The Art of Igrostroy - Valve

As we know, each studio that produces computer games has its own approach to business. Blizzard is famous for making only legendary games, each of which is licked and honed to perfection. Bioware makes the best of its kind role-playing games, as close as possible to the AD & D gaming system that fans of the classic "module" appreciate. Valve does perhaps the most successful games from a commercial point of view, despite the fact that the market plays by the opposite rules. But first things first.

A distinctive feature of the market of computer and console games is that the boxes, as a rule, do not linger long on the shelves of stores. If igrodela failed to collect the cream in the first few weeks, then there will never be a second chance. Someone accepts the status quo and does not decide to go beyond the accepted concept of all ... but in the studio Valve asked themselves: "What if we constantly update our games in order to keep the community of fans interested?" The result was so stunning, that the strategy has not changed since the founding of the studio, and gamers continued to buy, and buyers continued to play.

Doug Lombardi (Doug Lombardi), legendary in narrow circles, Valve’s vice president of marketing expressed his opinion on the concept and strategy of this famous studio. “The non-stop development of all our products has been the hallmark of the studio since Half-Life 1. It doesn’t matter what we did: we drew new maps for HLDM, created full-weight add-ons like Team Fortress Classic or programmed the Software Developers Kit, which later brought perhaps the most valuable result of the work our fans - Counter-Strike. In short, this is our standard practice. ”

In addition, Valve is different from many other game studios in that it does not have a general strategy for what to do after the game is released. Moreover, unlike standard situations, Valve uses this fact to its fullest: “The development plan after each release differs from game to game,” Doug continues, “the development of Team Fortress Classic, for example, began even before the stores entered the first Half-Life and it was originally planned that it will be a paid addon. But after the release of HL1, we concluded that we would release the addon along with the original game for the Half-Life anniversary for free. So we did, a year later, TF became available on the Internet to all owners of the original game. ”
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Perhaps it all sounds like a spontaneous decision, turned out to be lucky, I apologize for the pun, a good one. But in fact, the whole trick is to give the team of programmers, designers, screenwriters and everyone else time to see with their own eyes the reaction of the public to each product. “In a similar manner, new content for Team Fortress 2 began to be worked out even before the release of the first part. But every new thing, every achievement that was made in 18 months, is the result of tireless work with the audience. We give designers and the community the opportunity to cooperate - after all, these people buy our games, which means they know exactly what they want. Besides, this is how we get the main ideas for our future projects. ”

Nevertheless, the main question is that people who have ever been involved in the development of games will understand me when the turning point comes in which you need to realize that it’s pointless to concentrate on developing the same project continuation, or on something else? Most companies produce sequels, which reveal all the cards - all what people in the studio did for a time. And this is what Doug Lombardi says about this: “This is a good idea. Perhaps we will not release Team Fortress 3 until someone changes his mind. Speaking seriously, by releasing each game, we have no idea what its continuation or update will look like, whatever it is. Now we have no idea what will happen in TF3. But every day we make TF2 better and this gives us the main food for thought. Only a fool will give up all his labors, all the previous result in order to rivet something "fundamentally new." From scratch such things do not grow. "

All this, of course, not empty words. Valve's last creation, Left 4 Dead, was honed with a surgical scalpel so that sales would be kept at the same level for a long time. The game came out, received excellent ratings from both critics and the community, and now the free Survival Pack has been released. Gamers were delighted, many began to say that after this addon, any addition for which you have to pay money, "smells of rot." And the funny thing is that the game’s audience has noticeably increased. Perhaps only Blizzard knows how to manage their games so dexterously. But L4D is not MMO, not WoW with its dozens of millions of subscribers who donate blood every month to stay in touch. Another tricky trick was that Valve provided an opportunity for anyone who wanted to try the game for free for 24 hours with the addon. And if the game was liked by a potential buyer, he acquired it. With discount. That day, Left 4 Dead sales returned to the level at which they were held in the first week of release.

The totality of events in Valve is not a "pure coincidence." Every step, every little thing is thought out and verified - no one wants to offend the fans, otherwise the fans will remind of themselves immediately. “With each release of any add-on, any game, it doesn’t matter how we sell it - through Steam or stores (or more often in both ways) we experience a sharp jump in interest in each of our games. Because we know that if we release something new, then interest in our finished products also rises - we just support it with what the customer likes: discounts, promotions. Well, in the end, we love to give out something for free to players who are faithful to us. ”

This strategy works. Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 are still being discussed on forums and blogs, and a huge Steam audience is waiting for every update. And when sales go down, and the interest cools - Valve will present the next game, and everything will be back to square one. This cycle of “life” makes Valve work unique, the games are fresh, and the high of the game is full.

via ArsTechnica