-shaped sliding valve .	Рабочий объем двигателя формируется за счет закрытия клиновидной заслонки.
The sliding valve can move radially relative to the axis of rotation of the rotor and close the toroidal cavity during the working cycle.	Заслонка может двигаться радиально к оси вращения ротора и перекрывать тороидальную полость на время рабочего цикла.
A fire valve comprises a housing with an inlet connecting pipe and an outlet connecting pipe which are interconnected via the transfer port of a seat.	Пожарный вентиль содержит корпус с входным и выходным штуцерами, сообщающимися между собой через перепускное отверстие седла.
The electrical system, if existing, shall be isolated from the body of the automatic valve .	2.3 Электрическую систему, в случае ее наличия, изолируют от корпуса автоматического клапана.
If the functional check is used and detects a valve which does not close the system, the excess flow device continues to protect.	З. Если проводят функциональную проверку и выявляется, что клапан не перекрывает систему, то безопасность продолжает обеспечиваться ограничительным устройством.
Gate valve DN15-100 is intended for application as a plug-forming armature in the cold and hot water systems, heatings etc.	Смесители предназначены для подачи и смешивания горячей воды с холодной, а также регулирования ее температуры и напора.
The device comprises a body 1, a stop valve 2, a potential energy accumulator 3 and a holding-lowering mechanism 5.	Устройство содержит корпус 1, запорный клапан 2, аккумулятор потенциальной энергии 3 и удерживающе — спусковой механизм 5.
Cars with soft valve seats of cast iron or soft steel may suffer under severe engine conditions if the lead content in petrol goes below a certain limit.	Автомобили, двигатели которых снабжены мягкими гнездами клапанов, изготовленных из литого чугуна или мягкой стали, могут пострадать в результате напряженного режима работы двигателя в том случае, если содержание свинца в бензине ниже определенного предела.
The second three-way valve is connected to the first three-way valve and to the input of the strontium-rubidium generator.	Второй трехходовой клапан связан с первым трехходовым клапаном и входом стронций — рубидиевого генератора.
Multi-circuit protection valve or pressure relief valve not working.	Многолинейный защитный клапан или предохранительный клапан не работает.
Sandvik Hiflex steel enables designers to reduce the size of valves and compressors by using shorter valve tongues to achieve the same valve lift.	Новая сталь позволяет повышенный подъем клапана для сокращения падения давления в клапане и повысить эффективность компрессора. Кроме того, более тонкие откидные клапаны могут снизить механические потери.
An internal safety valve , which can only be opened by opening the external valve , and consequently would seal even if the outer valve were broken off.	Свободный конец каждого соединительного трубопровода затем полностью закрывается в ходе перевозки с помощью прочной заглушки, обеспечивающей третий уровень герметизации на каждом трубопроводе.
And this is how you make a valve .	Эту крышку помещаем плотно в старую велокамеру Таким образом получается клапан. Наклеиваем кусочек скотча.
The valve started operating before I fully released it.	Клапан начала работать еще до того, как я это осознала.
But the valve standard is currently not referenced in RID/ADR/ADN.	Однако в настоящее время в МПОГ/ДОПОГ/ВОПОГ не имеется ссылки на стандарт, касающийся клапанов.
Article 41 provided a critical safety valve .	Статья 41 выступает в роли чрезвычайно важного предохранительного клапана.
The valve tappet comprises a device for attachment of a valve plate.	Толкатель клапана содержит устройство крепления тарелки клапана.
The fine fuel filter is provided with a high-pressure shut-off valve and a low pressure baffle valve .	Фильтр тонкой очистки топлива снабжен обратным клапаном высокого давления и дроссельным клапаном низкого давления.
We’re going to be replacing your aortic valve with a porcine valve .	Мы собираемся заменить вам аортальный клапан на свиной клапан.
This is the lotus valve . 50% of people with aortic valve defects don’t survive a year after diagnosis.	Это транскатетерный аортальный клапан 50% пациентов с недостаточностью аортального клапана не живут и года, после постановки диагноза.