The traditional ”fixed-product to consumer model”, whether retail or digital, is ”just more limited” compared to those where the ”game is connected, alive,” and bristling with ”valuable features.”
This approach of ‘as a service’ for games will ”simply be the baseline” for all the highest performers. It’ll no longer have that ‘buzzword vibe’ about it, but be accepted as vital.
”The best current example of this is the community and interest that has developed around creating assets for Team Fortress 2. We hoped it would be fun and lucrative when it launched and we were pleasantly surprised on both points,” said Valve’s head of business development Jason Holtman in an interview. You can’t ‘fire and forget’ titles anymore.
”It builds community because people like to both create things themselves and they like to consume things that others make – not just the original creator,” he explained. Team Fortress 2 is now a free-to-play shooter from Valve.
”Communities happen because through this there are just more connections in the experience. It is no longer just Team Fortress 2 creators at Valve having a conversation with players, but now many more of those connected threads arise between the people involved with the game – the players, community creators, and traditional creators.”
The traditional boxed product and ‘games as a service’ are ”fundamentally different,” he said.
”The traditional fixed-product to consumer model – delivered via retail or digital – is just more limited. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be some continued success in that, but there is far more opportunity when the game is connected, alive, and has a host of valuable features,” continued Holtman.
”It certainly won’t be a buzzword like it is now. It will simply be the baseline of all the best and most successful video games,” he replied when asked where it’ll be in 5 years time.
”We hope that we are making great tools for developers to use to have these opportunities. And at the same time, we hope that video game developers find what we are doing interesting and that they want to participate and explore the possibilities. It’s early and there’s a lot of learning and experimentation taking place.”
Check out the full interview between Jason Holtman and MCV. Valve has over the years offered a steady stream of content updates to their PC titles, which include things like extra chapters to Left 4 Dead at no charge.
