How Valve Works and Why it Affects TF2

Have you ever wondered why TF2 gets hardly any updates but CSGO and Dota 2 get one every week? This guide explains it all, hopefully.

(CSGO doesn't get an update every week, it was a joke)

Why did I make this guide?

I noticed a lot of people don’t have any idea how Valve works. This guide should tell you how Valve works and why it affects their games, but more specifically, TF2.

Edit 10/23/17: Woah, this thing has over 14,000 views? Thanks everyone. I also appreciate those of you who are posting constructive critism in the comment section. Thanks. I'll be sure to update this guide on a semi-regular basis (whenever I feel like it).

Foreword

This guide isn’t talking about VAC, or new updates, or whatever new game Valve is making. Instead, it’s talking about how Valve, the company that made Steam, TF2, and a lot of other cool stuff, does things. And yes, Valve does things. If you notice any problems, mistakes, or wrong stuff, please tell me in the comments, thanks.

Understanding Valve's "Flat" Hierarchy

Valve isn’t like other companies. In Valve, there are no managers, or even bosses in general. One common misunderstanding most people have is that Gabe Newell runs the company. This isn’t really the case. Gabe Newell is the co-founder and president of Valve but, he doesn’t run the company or give orders to anyone. This means that employees can basically work on whatever they want. This allows employees to work on updates (and games) without someone telling them what to do. Now, that does sound bad but you must remember that Valve employees aren’t complete idiots so they get a lot of work done. Valve’s “flat” hierarchy is good in some situations but, could be bad in others, I’ll explain the pros and cons later.

If you want to learn more about Valve's hierarchy, I recommend that you read the Valve Employee Handbook link I put in the "Good Reads" section.

Some Stats

This link shows how many people work at valve. http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/people.html

There are over 300 people who work at valve. The list shown includes some people who have left valve and it hasn’t been updated in some time so, it’s not very useful. However, it shows that there are no managers or people who are “more important” than others.


If you want, you can check out Gabe Newell’s current net worth at Forbes’ website: https://www.forbes.com/profile/gabe-newell/

This shows how much money Valve makes from Steam, CSGO, TF2, and Dota2. Also, Valve boasts they have the highest income per employee.


You should also check out the highest played games on Steam by going here: http://store.steampowered.com/stats

Notice that Dota2, CSGO, and tf2 are always in the top 5 (or 10) played games.

Pros and Cons of Valve's "Flat" Hierarchy

Pros:

Employees can work on things that they feel are important instead of things a manager thinks is important

Employees can work on anything they want instead of being on a team that works on one product. For example, employees from the CSGO team can help the TF2 team on an update while people from the Half Life 3 team work with the Dota 2 team.

In theory, nobody should feel more important or inferior compared to others. However, new employees could feel inferior around more experienced employees.

I’ll update this guide when I think of other pros

Cons:

Employees tend to “bandwagon” on new things. This con has its own section because it’s important.

Less regulation and management could create problems.

I’ll add more cons when I can think of them

Stop Talking About Gabe Newell

Seriously, I've seen so many people complaining about Gabe Newell and I feel it's very important to address this issue.

Gabe Newell Doesn't Run Valve Like We Think

yep, he doesn't run the company like we think he does. Remember how I said Valve is a "flat" company? That applies to Gabe as well. He is the president of Valve, but that doesn't mean he tells people what to do. Remember, ever since Valve's creation there have been no managers or bosses at Valve. In the Valve Employee Handbook (created by Valve) it says: "if he (Gabe Newell) tells you to put a favorite custom knife design into Counter-Strike, you can just say no" (page 12). However, Gabe recruited the whole Portal 1 team himself. The Valve Employee Handbook also states that "we (Valve) do have a founder/president, but even he isn't your manager." (page 4).

That means you can stop saying: "Gabe give us x" or, "Gabe is fat becuase of hl3!!" or "Gabe update x and x and port this to source 2!!!". The worst one is: "I hate Gaben", why would you hate a Valve employee? It's rude and you should go outside and keep your mind off video games.

Stop Insulting Gabe Newell

Seriously, this childish behavior must stop. Gabe Newell is just the CEO of a video game company that doesn't have any managers. Valve employees don't need to listen to him which means that he has less authority than we think. However, I would like to think that his employees listen to him.

Also, stop calling me Gabe Newell in the comment section.

"Bandwagons" at Valve

As I mentioned above, Valve has no managers. This means when a new product is made like VR, a lot of employees shift their focus on that new product. This is good and bad. For example, have you checked how many updates VR has received in the last month? I recommend doing it now. On September 12, 2017, SteamVR received around 12 updates on the same day. Although a lot of these updates are small bug fixes and stuff, SteamVR gets an update around 3 or 2 times a week. Now look at TF2, it’s one of the top played games on Steam and everyone knows that yet, it doesn’t get a 3rd as many updates as CSGO or VR. The same idea applies to Dota2, which gets a lot more updates than CSGO and TF2, but less than SteamVR.

So, why does Valve like VR so much even though almost nobody owns a VR headset? This video explains most of that:

Source: Valve News Network
I recommend you check out this guy’s channel, he cares a lot about TF2 and what Valve is doing. (also, Mr. skeletal in the back is Gordon Freeman).


TL; DR, when a new product ships at Valve, a large percentage of employees tend to work on that new product. That can be good for the new product, but bad for older products like TF2.

So Why Doesn't TF2 get that many Updates???

Most Valve employees would like to work on something newer that’s easier to work on. In this video:

Source: Valve News Network
We learn that the TF2 team has a super low amount of devs. This is a pretty big problem. A lot of employees want to work on newer products because the older games use an old game engine so, this leads to abandoning the old game (TF2). In the video, we can tell that the TF2 team is a really dedicated force of developers who genuinely care about the game. The only problem is that everyone else wants to work on the newer, better stuff (ex: VR) because they use a better game engine (source 2), and are just easier to use. Unfortunately, I don’t think TF2 will get updates any faster.

Good Reads (links to other stuff)

Valve’s official website (hasn’t been updated in a long, long time)

Valve’s list of employees (outdated)

Consider reading Valve’s handbook for new employees

Also consider checking out Valve News Network: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5RKbiAPqSC_mUIjCpx3xg

Steam’s top played games

I’ll add other links if necessary.

Conclusion (not really)

Valve is a funny company, they don’t do things like others. They’re also really good at making video games and other things. Valve’s also good at making everyone frustrated and confused.

Anyway, I’ll be updating this guide with additional information and facts. Stay tuned and consider liking this guide. Thanks, and have fun.

Also, if you notice any problems, please tell me in the comments. I don't want to spread fake news!

[Yoshifan360]

ok GABE NEWELL

[the cake is a spy]

BIG UPDATES? Or they are having a rest after all the hard work.

[Dr. Dispenser]

@marinesciencedude: very true

[Dr. Dispenser]

I feel sorry for the TF2 team.

[seidensha employee of the year]

“Half-life 3 team”

[Clan Wolf]

im particularly worreid about loot boxes banned. valve needs to speak more about this. one guy Kyle Davis, said they see crates as not really gambling, just random chance. so right there, you know our pov and theres do not align. i think crates as a distribution model can easily be replaced by another way.

Again valve prolly don't see it this way either. bullshit aside, we want more assurances then just we have legal teams working hard. While the services get turned off in each country. Valve you so far got the contempt of one court! this doesn't go down well and they had over a year to do something about crates knowing some governments see this gambling. fuck im annoyed.

[Clan Wolf]

nvm found it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHC-uGDbu7s
economies pdf slides

[Clan Wolf]

hey i'm trying to find slides valve employees showed of tf2 growth. the sit down talks dont show projected slides. anyone know?

[76561198220622160]

And could you say that I gave this idea? It's ok if you don't

[76561198220622160]

Here is a pro: No arguing about ideas since anyone can work on anything.