Gabe Newell Attacks Closed Platforms, Names Apple

One of the most important people in the gaming industry has attacked the spread of the closed platforms, like the Apple created ones, predicting that they could soon dominate the entertainment market.

Speaking at a panel at the Washington Technology Industry Association organized TechNW conference in Seattle, Gabe Newell, who is the leader of Valve, has stated, “On the platform side, it’s sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms.”

He added, “I’m worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going – there’s going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say ‘I’m tired of competing with Google, I’m tired of competing with Facebook, I’ll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don’t like from my world.’”

Newell went on to say that he sees the Apple, presumably when it comes to the iOS devices and the App Store, as being a very closed platform that attracts customers with its design and then keeps them close as renters rather than owners.

Still the Valve leader believes that Apple is a big driver of innovation and might soon create a living room based product which will in time threaten the existence of gaming platforms from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and might even eliminate the need for the PC.

The stand against closed platforms and business models seems to be linked to a philosophical position for the Valve executive, who says that he expects bigger pressures in the future on open structures.

At the moment Valve, via its Steam service, is dominating the PC digital distribution space, although it might face a significantly more uncertain future and competition from the Electronic Arts made Origin and from GamersGate, Direct 2 Drive and Impulse.

Microsoft has been rumored to be working on a similar service for the Xbox 360.