Typically, when you hear that a video game company had things “leaked,” you think about how an announcement they were likely trying to hide or hype’s sake got exposed before they could show it off themselves. Or you’ll see documents that they had that indicate something happened and weren’t meant to see the light of day. However, there are times when major files and more are hacked/leaked from a company, and it causes quite a bit stir. You might recall when that happened to Rockstar Games last year. Now, it’s Valve’s turn, and you could argue that this is a more significant leak.
According to online sources, Valve’s Source repository of assets has been leaked. If you’re confused as to what that means, we’ll explain. As some have noted online, the company would bundle a bunch of their assets together and give them to developers who wanted to use the Source Engine. That way, they could toy with some already-made assets and learn how to use the engine well. It’s a practice that many who have engines use.
Previously, some of the repositories were leaked in 2016. But here in 2023, the whole repository got leaked, and as you’ll see in the pictures below, some of the titles/assets that were leaked are substantial.
You likely recognized many big titles from Valve in there. Including Half-Life Two, Portal, Counter-Strike, and more. That means people will have access to several big-name assets, which could lead to many things.
But some of you might think, “But what harm could this do?” Well, in terms of “harm,” probably not much. These are older assets from games long gone by, meaning they aren’t likely to “harm” anyone per se.
However, it could mean that those who get the leaked assets will be able to create their own “fan games” of these titles and use the company’s assets to make them. That’s not “harmful” in the overall, but it will be annoying for those at Valve.
Plus, you can bet the company is not happy that such a leak came out because they won’t know for sure what fans or other “enthusiasts” will do with them. Not to mention, they had a leak of significant proportions. No company wants to see/hear that, which will make them paranoid going forward regarding their data.
Now it’s a waiting game to see what people do with these assets first.
Source: Twitter