In a fairly candid interview with Eurogamer's Wesley Yin-Poole, Valve's business development director Jason Holtman takes us on a tour of the Valve business structure.
On the docket is everything from the "bossless" social dynamic that exemplifies the company philosophy, to the success of Steam, to what the general consensus us around the office regarding "Valve Time," to how it feels always being asked about Half-Life 3.
"It's a high compliment," Holtman says, arguing that it's heartening to know fans are eager for more. But don't ask him what's taking development so long, because you won't get much out of him.
"No. See now I'm being cagey," he dodges.
Holtman describes the care and effort put into each product, remarking the rather democratic structure of the Valve environment. While describing company founder Gabe Newell as a visionary, he does not think it appropriate to refer to him as a boss, explaining,
"One of the interesting things is, people like Gabe, they're very good at their jobs. You have to fight against the tendency to have those people treated as bosses sometimes. Not that they even want to, but it's natural for a new person to come in and say who is the leader? You have to fight against that. And as you fight against that, it tends to work.
You opened by asking, I'm putting myself in those shoes and saying no to Gabe. People would be surprised if they could be a fly on the wall to see what meetings look like with him. Or even how it works. He sits with groups. Gabe moves around in groups and sits with us and talks with us. He goes to meetings with us, solves real problems with us, and has ideas and his ideas are like other ideas. You can easily say no, or tell more data on that and he'll work with you."
Read the rest of the interview here.
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