Valve: We Can Make Hardware If Necessary

"If we have to sell hardware we will".

By Matt Mann /

Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve made the statement today that nobody was expecting; he said that Valve would create hardware if necessary. Although they have no plans to create new hardware at the moment, if this innovation does not continue forward in the future Valve is ready and willing to jump into the fray. Here is what Newell had to say:

"If we have to sell hardware we will, We have no reason to believe we're any good at it; it's more we think that we need to continue to have innovation, and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that's what we'll do."
One of the reasons Newell and Valve would be forced to create hardware is because of how closed off consoles are and the need to innovate in the next generations of consoles:
"Internally developed proprietary graphics solutions on the consoles, they're all gone - everything in the console space is coming from the PC now, and I think that we really need to see the same thing in terms of just general attitudes about platforms, I would push them very hard to stop thinking of themselves as being a platform for everything that already exists and start betting on the inventiveness and the benefits that you would get by embracing a more open approach to the internet and game delivery and game business models and things like that. I think that you either embrace the new approaches or you go away. I mean, Sega and Atari and lots of others - Vectrex, Commodore... you either figure out how to move forward or you get left behind."
Valve entering the hardware market is a very enticing idea, but I honestly don't think they have the resources to do that right now. Unless of course Valve finally released Half Life 2 Episode 3 or Half Life 3, in which case the 10 billion dollars they would make from releasing either of those games would be enough to start a hardware division. What do you make of Newell's comments about Valve today? Have your say below...

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