Gabe Newell is quite confident in the PC platform, as opposed to consoles

Oct 7, 2011 19:21 GMT  ·  By

Gabe Newell the boss of Valve Software, the company behind very successful franchises like Half-Life, Left 4 Dead or Portal, not to mention the extremely popular Steam digital distribution service, believes the PC is still quite relevant for the gaming industry, especially since sales are still going strong.

As always, lots of console-loving people are claiming that the death of the PC platform is coming soon, highlighting that many developers are now choosing to release games only for consoles like the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, skipping or forgetting about the PC altogether.

As you can imagine, Valve boss Gabe Newell doesn't really think so, especially since the company's Steam digital distribution service is doing so well and with titles like the recent Portal 2 selling better on PC and Mac than on consoles.

Speaking with PC Gamer UK, via CVG, Newell emphasized that PCs will still be loved by many gamers for the freedom the devices offer.

"People like their PCs. There are huge numbers of them and each person gets to have the one that they like rather than the one that someone else has defined for them. There were 350 million PCs sold last year so the economies of scale are tremendous so you get great value for money."

With consoles being strictly pre-built and surrounded by harsh policies from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, Newell is confident that PCs are still going to be loved by those that don't want any restrictions on their gaming experiences.

What's more, the Valve boss also highlighted the philosophy of his company, and how he just wants to work with great people, and reap the success only after that.

"For me, it's always been about opportunities to work with people I really like and respect. And to build stuff. In that sense, as Valve has been more successful, it's brought in an even more talented and stronger group of people for all of us."

Valve is currently working on two big projects, Dota 2, which is set to enter open beta soon enough, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which goes online in early 2012.