What happens when Gaben dies/leaves?

[JJD]

Does he have an heir? I don't want to see Steam turn into a disaster like Blizzard

[Tev]

Let me get my 8-ball.

But seriously, I doubt Valve itself would change all that dramatically.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

He has a son. But the company has other top employees that will take over.

[Count_Dandyman]

Well seeing as theres no way in hell Activision could ever scrape up enough money to buy control of Steam I don't think you need to worry about that one.

[Phantom]

Valve is company with multiple employees.

I think your answer lies in that statement.

[Tev]

Much like Apples to Or- Valve.

Apple didn't change all that much infrastrurewise when Steve Jobs died.
I still dislike that company so much.

[☆ƧQυiяяєL♫]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

He has a son. But the company has other top employees that will take over.

The corporation charter will declare the young Gray Newell will be rushed in as CEO as the new ruler of Valve, all hail the new king. Other top employees will be Gabe's favorite assistant and personal office janitor. All was foretold in the company's mission statement many moons ago, so mote it be.

Probably the other cofounder, Mike Harrington might step in but it's hard to tell if Activision will challenge this decision... in a duel with muskets.

[🌴Phil337™🌴]

- New CEO
- Micro$oft buy Valve

In most of cases make changes with disaster.

[☆ƧQυiяяєL♫]

Originally posted by phil337™ mapper:

- Micro$oft buy Valve

Monty Pythons - Meaning of Life - The Crimson Permanent Assurance ("More TF2 Hats")

https://youtu.be/aSO9OFJNMBA


Monty Pythons - Office Pirates - Victory Song

https://youtu.be/fb3uCCjH9G0

[J4MESOX4D]

Well Valve is a privately owned company so their ownership infrastructure is not publically disclosed but we pretty much know Gabe Newell is the majority owner with other employees who own a percentage or stock options.

Many things could happen - Gabe may leave his share of the company to his immediate family upon his death with his son taking over or he may sell his portion before retirement and it could end up in the hands of a major company who may even buy the rest out and then float it on the stock market. It is also unlikely the other owners in the company have enough combined to secure the company as a whole though.

Valve will not last forever in the current form - just look at how the likes of Sega and many other AAA publishers have changed over the years. Even Valve have changed Steam to be a money machine rather than a platform to champion great PC games. It's far too complex to even speculate and probably a very long way off from a major change behind the scenes.

Originally posted by Count_Dandyman:

Well seeing as theres no way in hell Activision could ever scrape up enough money to buy control of Steam I don't think you need to worry about that one.

Activision could easily raise enough - they could even float at zero and walk away with a majority share 24 hours later just through selling shares through external capital alone. If they put an intent out that they wanted to secure a majority stake in a company like Valve; shareholders would be throwing money at them all over the world even if they would get endlessly diluted.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by phil337™ mapper:

- Micro$oft buy Valve

Steam 10 will be so much better, and it has a clock!

[c313]

Nothing will happen.

Gabe at this point is just the face of the company, sure he does other projects, but at this point in time hes mainly the face of Valve.

When he goes, be it death or Retirement, replacing him will simply be assigning a new face for Valve.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

It could go to Harrington, it could go to a high level employee at Valve, it could go to the intern that brings him his coffee, it could go to his sons, it could go to his wife, it could go to the guy next door.

Simply put, we don't know.

[Mikasa Ackerman]

he will probably use the tf2 life extension machine or transfer his conciousness into a robot and then send us through virtual test chambers (just like glados )

[wuddih]

Originally posted by c313:

Nothing will happen.

Gabe at this point is just the face of the company, sure he does other projects, but at this point in time hes mainly the face of Valve.

When he goes, be it death or Retirement, replacing him will simply be assigning a new face for Valve.

ney, he is not just the face. Valve gotten more and more corporate over the years and he is probably one of the less but deeply respected people in the company that keeps up Valve values and looks for innovative things and that is what is mostly makes everything at Valve look so slow game-wise. there are alot of people in the company that want this faster and that is certainly one thing that will happen when gabe disappears. it is pretty disappointing for someone to work on a game just to get it archived and never meant to be released.

game-wise you could also say that Valve blasted all their bullets. the only thing they ever did was half-life, the rest were purchased ideas and acquisitions. they stopped doing that after portal to focus on VR and hardware. gladly they recently acquired a studio that is not known for relying on a single franchise and they hopefully do not get too infected by the "Valve laziness" ... then you can at least hope for a fresh game from Valve every 3-4 years.

Originally posted by Sleepy Yoshi:

It could go to Harrington

harrington left before Steam was even a concept.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

Originally posted by wuddih:

harrington left before Steam was even a concept.

You don't say! I guess I'll scratch him off the list of the 'serious contenders' I mentioned. I'm sure the intern who gets his coffee will be glad to know they were bumped up a spot.. ;)