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04-30-2008, 10:30 AM
Filed under: PC (http://www.joystiq.com/category/pc/)
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Now that Steam (http://www.joystiq.com/tag/Steam/) is running 300 games and 15 million subscribers (http://www.slashgear.com/valve-announces-15-million-steam-subscribers-0810151.php) strong, Valve's grand experiment in digital distribution seems like a no-brainer. Some of the titans of the computer industry apparently didn't see it that way, though, when given a chance to get in on the ground floor years ago.
"We went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam," Valve marketing veep Doug Lombardi told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-and-yahoo-rejected-steam-says-valve). "We went around to everybody and asked 'Are you guys doing anything like this?' And everyone was like 'That's a million miles in the future ... We can't help you." Valve, of course, proceeded to single-handedly bring the future to the present (which is now nearly five years in the past) and the rest is history.
Readers without a vested interest in Microsoft and/or Yahoo should check out the full interview (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/the-last-of-the-independents-), where Lombardi talks about piracy, independence, and the future of PC gaming. Anyone involved with those two companies would probably be better off visiting this handy site (http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Serious-Regrets) first.
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http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/04/regret.jpg
Now that Steam (http://www.joystiq.com/tag/Steam/) is running 300 games and 15 million subscribers (http://www.slashgear.com/valve-announces-15-million-steam-subscribers-0810151.php) strong, Valve's grand experiment in digital distribution seems like a no-brainer. Some of the titans of the computer industry apparently didn't see it that way, though, when given a chance to get in on the ground floor years ago.
"We went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam," Valve marketing veep Doug Lombardi told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-and-yahoo-rejected-steam-says-valve). "We went around to everybody and asked 'Are you guys doing anything like this?' And everyone was like 'That's a million miles in the future ... We can't help you." Valve, of course, proceeded to single-handedly bring the future to the present (which is now nearly five years in the past) and the rest is history.
Readers without a vested interest in Microsoft and/or Yahoo should check out the full interview (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/the-last-of-the-independents-), where Lombardi talks about piracy, independence, and the future of PC gaming. Anyone involved with those two companies would probably be better off visiting this handy site (http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Serious-Regrets) first.
Read | Permalink (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/30/valve-ms-yahoo-others-turned-down-chance-to-build-steam/) | Email this (http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1181886/) | Comments (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/30/valve-ms-yahoo-others-turned-down-chance-to-build-steam/#comments)
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