14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has confirmed that it doesn't want any exclusive games for its SteamOS operating system or the Steam Machines computers, not even a potential Half-Life 3, as that would keep titles from reaching all fans.
Valve surprised quite a few gamers back in September when it confirmed an array of things, including the SteamOS Linux-based operating system, or the Steam Machines initiative.
Now, during a few recent interviews, Valve has confirmed that it's not forcing game developers to make exclusive experiences for those platforms, and that not even games made by itself, like the oft-rumored Half-Life 3, will be exclusive to SteamOS.
"It's against our philosophy to put a game in jail and say it only works on Steam Machines," Valve's Doug Lombardi told The Verge. "It works best on Steam Machines, perhaps ... but to get to exclusives or anything else just wouldn't be our style."
According to Valve's Anna Sweet, this philosophy is shared with game developers from around the world, as the studio wants fans to be able to access their favorite titles on all sorts of platforms and from different places.
"Whenever we talk to third-party partners, we encourage them to put their games in as many places as possible, including not on our platforms," she told IGN. "Because we think that customers are everywhere, and they want to put their games wherever customers are. That would go against our whole philosophy, to launch something that’s exclusive to SteamOS or Steam machines.”
This philosophy might extend over time to other areas of the gaming industry, according to Valve's Greg Coomer, who wants a constantly evolving experience.
"We believe that, in maybe five years from now, folks will find it a quite antiquated notion that you should assume that when you change devices or platforms, that you lose all of your other games and friends. We’re hoping to unify, to get Steam to be as platform- and context-agnostic as possible. You shouldn’t have to shed that every generation, or even slightly shed it."
SteamOS and Steam Machines are set to debut next year.