14 DAY TRIAL // A number of employees, some of them important for the long-term plans of the company, have been let go from developer Valve in the last 24 hours as the well-known studio makes a number of critical decisions about its future.
A clear list has not been offered and most of those who have left Valve are unwilling to speak on the record about the events that led to this decision.
Sources are telling Gamasutra that the employees left mostly because of companywide challenges rather than because of problems with their individual job performance.
Using an employee register that’s no longer available to the public, various sources have compiled a partial list of those affected:
Jeri Ellsworth – a designer working on controller prototypes. Jason Holtman – the director of business development who was in charge of Steam distribution, Steamworks integration and Source engine development; Moby Franke – a character designer on Half Life 2 and art leader on Team Fortress 2; Keith Huggins – an experienced film special effects artist; Tom Leonard – a programmer who worked on Half Life 2, Left 4 Dead and other projects; Realm Lovejoy – an artist with experience with the Portal franchise; Marc Nagel – a developer who worked on Half Life and on Left 4 Dead; Bay Raitt – another artist with experience with the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies; Elan Ruskin – an engine programmer and gameplay developer; Matthew Russell – animator who worked on Alien Swarm, Team Fortress 2, and Portal 2;
It’s unclear whether Valve is aiming to streamline its structure or the company simply wants to head in another direction in the near future, which does not include the above mentioned personnel.
The company is well known for its secrecy and for only offering information about its video game projects when it absolutely has to.
Valve is rumored to be working on Steam Box hardware, a new Left 4 Dead and another Half Life title.