25th April 2010 - In our 4th developer profile, we look at the prolific PC and Xbox 360 developer VALVE.
Developer Name: Valve Corporation
Subsidiary Of: Independent
Founded: 1996
About: We all know and love Half-Life. Its one of the best selling and top award-winning games of all time. But Valve aren’t just responsible for this influential behemoth. No, Valve have been the driving hand of many amazing video games, both critically and commercially successful. No doubt we’ve all heard of a little game called Counter Strike? How about Left 4 Dead? And what about a little piece of software going by the name of Steam?
Valve are one of today’s most important video game developers, and having such a huge catalogue of great games under their wing, one of the most respected and not to mention original. All of Valves games push boundaries and give players something more than whatever they’ve come to expect from other companies titles. Counter Strike is the most successful online shooter of all time. Half Life is widely considered the greatest PC, if not all-round game of all time. And to top it off, Valve games account for over 80 percent of the PC online action market. That’s no easy feat.
Apart from games though, Valve is also the creator the massive Steam software. Steam is the worlds primary content delivery software, with over 25 million users worldwide. Steam features over 1,100 downloadable titles, ranging from a-few-dollar costing mini games to all of the industries premiere releases, on time every time. Buying games from steam also usually cuts a decent amount off the price.
It just goes to show that Valve are important. They are leading the way for many future developers, and taking the industry in new directions every step of the way. From top tier games to some very desirable software, Valve are game developers that truly know no bounds.
Past Games:
Half-Life (PC/PS2, 1998)
Team Fortress Classic (PC, 1999)
Counter Strike (PC, 2000)
Day of Defeat (PC, 2003)
Half-Life 2 (PC/Xbox/Xbox 360/PS3, 2004)
Counter Strike: Condition Zero (Xbox, 2004)
Team Fortress 2 (PC/Xbox 360/PS3, 2007)
Portal (PC/Xbox 360/PS3, 2007)
Left 4 Dead (PC/Xbox 360, 2008)
Left 4 Dead 2 (PC/Xbox 360, 2009)
*Note: Team Fortress 2 and Portal were released with Half-Life 2 and its 2 expansions in ‘The Orange Box’, 2007. This is when the original 2004 release of Half-Life 2 was first released on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
**Note: There have been many remakes/expansions/updates of lots of Valve games. These were not included in this list.
Upcoming Games:
Portal 2 (PC/Mac/Xbox 360, 2010)
Article By John Elliott