Valve has acquired acclaimed indie developer Campo Santo, the team behind vibrant walking simulator Firewatch and the upcoming In the Valley of Gods. While the studio will relocate to Bellevue, it’ll continue to operate autonomously, meaning that it will still be making its own games on its own terms. Presumably it’ll just get perks provided by Gabe Newell’s deep pockets, including a recent trip to Hawaii, which Kotaku reports the group got to attend as part of Valve’s annual retreat.
Writing on its website, Campo Santo said: “In Valve we found a group of folks who, to their core, feel the same way about the work that they do (this, you may be surprised to learn, doesn’t happen every day). In us, they found a group with unique experience and valuable, diverse perspectives. It quickly became an obvious match.” Congrats to everyone involved, we guess.
[source blog.camposanto.com]
Comments 20
An odd pairing, but congrats to Campo Santo. Definitely interested to see more of In the Valley of Gods
Half Life 3 confirmed?
..no?
And then they'll never make another game again.
Or make all their games in...Source.
A lot of PC exclusives in the future boys.
I hate Campo Santo's director or whatever x)
But the game was cool! Not the best ever, but ok! So let's see what they do...since they belong to Valve probably nothing, they don't make games anymore lol
Bah. This might not great news as a PlayStation gamer. Guess we’ll see.
What's the point of this? I mean Valve can barely even be considered a games developer anymore.
Will they still be allowed to file false DMCA's?
You don't have to make your own games if you just buy studios.
I anticipate only PC exclusives from this developer in the future, or more accurately: Steam exclusives. It's not as if they will be allowed to put their games on GOG or Humble either.
Could Valve be attempting to copy Sony in their own way, by buying up developers to do exclusives on Steam ?! Steam already has the most exclusives of any gaming platform. If this was the case though, Valve could easily afford much bigger studios (and their IPs) than this one.
It's more likely to be a VR thing, since I think Valve will be pushing hard in this direction. They want to dominate VR gaming on PC in the same way they currently dominate regular PC gaming. Games like Firewatch would be ideal for VR.
really looking forward to this
When you stop making games, just pay some other people to make them for you.
I gave up hope on Valve releasing any games on consoles for a while now, the last game they released on consoles was Counter Strike: Global Offensive back in 2012, they’ve since just focused on PC and their Steam service. Also from what I can see this new game In the Valley of Gods is going to only be available on PC.
It’s a shame Valve have stopped releasing games on consoles because there were many console fans for some of their games like Half Life 2 (The Orange Box was a massive success) Portal series, Left 4 Dead, these AAA games that would make them much more money with sequels but Valve must just be happy with what they are doing and the amount of money they are making from Steam.
I don't think their games are suddenly going to be "exclusive" to Steam. Valve's put games on console before, and it sounds like Campo Santo's going to just carry on what it's doing.
I guess this just gives them security. They don't have to worry about paying office rent, for example; they can ask for technical help if they get stuck on something. Etc etc.
Well that's the last we'll see if them!
Better than EA I guess. Of all the studios to buy though, this seems to be an odd choice given their last game's mediocre response and the controversy following it.
very odd to me this is? Valve care about Steam that is it now! they are not creators anymore. how this will turn out now will be interesting? thought Campo would stay on there own. loved Firewatch as well.
HalfLife 3 is a meme & Joke now as well.
Firewatch was ok but I was expecting more suspense from the story. The ending was very poor imo.
@get2sammyb But like I said the last time Valve released a game on consoles was in 2012 and even then Counter Strike: GO was only an indie/arcade title, I just don’t see them releasing any game(s) on consoles again.
If Valve are in the business of buying studios, why don’t they buy a studio to release games like Left 4 Dead 3 or Portal 3 on all platforms and maybe help out on a technical level, it would make sense since Valve own the rights to those IPs and I’m willing to bet people would rather see one of those games than whatever Campo Santo bring out next.
@MaccaMUFC They haven't made anything that would make sense on consoles since then, though, to be fair.
I get what you're saying; you're not wrong. It is a weird acquisition, but I think this is more about Campo Santo than Valve if that makes sense.
Steam is what make me leave PC gaming. Very little happens on PC today outside of Steam. Campo Santo will fade into the digital underground with Steam.
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