Google to buy Valve?!

[Wrestlevania]

I know it's hardly the most sensible place to go looking for news, but Internet dish-rag The Inquirer is reporting that "Google is going to be buying Valve any second now."

Seems utterly bizarre, but then Google are in the habit of spending a fair chunk on money to make a hell of a lot more. Especially if it's to pick up something successful early on.

[Thrik]

I'd say this has some serious credibility, regarding the notion of Google wanting Steam. It is indeed a fantastic system, and definitely the best in its field at doing what it does — especially now it has the tight social networking integration of Steam Community.

The downside I guess is that Google will inevitably want something out of it. Hopefully that doesn't eventually translate to ads.

[Wrestlevania]

The downside I guess is that Google will inevitably want something out of it. Hopefully that doesn't eventually translate to ads.

I think all they want is a nice, far slice of the digital distribution pie. They're not going to throw ads in there--certainly not for content you buy, at least. They've already got your money before you play it!

They might do something with the interface and website though, which might include adverts. But then Steam's littered with contextual and inoffensive self-promotion anyway; Google will not deviate from this, as it's a proven model [see AdSense].

[Nappi]

The downside I guess is that Google will inevitably want something out of it. Hopefully that doesn't eventually translate to ads.

Doesn't Steam have ads already? I remember seeing some awful German image ad in the update window that pops up when you are trying to launch a game that needs to be updated first. Haven't used Steam for a while so I don't know if the ads are still there.

Anyway, I have never found google ads to be that annoying and they don't clutter their services with them either. I'm actually keen to see what kind of improvements there would be if the rumours are true.

[Cigol]

I've only noticed (as Wrestle already pointed out) advertisements for relevant products on Steam itself?

It is indeed a fantastic system, and definitely the best in its field at doing what it does — especially now it has the tight social networking integration of Steam Community.

But is it really as fantastic as you say? I'm not going to be scared off by Toblix's bad experience (toblix complains pre-empted), but they have less functionality that most other services like XFire or Impulse and they don't really have much in the way of a development cycle - I mean, when should we expect the next batch of improvements... hell, are any even coming!

For me all they have going in their favour is the catalogue and Valve.

...and I'm a huge fan of STEAM and what it represents for PC gaming (something I can't see being taken away from it by anyone other than EA or Microsoft).

[Thrik]

Steam is always getting enhancements, albeit minor ones. I cannot imagine how it could be much simpler and quicker to do what it does, which is to deliver games with the smallest amount of fuss and then provide community/update services afterwards.

This is soon getting even better with the Steam-hosted saved games, configurations, and whatnot, which I'm really looking forward to. Ultimately your games will be completely 'in the cloud' and not tied to one particular computer, meaning you can reinstall somewhere else. Once implemented properly this is a seriously killer feature IMO.

What exactly do these other services have that gives them a one-up on Steam? I honestly can't think of anything else I'd like Steam to do beyond what it does already, cemented with the player networking stuff that makes joining friends' games and such a breeze.

[Cigol]

I remember that announcement but it completely slipped off my radar when writing the post. How very convenient

You're right, STEAM is a great service - designed to do exactly what they need it to, and they have some interesting plans for it in the future. I just wonder whether it isn't' doing enough in the short-term. I don't feel like they update STEAM nearly enough, like it stagnates. Maybe it's a perception problem, as clearly they have plans for it, but I guess I'd like it if they were more on the ball with keeping it fresh.

Both Impulse and XFire offer more community features in terms of blogging and so forth (frivilous though they are), and their customisation options are more numerous especially in terms of how the application operates. XFire features integrated screenshot & video capture plus voice chat and various other little nick-nacks which leave you questioning how a free service can compete in functionality with something like STEAM (especially with it's woefully under-developed achievements feature).

[Nappi]

http://kotaku.com/5051164/valve-kills-google-buy+out-rumor

[Ben]

Well there's been strong indications from my sources that this is/was true, but Valve have officially denied it according to Kotaku.

Edit - literally seconds out... hehe.

[toblix]

It's no surprise that a successful company such as Google would not buy a stinking pile of shit.

Also, have Google ever done anything related to games? It would be trés weird if they suddenly started with this.

[Thrik]

Yes.

[Nachimir]

Well there's been strong indications from my sources that this is/was true, but Valve have officially denied it according to Kotaku

It is strange just how hard this rumour has bitten, and how evasive both companies have been about it. Valve saying "This is 100% rumour" isn't a flat out denial, and Google seem to be refusing to just nix it.

My guess is that they've been talking about buying Steam but aren't very far in yet. It'd be very easy for rumours of buying Steam to turn into rumours of buying Valve, but as Kim Pallister and Nicholas Lovell, among others, point out, content doesn't make much sense for Google.

[n0wak]

I wouldn't say Lively is a game.

However, to make you go hmmmm, Google has bought an in-game advertising network. That really is their bread and butter and expertise, but at the same time they do have a massive distribution network and infrastructure so having some of that pie, where they could put their ads in, would likely be tempting. They did, after all, just release a browser after everyone said they're not in the browser game (and also bought SketchUp a while back).

[Thrik]

Well they're obviously not going to go into full-scale game development; anything they buy is only going to be peripheral to games. I'd say Lively is closer to an actual honest-to-god game than Steam is, to the point where it's fair to say Google has dealt with gamey things.

[Wrestlevania]

Google has bought an in-game advertising network

I'd completely forgotten about that! That throws a whole Saudi Arabia-worth of petrol on the rumour bonfire, surely?

And Google most certainly are in the content game now, with the explicit intention of driving "free" material via ad support. In this case, bespoke Seth McFarlane cartoons sponsored by Burger King.