Gabe Newell responds to Valve layoff speculation
While Valve talks freely about some aspects of its work, the Steam and Half-Life creator is always tight-lipped about business. However, the flurry of speculation, rumour and doomsaying which sprung from news of layoffs at Valve has provoked a statement from head honcho Gabe Newell. Nothing's being cancelled, he says, and no priorities or projects shuffled, but he won't discuss the layoffs.
While Valve talks freely about some aspects of its work, the Steam and Half-Life creator is always tight-lipped about business. However, the flurry of speculation, rumor and doomsaying which sprung from news of layoffs at Valve has provoked a statement from head honcho Gabe Newell. Nothing's being cancelled, he says, and no priorities or projects shuffled, but he won't discuss the layoffs.
Here's Newell's statement, as provided to Engadget:
We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.
Whispers on the wind said around 25 people were laid off, but this was unconfirmed. Valve certainly won't be the one to clear this up, so it'll remain a mystery for now.
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replyAlice O'Connor posted a new article, Gabe Newell responds to Valve layoff speculation.
While Valve talks freely about some aspects of its work, the Steam and Half-Life creator is always tight-lipped about business. However, the flurry of speculation, rumour and doomsaying which sprung from news of layoffs at Valve has provoked a statement from head honcho Gabe Newell. Nothing's being cancelled, he says, and no priorities or projects shuffled, but he won't discuss the layoffs.-
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so my only thought here, if I wanted to play devil's advocate, is that Gabe doesn't have to be honest in his response. And by that, I mean, since they are a private company with not external investors (that are known), he has not legal responsibility to tell the complete truth.
The only thing here that makes me feel like there should be any questioning of his statement is the sheer number. Either they cancelled a project, cutting features, or are making cuts do to costs or change in strategic directions. As someone who is on the inside of a private organization about the same size of Valve, I am sure we don't know the entire story.-
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Might not be a reduction. Maybe they are hiring people to replace sub par employees?
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Valve doubles in size every year. They're currently at 400 employes aprox. They probably hire more than 25 people a month at this point.
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Based on the jobs of the people fired, it almost looked like it was a company getting ready to split off from Valve. They had a good set of people across disciplines. Business, Art, Engine design, modeling and hardware engineering.
It almost looked like a small internal studio.
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So still no more half-life? ;)
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Oh good grief. Do you expect him to state explicit reasons why each member was let go to the press?
That isn't going to happen. No sound business would ever do such a thing.-
I don't expect a case-by-case explanation, but this announcement has no substance. It's The Wizard of Oz saying, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" It's Kevin Bacon screaming, "All is well!" It was just Gabe releasing a statement with the sole goal of releasing a statement. There is no candor in that statement; he is putting nothing on the table.
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Welcome to the Shack. Are you new here?
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I'm more relaxed now; those were the thoughts that were running in my head yesterday, but couldn't articulate into words until this morning.
I'm resigned to having to wait for whatever is the next step in Valve's PR cycle, because that's when they'll say something of substance. I think it's been made clear that PR and marketing is a foreign language to me.-
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By "say something of substance", I mean saying something about a new service offering, or a change of direction. Now was apparently not the time they wanted to do that, because Gabe almost literally said, "nothing is changing" (which I doubt, because if absolutely nothing changed, there wouldn't have been a 6% RIF).
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Gabe has been incredibly open about valve's roadmap over the last few weeks. He's made several public hour long speeches about the future of the industry and valve, along with a good few podcast interviews on the subject too.
Do you think he publicly goes out of his way to construct a web of lies for weeks on end, only to secretly move in another direction a week later?
You're not making any sense. Valve have been incredibly open about their general plans recently, they've just this moment confirmed nothing has changed.
Stop looking for a deeper story when one doesn't exist.
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You are the Cameron to my Ferris.
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That's how things are in our family.
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the part you need to grasp is it CAN'T have any substance. there is nothing to be put on the table.
further, this is an at will state. he can fire people for tying their shoes wrong. and he still wouldn't be able to tell you that. as he said, he can't even give the reasons for not... giving the reasons.
the correct way to handle this is the boilerplate stuff on both sides. "off to new adventures" or whatever. that way both sides have an amicable split and private things stay private, so future endeavors aren't tainted. everything is left to speculation which holds basically zero weight. the truth remains private, as it should. -
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Dude you can come out of your bunker now.
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Jesus man, you nearly gave yourself a heart attack last night because Gabe didn't pre-warn you about the firings. Now he makes a statement confirming what everyone believed, that this was nothing to worry about, and you're still screaming conspiracy. You're out of control dude.
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He addressed it by saying he wouldn't talk about it. There. addressed. done. move on.
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That's your basic political non answering speak. It would have been better to not answer at all to be honest. Let me be up front I'm in no way upset nor do I even really care. I just dislike answers of "I'm going to tell you I can't tell you." Then don't tell me, it's a complete and utter waste of everyone's time.
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oh I agree, it's a shitty non-answer.. but in the end it's Gabe's company and if he wants to act like Lucas, it's his prerogative and there's nothing anyone can do aboot it.
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perhaps my snarkiness is being misunderstood. I agree with you. it's nobody business but the company's.
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Its a legal thing more than anything. A company cannot bad mouth its former employees.
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It's not a waste of time. It's to temper the internet's torches and pitchforks before it runs away with itself.
Similar to when M&A announcements are swirling, the CEOs of both companies will say something, even if it's damn near nothing substantive. Or even the boilerplate "we can't comment on that" if necessary.
Since the internet is a piranha tank, you gotta put in SOMETHING to pacify it. You have to control PR or it will control you. -
Except not. The thing the Internet was all upset about was if Steambox or whatever would get cancelled as a result. He's flat-out said this has no bearing on any of that. As to why people were let go, that's none of anyone's business.
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It's over, Shut it all down. RIP Valve
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Every office needs a Terrible Terry Tate.
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Thanks Obamacare
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