Rumor: Bethesda to purchase Valve?


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Bethesda? Valve? Is there something going on between you two? Because we read this editorial by Eurogamer, and well, just look:

?However, it?s also worth watching closely what happens to Steam in the coming months. Unconfirmed industry scuttlebutt suggests that Zenimax ? the parent company of Bethesda, which made headlines back in June when it acquired legendary PC studio id Software ? is still on the acquisition trail, and has been making eyes at Half-Life creators Valve across the bar,? said the article.

If true, it?s certainly out of left field, but then, so was Zenimax?s annexation of id Software. Guess we?ll see what?s up in the coming months.

For now, though, speculate away!

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/26/rumor-beth...purchase-valve/

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Value must have so much more money than Bethesda though, surely?

EDIT: Oh, ZeniMax owns both id Software and Bethesda Softworks, so it would be ZeniMax's money. ZeniMax would have a good portfolio if they took Valve, too!

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That would be an awful idea. Valve, a company that can't get their games out on time, combined with Bethesda, a company that can never deliver a game without major bugs in it. Sounds like a match made in hell.

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Bethesda isn't looking to buy Valve, its the parent company Zenimax, reading the OP helps. Zenimax had the money to buy Id, who are were pretty big, I would reckon that they've got the money to buy Valve. However, I would be inclined to think that Valve won't sell since they are one of the most famous companies in gaming now. They're making it on their own easily, why would they need to be bought?

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That would be an awful idea. Valve, a company that can't get their games out on time, combined with Bethesda, a company that can never deliver a game without major bugs in it. Sounds like a match made in hell.

That's only because they got so caught up in their two new franchises to care about their "bread and butter" franchise. :p

On topic, I can't see Valve buying into this unless they're in trouble. At the moment, they're definitely not. They've got a console blockbuster on their hands, a PC game that's still profitable for them to keep pumping out free updates every few months, and a powerful digital distribution system that's healthy and thriving.

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Isn't going to happen, Valve exists as an entity without the oversight of a big publisher or owner sitting ontop of it telling it what to do.

I can't see Gabe & Co sacrificing said autonomy to release games when they feel it's done, to going back to a position where release is when the publisher thinks it's done. Just for a little extra cash.

The matter of Valve owning Steam would also probably lead to many complications, and may precipitate some publishers/developers pulling out.

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Yeah I very much doubt Valve is looking to be bought out or needs the help. As it is they are becoming one of the big distributers of PC games having left the competition behind in the digital space, let alone their games all selling huge volumes.

I can't see Gabe or anyone else there being that keen on it to be honest.

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That's only because they got so caught up in their two new franchises to care about their "bread and butter" franchise. :p

On topic, I can't see Valve buying into this unless they're in trouble. At the moment, they're definitely not. They've got a console blockbuster on their hands, a PC game that's still profitable for them to keep pumping out free updates every few months, and a powerful digital distribution system that's healthy and thriving.

Heh, of a slightly random note, its funny now how everyone loves steam. When it first came out, and during the beta, everyone bashed valve to hell and back for making it.

How times change, and yeh steam has improved massively.

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It's usually when game developer studios are at their biggest they get bought, when people think that noone can afford them and they have no reason to be bought, very few studios get bought out when they are cheap. but yet, every time people say this "the company will never sell they're bathign in money now", "They can't afford them they're too big and make too much money", and this is always the time when they get bought.

Also they may not be buying all of Valve, Valve may be considering doing the smart thing, separating Steam and Valve, the game studio, and selling of one of the entities to publisher.

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Heh, of a slightly random note, its funny now how everyone loves steam. When it first came out, and during the beta, everyone bashed valve to hell and back for making it.

How times change, and yeh steam has improved massively.

Steam is a hell of a lot different than it's original incarnation, it was originally a method to validate game installs to prevent copyright infringement. It is now a massive digital distribution software, thats one hell of a change.

Personally I can't see this happening, Valve isn't in trouble, Steam isn't in trouble, Gabe and Co seem happy to remain in control of Valve so Zenimax may be looking to buy but I doubt it will happen considering the current situation.

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^ I still don't care for Steam, personally. I don't like having to run an app to run my games. If it were just "download a game from Steam" and not be required to actually use Steam again to play it, I'd probably like it far more.

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^ I still don't care for Steam, personally. I don't like having to run an app to run my games. If it were just "download a game from Steam" and not be required to actually use Steam again to play it, I'd probably like it far more.

True, I actually quite enjoy it having all my game links in one window and being able to launch them or join friends games is a brilliant feature. I can understand the point of 'I have bought it so why do i need to continue running Steam' but there is no way around it apart from providing games without a form of copy protection. Plus it's a hell of a lot better than Starforce.

Steam is only using 50MB and considering all the features it offers me I think it's a great little app.

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It's usually when game developer studios are at their biggest they get bought, when people think that noone can afford them and they have no reason to be bought, very few studios get bought out when they are cheap. but yet, every time people say this "the company will never sell they're bathign in money now", "They can't afford them they're too big and make too much money", and this is always the time when they get bought.

Also they may not be buying all of Valve, Valve may be considering doing the smart thing, separating Steam and Valve, the game studio, and selling of one of the entities to publisher.

as a side note, looking at your xbox tag havn't you played forza 3 a little early :D

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as a side note, looking at your xbox tag havn't you played forza 3 a little early :D

I'm european. you know, the place in the world eith the oct 23rd release date, so no :p

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Rumors are rumors, and this one smells pretty bad.

I'd simply not want Valve to be purchased mostly due to Steam. Would hate to see any negative changes come to such a great distributor.

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That would be an awful idea. Valve, a company that can't get their games out on time, combined with Bethesda, a company that can never deliver a game without major bugs in it. Sounds like a match made in hell.

But when the do get games out on time (l4d2) it causes an uproar!

Anyway valve makes great games, thats all that matters to me.

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There's already some controversy out there about Valve being both a developer and effectively a publisher (as the operator of an online delivery service).

I actually think that a lot of the companies out there that are hesitant to use Steam now might embrace the platform if Zenimax bought Valve, then put an iron curtain between Valve and Steam by separating them within their company or by spinning off Steam completely.

If this did happen, then who would Zenimax go after next? They would already have two of the dominant engine designers in house.

Also how would this affect Valve's current strategy of just hiring / buying any people / companies that do interesting work with their engine?

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