Valve Continues to Be the Metaverse Dog That Didn't Bark

Above: Valve's Steam VR Home in 2017

It's one of the metaverse's biggest mysteries: With so many major tech companies announcing metaverse strategies or full-fledged platforms, where the hell is Valve? With its Steam distribution platform for gaming content that counts over 120 million active users, an array of VR devices, and now Steam Deck, a video game console of its own, Valve is the best company by far to launch the dominant metaverse platform.

But the thing is, Valve founder and CEO Gabe Newell simply doesn't seem very interested in doing that any time soon:

"I'm friends with Neal Stephenson, and every time we get together, he just puts his face in his hands. So it's like, 'okay, what metaverse story is driving you insane today?'"

Newell is a bit more optimistic than I am, adding that he's sure "it'll get sorted out" eventually. But we're definitely of a similar mind on the current wave of shallow get-rich-quick metaverse schemes.

"Obviously the gaming industry has been exploring these technologies for a long time," he said. "It will be interesting to see if anybody who's sort of coming to the party late has much to add, rather than a desire to have a whole bunch of people give them a bunch of money for magic reasons. But you know, in the end, customers and useful technology win out, so I'm not super worried about that."

Newell, as longtime readers know, helped Stephenson try and launch an online swordfighting game a decade ago (subsequently cancelled). So if Valve were to make a metaverse, they'd already have a direct line to its literal creator.

If I had to guess, GabeN is taking a wait-and-see stance based on the sideways reception to SteamVR Home in 2017, which had all the making of a metaverse stepping stone, but has since been discontinued. I also suspect the reference to developers "coming to the party late" also includes Valve itself. (Assuming, that is, that Steam Deck is a success.)

Comments

[Adeon Writer]

Gabe has his heart close to the community on steam. He gets thousands of emails a day, and frequently asserts that he reads every single one.

Given he reads them and remembers them, I would assume the reason Valve hasn't pursued a Metaverse is the same reason any steam gamer already knows:

We don't want one.

[Martin K.]

It might be useful to break down the most popular ideas of what today's metaverses are.

Partly, Newell appears to refer to the crypto bros' metaverses, which were never attractive to gamers and will only benefit a tiny percentage of their user base, i.e. sooner or later that metaverse idea will be disappointing to the vast majority of its fan base.

Then there is the Ready-Player-One-inspired idea that the metaverse is like many AAA open worlds in one game - think GTA, Red Dead Redemption, EVE Online, and many more all in one game. Developing such a metaverse is just not a solid business idea - neither with nor without VR support. (Hint: if it was a good idea, then it would be a much better idea to develop just a small part of it at much lower cost and risk.)

Somewhat related is the idea that the metaverse is not a game but a layer on top of many (AAA) games such that they become more "interoperable", which might include many things (e.g. sharing avatar skins, virtual equipment, achievements, communication across games, etc.). Of course, Valve is very interested in pushing that idea forward for games on Steam, but they probably have worked on all the low-hanging fruits already and know very well how difficult the other parts are.

Then there are multiverses with user-generated content such as ROBLOX, Minecraft, Fortnite Creative, Core, Second Life, VRChat, Rec Room, Horizon Worlds, etc. With Steam Workshop, Valve had already a lot of experience with monetizable user-generated content and they integrated more features of UGC multiverses into the Steam ecosystem (SteamVR Home, SteamVR Workshop, improved Steam client with better party chat, etc.). I guess the slow adoption of VR hardware and the limited appeal of UGC multiverses to the Steam audience convinced Valve that UGC multiverses do not fundamentally challenge Steam's business model, giving them time to further polish and expand their ecosystem.