14 DAY TRIAL // Valve is a developer that hasn't gotten along so well with the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. It has always focused on the PC and eventually on the Xbox 360. All of its games have been developed for these platforms, and it definitely seemed like it was going to stay that way. But help for the fans of Sony’s gaming device came from Electronic Arts which ported some of the developer's titles to their console. Speaking with Computer And Video Games, Valve's Doug Lombardi told them that the PS3 and Wii platforms attract his company more and more.
“We're always evaluating what's happening in the marketplace and certainly something that's happening in the last couple of months is that Sony's managed to sell some boxes. So whether or not you like developing for that platform, if they've got millions of people connected to that platform and buying their games you have to take it seriously. Out of the box they struggled with that, with the price point and whatever. The numbers showed they were way behind the other two. But they're in the race now, so we've got to re-evaluate that for what it is.”
He's certainly right, with Sony on the rise, you can't just ignore the PS3 market forever. But Lombardi also pointed out that the company is still targeting the PC and the Xbox 360, “We go PC first. Gabe Newell comes from the Windows background, a lot of the older guys at Valve all come from a PC background. But there are loads of younger guys who are into consoles. It was natural for us to decide that the first console we develop for internally would be the 360. But now that we've got a strong 360 team we're starting to look at ways to expand out business”.
Expanding it for the PS3 definitely seems to be their main objective. A Wii game would need a whole team to work on it, and for a company that isn't very big, it would be a risky endeavor. “It's much easier to take our games to the PS3, because of the horsepower of that hardware, than it is to the Wii because Wii is very different with its input devices and lower tech. If we were going for the Wii we'd have to go for a whole new game that's designed for that platform. That's an expensive proposition and riskier than just getting some good PS3 developers on board.”
Also, he pointed out that the chances for the much debated PS3 version of their upcoming title Left 4 Dead now has a 50-50 chance of being turned into reality. But one thing's for sure, it won't be launching this holiday season, the most probable date being early 2009.