Update: Valve says the rumor is untrue.
The Inquirer is reporting this morning that Google is close to an acquisition of Valve for an undisclosed price. According to the Inquirer, its “well-placed sources” say the acquisition could happen “any second now.”
Aside from developing games like Half-Life 2 and Portal, Valve is a developer of the Source game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. And it’s Steam (more than any other facet of the company) that Google may have its sights set on.
At first glance, Google acquiring Valve seems a little unorthodox. But considering Steam is the best game distribution platform on the market, maybe Google is trying to solidify its position in that space and branch out from its comfort zone.
Steam is so easy to use and such an ideal platform for so many that it currently services over 15 million active users who are downloading over 440 games — a feat that’s simply unrivaled in that market and worth quite a bit to a company like Google.
But the question still remains: does Google, a service provider and content distribution company in its own right, really want to distribute content through Steam? More importantly, does a Valve acquisition fit?
It’s tough to say. Ostensibly, Google would want to acquire Valve to take control over the digital distribution business, which is ushering in an era of downloading games directly to consoles without physical media and the company could even use it as a new means of software distribution. And by owning some of the most celebrated titles in gaming to-date, Google could also establish a foothold in the gaming business.
In the end, whether or not Google acquires Valve will depend on its desire to extend itself into a new market. And when taken at face value, it seems like a smart move.
Why, why, why? Terrible news for VALVE fans… While the gaming industry could use a few new faces amongst all the consolidation, VALVe is the bread and butter for PC gamers… it’s the only thing we have left.
7 million results for search term “TechCrunch” that is not a company that knows how to organize anything. only needed 1 result. what we can now call “search spam.” how can anyone praise this company for having organizational skills and keep a straight face is beyond me.
ValveLocator.com
http://www.vator.tv/pitch/show/MyLocatorcom
http://www.killerstartups.com/.....or-network
Dude, someone’s gotta tel you this so it might as well be me: you’re retarded. There are 7 million results because there are 7 million pages that mentioned TechCrunch. The beauty of Google is that it gives them to you in order of which one you most likely want.
Stop being such an idiot.
this is for you closet case mitch. anyday my friend.
http://seesmic.com/video/QTr4Qavbu5
duck.
@Locatordude, we will not sit back. If by “substance”, you mean show you our projects that do use technology to solve real problems, well, mean/ rude comments do not sit well with most people (see how most ignore you?) so we must be anonymous. I’m sorry, but you add nothing and I mean NOTHING to my we experience. you actually degrade it with your comments about spam because you are THE VERY DEFINITION OF SPAM. I don’t need to promote myself on TC, so no link necessary.
@Mitch, He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand that someone may want to see TC’s twitter or friendfeed profile, or the wikipedia entry. He thinks people just search “techcrunch” to go to the site. He doesn’t understand that most of us just use the RSS feed or use the address bar and type in the URL specifically. He must have a learning disability
Uhm Don, what do you mean by “does Google, a service provider and content company, really want to get into the content distribution game?
I thought that is what they were doing with half of their companies?
I think this is a very smart move (ofc depends on how much they paying) as I have steam on all my pc’s and they DL in the background and are on autostart so I don’t know half the time what I am DLing,… Things just turn up on my PC, which will be very good for distribution of new apps, codecs, or whatever they may want placed down on our hard drives.
Yeah, they do want to get into this market. Read the article on tinyCrunch about why Google could realistically take on the mobile gaming market head to head with Sony and Nintendo. Apple thought they would be able to, but their touch screen is limiting in game potential. Google can power game consoles now and partner with leading handset providers/console makers to disribute games. Distribution is the key in all of this.
Jason
tinyCrunch
Are you daft? They’re already in the content distribution game.
iGoogle, Google Reader, their new partnership with Seth McFarlane to distribute video content on the content network, the entire click to play content network etc, the Android App Marketplace… and YouTube?
What do you think these are if they aren’t examples of content distribution?
I think a better way of phrasing it would be… does Google want to get into the product distribution game?
Ta
-tobeconfirmed-
Bwahahahahahaha … I have not heard the word Daft for at least 15 Years ?
Is that a question or a comment?
“But the question still remains: does Google, a service provider and content distribution company in its own right, really want to distribute content through Steam?”
doesn’t this mean that Don realizes Google is already a content distribution game?
Microsoft has their own game studios - Google needs one too, right?
Of course! *sarcasm*
Seriously Don, you’re off base with the content distribution statement.
They’ve built their business off distribution. They take advertising content and distribute it to users more efficiently than anyone else. They’ve redefined distribution; pull rather than push.
check yourself before you wreck yo self!
Ooo awesome, yet another acquisition that Google will slowing kill off. Can’t wait to see the Valve go out in style like the Dodgeball team did (http://startupmeme.com/dodgeball-founders-quit-google/) — THUMBS DOWN!
The one difference being Valve already has a killer business. You know - one with revenue.
It’s a clear move against Apple’s iTunes/AppStore digital content distribution model, and I think, GOOG’s smartest buy of the year (even tho it’s not finished!). The fun in all this, is that it looks more like a challenger’s move than a leader’s move.
This must be for the Android AppStore.
Please don’t do this!
The only way Valve would sell is if they were offered obscene amounts of greenery. The double whammy of the Half-life franchise and Steam makes Valve very secure.
They don’t need Google and its not clear how Google needs them.
Steam is very good at getting user usage data and implementing DRM with little fuss and inconvenience to users. Probably another piece to go into Google’s long term cloud strategy.
Agree with the posters above.
Quite simply - 15,000,000 users means more users to push out Google services. However, I think even MORE SO that Google is trying to integrate its ADVERTISEMENT SERVICES INTO GAMES.
Why else buy a massive gaming distribution network ? Integrate your new found gaming advertisement technology into a huge online network which will provide you will millions of lines of data which can feed back into advertising.
For content distribution, think advertisement distribution.
Just what you want when you pop round a corner, a big flashing banner that lowers your FPS to 1 so you get wtfpwned ….
This isn’t a new concept (ads in games), but I don’t think we’ve seen it be abused or monetized yet (like Ghostbusters movie /shudder). I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google aggressively push ads into games if this acquisition goes through.
I’m also wondering what the big picture here is, since if they only wanted the distribution technology they could have gobbled up Raptr or built it themselves.
Any clue about price paid for this acuisition?
A link to Valve would help I think.
http://www.valvesoftware.com/business/
it’s gonna be mainly about the ingame ads in famous games like counterstrike and others i think
That was my first thought too.
I can’t wait to be playing Half-Life: Episode 3 and see adds for Red Lobster or STD treatments.
Or playing Left4Dead and seeing trailers for… whatever zombie movie is coming up. Or better yet, life insurance!
At least Microsoft isn’t in talks. “I looks like you’re trying to kill that kraut! Want some help?”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Valve does *!NOT!* need google. These two companies should NOT be even mentioned in the same article or be see in proximity of each other.
Most logical solution for Google would be to buy Valve and then sell the game development unit(s) of the company to someone else and keep the Steam. I don’t exactly see Google as the developer for next Half-Life or Counter-Strike..
Fu*k! I like Google but i really want valve to be independent. Please say no to this deal!
Why is it that only one other person in this post saw the obvious… They’re buying valve as an application distribution point for Android applications.
Amazing. I positively envy these guys.
why not if both are big companies
or atleast an ad deal? in-game ads are hot and it would be surprising if google didnt venture into this market..
Valve’s Steam platform collects user data, for instance about your PC configuration and your usage habits. For me it’s obvious that Google is interested in that data in the first place, which can be easily linked to their already gigantic pool of user data.
Didn’t I talk about this, probably a month back: iPhone App Store’s $30 Million May Be Second Best … Google should acquire Steam and sell more content through this amazing platform… Way to go Google!!
*random comment*
Please read first and then comment that its a random comment
How very 90’s Microsoft of them.
I think a lot of people read too much into stuff like this, Google is a massive company, mainly in search, but it has its hands in a lot of things related to the internet and technology; at the end of the day, buying Valve would just add to the profits of Google, thats what matters to them and their investors, and rightly so.
Thats not to say Google will start buying supermarket chains soon, Valve is software, their specialty.
Valve + YouTube + ? = iTunes
Its because they want to roll out G-man as the friendly face of the google network…
Hot Damn! Google is just aiming for owning everything… Valve, don’t be a sellout!!
Google is awesome but you already knew that.
Google doesn’t want Valve so much as they just want to own their technology before anybody else can get their hands on it. Valve will likely go on just as before.
maybe this is a response given how big xbox/xbox-live is for microsoft; can you imagine a google gaming console?
This is HUGE news. Especially for the Lively team and platform. This shows that Google is finally breaking out from the misconception that gaming technology and platforms are only good for gaming. The ramifications go far beyond gaming.
Valve says “no” to the rumor.
http://kotaku.com/5051164/valv.....+out-rumor
[who will buy Valve?]
I will for 3.50.
I don’t see this happening. Casual and Flash games would be a much better fit for Games.Google.com. Valve is more about hardcore gamers (CS, Team Fortress 2, etc) an area that’s better handled by a small company not a media giant.
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com.....e-buy-out/
and here i am citing mtv as a source.
google 360
This would be a VERY bad move. God knows how much Google would screw the only thing that is left of online gaming.
A massive ‘OMG’ if this happens!!