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The history of Valve
Most recently, Valve Corporation turned nineteen years old.
Over the years, the company has given the world a considerable number of hits that have made it one of the leaders of the computer games industry.
Following the chronology of events, we will recall all the key stages of the formation and development of Valve, as well as tell you what management model the director of this corporation adheres to.
About the significant stages of the formation of Valve
The history of Valve began with the fact that Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington left Microsoft and decided to develop computer games instead of working on Windows operating systems.
This was done under the impression of the results of the work of their former colleague Michael Abrash, who left Microsoft a little earlier and joined id Software, which was engaged in the development of the Quake game.
By the way, Gabe Newell will later try more than once to lure this talented programmer to his own company.
Michael Abrash will join Valve only in 2011.
Anyway, on August 24, 1996, former Microsoft employees founded their own multimedia company called Valve Software.
All the formal papers were signed on the day of Gabe's wedding.
The natives of Microsoft planned to start with a science fiction first person shooter, so to speed up the development process of the game, they purchased a license for the Quake game engine.
By the way, they covered all financial expenses with their personal savings — at least for the first time.
Two years after its foundation, the young company Valve Software presented to the world its first game called Half Life.
The game was a phenomenal success.
The whole world has learned about Valve, which no one has ever heard of before.
Half Life was not only positively received by both critics and ordinary gamers, it was so professionally developed that some foreign publications called it one of the best in the history of computer games (for example, PC Magazine Gamer).
As the members of the team who worked on Half Life admitted, they did not expect such success.
The fact is that the vast majority of Valve developers were new to this industry and did not have a rich experience in developing computer games.
The popularity of the game was due to the advanced intelligence of opponents, as well as the presence of in game scenes.
Of course, after such a success, Valve immediately started developing the second part of the game.
However, it is important to note that already in 1999 a free SDK was developed that allows you to create game modifications.
Subsequently, this will lead to the appearance of such multiplayer shooters as Counter Strike and Team Fortress Classic.
In early 2000, Mike Harrington left the company and went on indefinite leave.
Gabe Newell bought out his share, becoming the sole owner of Valve.
Harrington returned to work only in 2005, when he founded his own company called Picnik.
His new business was focused on online photo editing services using a browser.
In the same year, the game Counter Strike 1.0 was released.
This story is well known: two enthusiastic developers downloaded the SDK set for creating Half Life modifications and developed their own multiplayer game, not suspecting what success awaits it.
Their very first versions of Counter Strike were so popular with gamers that Valve paid attention to it and invited two developers to work with them, promising them comprehensive support and assistance.
So Counter Strike ceased to be just a modification of Half Life and began to develop independently.
Before starting work on the second part of Half Life, Valve developed its own Source Engine and Steam service.
Speaking about the engine, it can be noted that it was distinguished from the previous one by more realistic "physics" and the ability to move and deform almost all objects in the game.
Half Life 2 itself was released in 2004 and made no less impression on users than the first part.
It has received a variety of awards from the "title" of the game with the best scenario to the "title" of the best PC game of all time.
In general, Half Life 2 has received over thirty different awards.
However, there were several circumstances overshadowing this success that disappointed fans of the Half Life series.
Firstly, the release of the game was postponed several times.
Secondly, users were required to perform online authentication and install the Steam service on their computers.
Players indignantly perceived the imposition of this service on them, and had every reason to do so, since the first versions of Steam worked unstable.
The appearance of the first versions of Steam
It is worth, perhaps, to tell you more about Steam, since its appearance played an important role in the development of Valve.
The release of this service took place in 2003, and initially it was intended to automate and simplify the process of updating games.
Later, a system of protection against dishonest players called Valve Anti Cheat (VAC) was built into Steam.
Then they started selling third party games through this service.
In a relatively short time, Valve has made Steam one of the most popular platforms for distributing games.
In fact, Valve has become a monopoly on the digital distribution of games, because it managed to do the same thing that iTunes did at the time.
The only difference is that Apple has changed the principle of selling and buying music, and Valve video games.
You can read more about the history of the Steam service in a separate article on this topic.
In 2007, Valve secured the title of one of the best computer game development companies.
This is mainly due to two events: the release of The Orange Box and the successful implementation of the Steam Community.
The Orange Box is a collection of games including Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode One, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2.
The last three games were new and highly anticipated.
In turn, Steam Community was a major update of the Steam service in order to improve the social component of the community of gamers.
For example, players could now join communities or invite one of their friends to play together.
According to statistics, at that time the Steam service was actively used by 15 million people.
In 2008, the game Left 4 Dead was released.
It was developed by the Turtle Rock studio, which in 2008 became part of the Valve company.
Although a year later, Turtle Rock announced that it was no longer part of Valve and would continue to develop independently.
Anyway, the game Left 4 Dead received a lot of positive reviews, and the emphasis on the collective interaction of gamers made it one of the best among cooperative shooters.
Already the following year, a sequel was released, which also received a lot of positive reviews from gaming publications.
In 2010, Portal 2 was released.
This first person puzzle was met by critics no less cordially than all previous Valve projects.
Moreover, for this game, Gabe Newell received an award at the GDC conference for innovation in the game industry.
There, at the conference, he said that he considers Portal 2 the best game in the entire history of his company.
For the next three years, Valve actively worked on additions to this game, such as, for example, Portal 2: Sixense MotionPack DLC and Portal 2: Peer Review DLC.
Portal 2 ads on buses in Seattle
In 2009, Valve invites the developer of the DotA map for the Warcraft III game.
In 2010, the company's office moved to a more prestigious and expensive area.
In the same year, Valve announces Portal 2.
Finally, in 2011, the company announced the release of the Dota 2 game and announced the acceptance of applications for participation in the beta test.
In order to popularize this game, The International tournament was held, at which, as everyone knows, the Natus Vincere team took first place.
An equally important event for the esports industry occurred in 2012, when the game Counter Strike: Global Offensive was released.
Like Dota 2, it has become one of the key esports disciplines.
The GameSpot portal called the new Counter Strike the same classic shooter, just seriously updated.
By the way, Valve did not forget about its software.
In the same year, the Steam client for mobile operating systems was released, which allowed gamers to keep in touch with each other and study the contents of the store away from home.
In 2013, Valve released its own operating system called SteamOS, which is still being worked on.
This operating system is being developed with the aim of introducing it into the Steam Machines game console, which will allow players to run PC games through a TV.
To date, Valve is working on many projects, starting from the new Source 2 engine and ending with its own virtual reality system.
This company has already had a huge impact on the gaming industry and esports, and there is no doubt that it will continue to do this in the future.
In itself, Valve's success is largely due to the company's management model, which Gabe Newell adheres to.
This is what we will talk about now.
Gabe Newell's Company Management Model
Perhaps, Valve owes its achievements to a kind of management model, which, despite everything, turned out to be very effective.
To begin with, Gabe Newell is not interested in having a higher education among potential employees of his company.
In an interview, he said: "You can get an MBA — and this does not mean that a person will be useful in your company.
Final grades donot say anything about a person.
Yes, many successful people have studied well, but it is not necessary that this is so."
Recall that Gabe Newell himself did not receive a higher education, because he was expelled from the university.
All this explains why Valve is so easy to hire simple enthusiasts who have shown their skills in practice, and not highly qualified specialists with good grades in the diploma.
The director of Valve may simply like someone's approach to work or problem solving, and this person may receive an invitation to work.
For example, something similar happened to the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis.
He wrote a blog about the economic situation in his country, which impressed Gabe Newell so much that he decided to invite a talented economist from Athens to work in his company.
It is worth saying that Gabe Newell strongly rejects the traditional hierarchical model of company management, where there are bosses, managers and subordinates.
He himself always follows this rule, setting an example to others.
For example, in the booklet that is issued to new Valve employees, it is written: "Of all the people in the company who are not your bosses, Gabe is not them to the greatest extent."
Moreover, Valve rarely hires people to solve specific tasks.
Employees are free to do what they see fit.
For example, the already mentioned Michael Abrash describes his first days in the company as follows: "I expected that I would immediately be given some kind of job.
Instead, I received several suggestions from colleagues who thought that I might need to take a closer look at such and such an area...".
With these words, Michael emphasizes that Valve employees do not have any fixed roles or responsibilities.
Gabe calls the positions assigned to employees, and, accordingly, the duties, "a hard drive", which has a bad effect on the results of work.
Therefore, no one gives out decrees at Valve.
Even the CEO.
Gabe Newell is sure that there is no need for formal management and career growth
In an interview, Gabe Newell said: "We do not closely monitor how much time our employees spend on sick leave or on vacation."
That is, anyone who works at Valve can stay on vacation and not go to work for several days, if they consider it appropriate.
And since there are no bosses at Valve, then you will not have to explain yourself to anyone.
"If we trust the decisions they make in development," says Gabe, " then we also trust their time management skills."
Finally, it is worth adding that all the furniture in the Valve office is equipped with wheels.
This was done with the intention that it would be as easy as possible for employees to join a group by joining, for example, several tables together.
Of course, Gabe Newell's management model may seem unconventional or even bizarre.
However, we can see that it works perfectly.
Eric Tstli 25 August 2015, 13: 42 9795 6
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#1
ya ryadom
25 August 2015, 19: 21
this is really interesting, and 10 times more interesting than an article about lawyers in esports or what's in that boring article?)
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#2
mr.Bes
25 August 2015, 20: 15
The management model pleased me, I read about it earlier, it was very interesting!
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#3
ZAECCCCCCCCC
25 August 2015, 21: 53
Very interesting, thank you!)
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#4
zeywar
25 August 2015, 22: 30
Very exciting!
Thanks!!!!!
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#5
Nessenwow
26 August 2015, 02: 55
Very interesting, thank you!)
+1
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#6
Ge5`er
27 August 2015, 18: 57
A successful and interesting article, thank you to the author!
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Natus Vincere (lat. – born to win) is a multi gaming esports club that occupies a leading position on the world stage.
During the five years of the club's existence, its teams have repeatedly won and defended the world champions titles in various disciplines, and also set several world records that are still in force today.
Natus Vincere players have attended more than a hundred tournaments and, in some cases, without getting on the podium, won 47 of them, becoming a real role model for fans of computer sports.
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