With a rumor swirling around our fair internet this morning that Google was preparing to buy Valve “any second now,” the speculators at The Inquirer certainly had the games industry in a tizzy. The games media, in turn, did their homework, and Valve’s Doug Lombardi denied such rumors to several sources in no uncertain terms. Lombardi told Shacknews the story was mere “rumor,” called it “a bit of fiction” while speaking to Kotaku, and in a conversation with MTV Multiplayer, called the entire thing nothing less than a “complete fabrication.” With the rumor seemingly put to rest, it seems we’ve all learned a lesson about rampant speculation, and as industry analyst Michael Pachter told GameCyte in a brief comment, perhaps we’ll know better next time.
When asked where the rumor had likely come from, Pachter told GameCyte he had “no idea,” and while Valve certainly had a number of worthwhile assets to acquire, those of us on the outside would need more information before making guesses. “I don’t know what Google hopes to accomplish; if it’s distribution, Steam makes sense. If it’s games, the development studios make sense. Impossible to know without understanding their strategy, and I most definitely don’t understand Google’s strategy.”
As others have pointed out, Lombardi has mentioned before that Valve is open to the possibility of a buyout. As such, though Google may not be in the cards, Valve has worked a few times recently with EA, and we know how EA feels about buyout offers. When asked about the possibility of an EA/Valve deal, however, Pachter cautioned against further speculation. “EA is always a good merger partner, but it would depend on price. If it’s low, more people would be interested, if high, fewer. It’s really fruitless to speculate without knowing the price.”
In other words, we’re all welcome to keep guessing, but it’s not likely to mean anything until we have at least some concrete details… and with Valve’s financials remaining a very private matter, we’re not likely to have them any time soon.
Leave a Reply