By Getzzzonked | Follow on Twitter
Part 3: Steam Console
This year is set to be a big year for the gaming industry. In the way of consoles, there is a lot of stuff that’ll be arriving in stores later this year with even more exciting projects in development.
This is the third part of the Next Gen Console series. You can read Part 1 on the Xbox 720 here, and Part 2 on the PS4 here.
Although the PS4 and 720 are the big Next Gen names people think of, there are in fact two other names, both from companies from outside the console market, that are working on Projects in 2013. I’m going to talk today about Valve Corporation’s new ‘Steam Console’.
Valve and Steam
Valve are a relatively unknown company in the console market, so I’m going to presume you’ve never heard of them. They were set up in 1996 by ex-Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. They released their first game, Half-Life, in November 1998, to huge critical acclaim, winning more than 50 PC Game of the Year Awards. The Half-Life franchise has sold over 20 million units to date. Not bad for a game no one wanted to publish.
The company are probably most famous for their Steam program, (or maybe for winning lawsuits against massive corporations…), which in late 2012 had more than 30 million active users. Steam can be used to download, launch, patch and buy games, as well as socialise with friends. Since Steam has released in 2002, companies have tried to mimic it’s design. EA released Origin with their game Battlefield 3, but unfortunately all Origin (and all of its bugs and glitches) will ever be to most gamers is a massive pain in the arse.
As a private corporation, Valve are very secretive about their finances, but a recent article in Forbes revealed that Valve and Steam could easily be worth billions. This is a corporation making a nearly $350,000 per employee.
In short, Valve are a very successful company.
Valve Software’s Half-Life, it’s first game released in 1998
