Why doesn’t Valve have a stock?

[󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡]

I mean, I get that they’re 100% okay as a private company, but the public adore Valve. They adore Steam, TF2, all Valve games really.

So imagine how much their stocks would be invested in.


But even beyond stocks, there should at least be a way the public and people can show their trust and love of Valve for them.


Valve has changed the world with their worlds they made online. But the community is in a stand still because we can’t do anything our own in their benefit.

[Kargor]

Stocks are the last thing you want. It basically means selling your company to the same people that are already destroying EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard etc. -- "investors" wanting more and more money.

[ReBoot]

Take a look at EA, Ubisoft, Activision and all the other companies for whom shareholders are the primary customers. Do you really want Steam to become a "First, rip the buyers off, second, repeat"-kind of place?
If you want to show Valve some love, grab a couple dozen copies of Artifact and run a giveaway.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Stocks are the last thing you want. It basically means selling your company to the same people that are already destroying EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard etc. -- "investors" wanting more and more money.

It's not even a matter of wanting more , its a matter of the companies trying to both live up to the promises they made to the investors and at the same time trying to increase trhe value of those shares.

Example. If a company promises that the value of their stock will increase by X% over Y period to get people to buy the stock , or says they'll pay out Z dividends, well they're kinda backed into a corner. If it fails to meet the projection, the stock prices fall and its valueation and capital fall.

[Satoru]

Steam is a private company and only sells equity in the company privately

[Schlappohr Pyro]

Gabe owns Steam. Probably has a certificate on his wall that says "Steam: share 1/1"

[SpunkyJones]

God no, steam would be all done. You’d want steam held accountable to wall street estimates, and worry about stock holders?

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by SpunkyJones:

God no, steam would be all done. You’d want steam held accountable to wall street estimates, and worry about stock holders?

As has been pointed out. it's rather clear what such has done to companies like EA, Bethesda/Zenimax, Blizzacti, etc.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Steam is a private company and only sells equity in the company privately

Yeah. I have no clue who runs Valve (and by extension, unfortunately, Steam as well), but they do leave the impression that they care about long term stability.

[talemore]

Stock means you as maker(s) of the company has to share your profit. EA for example, the creator of EA left the company and went bankrupt after creating a new company whose name was 3DO, who mostly only known for arcomage. EA has no owner, except for the share holders.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

What do you mean the community can't do anything? Valve profits on market transactions, game sales etc. People make suggestions, participate in the beta's and so on to improve the platform. These are all 'things'.

Owning shares has nothing to do with "love" or "adorement" on the macro scale. Sure, perhaps there are some individuals who would buy a few shares cause they 'love' Steam, but the majority, would be purchased by people looking to make a return and then some on that investment. Many of which wouldn't care about the company itself, but only what the company can do for them. And that if not checked, can lead companies down some bad roads. Not always mind you, but I don't see any incentive for Valve to even consider that risk considering one would assume....financially they are doing very well.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by Satoru:

Steam is a private company and only sells equity in the company privately

Yeah. I have no clue who runs Valve (and by extension, unfortunately, Steam as well), but they do leave the impression that they care about long term stability.

Gabe Newel does.

[8ullfrog]

those stock market shows are schizophrenic and will state the exact opposite point the next week. "Consumer confidence grows over past three years!" "Consumer confidence continues a three year drop!"

It's a racket.

[andoblock]

Valve could sell shares up to 49% if it wanted to and would still control the company EA couldnt get full control. Though i imagine if valve did put all there shares up EA would be in real quick to buy shares follow by MS. I can just see EA and MS fighting to the death on who would control valve. EA would lose against MS. Even if you had Activision MS would still win.

[WolfEisberg]

There is a massive difference between running a company to make a profit vs running a company that is obligated to make more profit from the quarter/year before. The difference is in the buisness decisions. You get totally different presure between the 2.

AAA PC gaming has been destroyed because of the AAA market going public stock. But thank goodness we have the indy scene which for the most part are not in public stock and the good games of the indie scene tend to be excellent in fun, innovation, and creativity and completely destroy what the AAA market pukes out.

[ReBoot]

Yeah, the whole obligation to make more and more money (rather than just making heaps of money) ironically explains AAA lies. The good old "Games are too expensive to make, hence pay2win mechanics in premium-priced games"-excuse despite EA and Activision growing tenfold in value (that's Activision, EA grew less although still significantly) makes sense given that shareholders don't care about worth, they only care about growth. We've had games generating half a billion sales within few days and still performing below expectations.

Let me change the tune. Theres no excuse for that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Unrealistic expectations aren't an excuse to spill obvious nonsense.