[UPDATE! Valve's Doug Lombardi has told Kotaku, 1Up and MTV that this is just a rumor and "a bit of fiction"]
The Inquirer has “well placed sources” telling them that Google, yes, Google, are going to be owning Valve any moment now.
Valve’s Gabe Newell have expressed possibilities for Valve to be acquired before, so this really comes as no surprise. The surprise would be that it is actually Google. The main reason would be, of course; Steam.
In just a few years Steam has become the most prominent digital distribution service on the PC. Many have their own alternative, like Stardock’s Impulse and EA’s own digital distribution platform EA Downloader, but Steam have somehow managed to become something more. Building up a strong community around it seems to have been the key success, and with the announcement of Steam Clouds, this digital distribution platform is only going to get more popular.
We will see this week if the rumors are true, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Stay tuned for more updates!
September 19th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
What does Google know about video games?