What's It Really like Working at Valve? We Found Out.

What's it actually like working for Valve Corporation? Over the last few months, People Make Games has interviewed 16 current and former Valve employees about the inner workings of one of gaming's most mysterious companies. A place with no bosses (not even Gabe Newell, claims Valve), no job titles and you're free to pick the work that matters most to you. But how true is any of that, in reality?

Created by Chris Bratt:

And Anni Sayers:

0:00 - 4:02 How much do you know about Valve Corporation?
4:03 - 5:17 Introducing Valve's somewhat fanatic Employee Handbook
5:18 - 7:31 Welcome to Flatland
7:32 - 8:46 Not everybody's the "right fit" for Valve
8:47 - 10:40 How Valve functions without managers
10:41 - 18:00 Stack ranking
18:01 - 24:54 Valve has a diversity crisis
24:55 - 28:18 How do people get fired?
28:19 - 30:08 Steam makes this a very different company
30:09 - 35:40 Disagreement over Black Lives Matter
35:41 - 41:13 Does Steam have a greater responsibility to society?
41:14 - 42:03 Is this truly a "structureless" company?
42:04 - 45:56 Valve isn't returning our emails
45:57 - 47:42 Support People Make Games (please)

[JacobGeller]

Not the most important takeaway, but the graphic design of this video is lovely

[boxhead]

The reason Valve's Lawyer is reading the emails, is cause they nearly lost their court case in Australia by default cause they didn't read their email saying they were being served... so a judge ordered a press announcement and gave permission to proceed with the trial with Valve being declared absent, Valve learnt of the case from a games media blog that said they were being sued :P
Now a lawyer reads all their emails :P

[MegapiemanPHD]

Valve learned a long time ago that, when it came to game development "It's better to say nothing and be wrong then say something and still be wrong." and have gone on to apply that mentality to everything.

[AnarchoPurp]

It kinda seems like the incentive structure for employees at Valve could explain why they’ve developed a reputation for not releasing sequels. Why work on those when short-term projects are so highly rewarded?

[gljames]

I like that you make the distinction that a Flat Style of management doesn't imply a worker cooperative or vice-versa. Ownership structure and management structure are separate things and can be mixed and matched to best fit the market and stakeholders.

[raphamaster]

Gabe`s biggest praise will always be keeping Valve a private company and being able of making his vision about a company a reality, for better or worse.

[RonaldoLuizPedroso]

I love the idea that "We have no boss" and the boss show up in a meeting and lay that law and acts like it is a collective decision.

[meepk]

Wait. What's Gabe's beef with Sopranos? I think that's the most mysterious thing here.

[SacredDaturaa]

That Valve's supposedly flat hierarchy leads to a dysfunctional, insular work environment should be no surprise to anyone who's worked at small, family-owned companies with no formal structure. What that actually means in practice is that the hierarchies are hidden and less accountable.

[Ansible]

Great presentation.

I'm saying this as a black person who lives in the United States. I don't think it is Valve's responsibility to support political stances and certainty not organizations like BLM.

Steam's regulation isn't perfect, but I also think that what you imply is similar to the arguments used to claim gun violence is linked to/caused by games which worries me about the precedents it would set to police these games in a market place as ubiquitous as Steam.

[spicy_mint]

IMO giving employees $10k to donate to whatever they want is better than any statement they can make "words are cheap" and all that. Sure someone can keep the cash for themselves but that isn't a reflection on Valve, that's on the employee.

[MaskedRiderDouble]

The most damning thing about this video is that Gabe Newell seems to not like The Sopranos.

[giantenemycrab]

When it comes to game development studios valve feels like some ancient civilisation that’s managed to stay uncontacted for thousands of years. So interesting seeing what actually goes on in there!

[GauthamThomas]

I've recently been picturing Valve as the Oldest House from Control. They've always been so mysterious.

[KUAN]

Now I'm really waiting for a Riot Games video.

[Yasin]

I was wondering why this video got a decent amount of dislikes, but at 18:00 I knew why...

[sursiks]

Gabe's "I am definitely not your boss" t-shirt raises a lot of questions already answered by the shirt

[Asas_TV]

The reason why Valve is considered so separate from EA, Epic games, Ubisoft, etc is simply because they don't make themselves stand out when it isn't needed. They don't make stances on controversial topics if they don't need to, they don't get in controversy publicly when they can help it, and they definitely don't make their internal problems public unless rogue employees try to.
Valve sits there in the back doing its own thing privately and quietly which is how they rarely gets the ire of their users but obviously that doesn't make them immune to any criticism / problems as some of the more egregious things in this documentary has shown.

[adeedadude]

Great video, but the bit about 3% of respondents thinking a 30% cut is justified is a bit duplicitous. The source reveals that 72% of respondents thought a lower cut was justified, not the implied 97%.

[larryinc]

I'm not sure I like a lot of the reporting of this video.

A lot of this video seems less about "this is what it's like to work at Valve" and more "This is how I personally want Valve to be run." Not that I generally disagree with your stance on a lot of things and a lack of diversity in a group consensus situation puts some people at a clear disadvantage. I just think this video could of been a lot more informational on a company with a unique but not flawless structure.

Too much of this video is "here is me briefly explaining how the setup works with actions needing a consensus from people with differing opinions, and now let me spend 25 minutes saying they should only listen to the people I agree with." and I think that leaves a rather empty call to action on what they should do differently.

Like overall this video came off as kind of a bait-and-switch to me.