Consolidation in games must “create value for customers,” says Gabe Newell

The consolidation of the games industry – that is, games companies being bought up and absorbed by bigger games companies – has been increasing, intensifying, and giving poor Ed the aches. Exhibited most dramatically by Microsoft stumping up $69 billion for Activision Blizzard, this trend towards conglomerification has raised worries about both creative expression and the potential locking-down of more games to certain platforms. Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell is no stranger to making some additions. Valve famously hired the student developers of Narbacular Drop to work on what eventually became Portal, and acquired Firewatch developers Campo Santo in 2018. In our recent interview, I asked him whether he thought consolidation could be a problem for the industry going forwards. Read more