Every single time I wonder why updates are slow, the conclusion comes to: valve won't hire and people won't join the team when they do.
So what about the people in the community who are constantly making new items and maps?
I can't claim that I know anything about the skill of new people, but not hiring people who are right there seems like a gaping hole that leaves comsumers unhappy for no benefit.
Also, the whole other-teams-want-more-too shouldn't be a problem either. Just hire more, the other games are even more popular than tf2 and have more people willing to help development.
Why is this such a problem for valve's hiring?
Whatever, I'm probably too stupid to understand this anyway.
Every single time I wonder why updates are slow, the conclusion comes to: valve won't hire and people won't join the team when they do.
So what about the people in the community who are constantly making new items and maps?
I can't claim that I know anything about the skill of new people, but not hiring people who are right there seems like a gaping hole that leaves comsumers unhappy for no benefit.
Also, the whole other-teams-want-more-too shouldn't be a problem either. Just hire more, the other games are even more popular than tf2 and have more people willing to help development.
Why is this such a problem for valve's hiring?
Whatever, I'm probably too stupid to understand this anyway.
why would you hire people when you can just yoink their content from the workshop and pay them?
why would you hire people when you can just yoink their content from the workshop and pay them?
pretty sure valve hires many people for games that are actually relevant
pretty sure valve hires many people for games that are actually relevant
Valves business model is just passive income. They make most of their money from the steam store where they can sell other peoples games, and then a lot of the content for their games is user created and they pay them commission.
Valve's got ~300-400 employees which is a tiny fraction of the number that some other games companies with similar annual turnover have. It makes sense though because why pay people's salaries (expensive) when you can automate the thing that brings the money in, that's pretty much always in a company's interest if they want to maximize profits.
Valves business model is just passive income. They make most of their money from the steam store where they can sell other peoples games, and then a lot of the content for their games is user created and they pay them commission.
Valve's got ~300-400 employees which is a tiny fraction of the number that some other games companies with similar annual turnover have. It makes sense though because why pay people's salaries (expensive) when you can automate the thing that brings the money in, that's pretty much always in a company's interest if they want to maximize profits.
According to an interview someone did with an employee at E3 a few years ago, they're heavily invested in VR and developing new titles they haven't announced. However, a lot of employees still work on Dota 2 even tho it was released almost a decade ago. He also stated that employees only ever shift focus if 1) board of directors chooses to do so and 2) gabe is personally interested in a project someone is working on.
Basically, you must go all Inception onto Gabe and make him dream about a TF2 major.
According to an interview someone did with an employee at E3 a few years ago, they're heavily invested in VR and developing new titles they haven't announced. However, a lot of employees still work on Dota 2 even tho it was released almost a decade ago. He also stated that employees only ever shift focus if 1) board of directors chooses to do so and 2) gabe is personally interested in a project someone is working on.
Basically, you must go all Inception onto Gabe and make him dream about a TF2 major.
As others have said, Valve is focused on future technology and concepts like VR. So for the TF team to grow in Valve's current hiring methods, the candidate would not only have to share Valve's vision for the future of VR and whatever technology they plan, but also be willing to connect that somehow with TF2, and then they also have to be proficient in coding in a heavily modded, outdated engine. Its a lot of small boxes to check, not to mention being an extremely proficient coder, innovator, or whatever valve is looking for.
As others have said, Valve is focused on future technology and concepts like VR. So for the TF team to grow in Valve's current hiring methods, the candidate would not only have to share Valve's vision for the future of VR and whatever technology they plan, but also be willing to connect that somehow with TF2, and then they also have to be proficient in coding in a heavily modded, outdated engine. Its a lot of small boxes to check, not to mention being an extremely proficient coder, innovator, or whatever valve is looking for.
also good devs are hard to find, and they are expensive. Good devs generally want to work with new technology and on newer projects because it makes their daily working experience more enjoyable and helps their resume more. Working on something old like TF2 is probably a fairly miserable experience. Not sure if it's the same in the game development world, but when it comes to software development in general, software developers are a pretty scarce resource and are highly mobile, leaving their job for another if they don't like it.
here https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/06/companies-worry-more-about-access-to-software-developers-than-capital.html
also good devs are hard to find, and they are expensive. Good devs generally want to work with new technology and on newer projects because it makes their daily working experience more enjoyable and helps their resume more. Working on something old like TF2 is probably a fairly miserable experience. Not sure if it's the same in the game development world, but when it comes to software development in general, software developers are a pretty scarce resource and are highly mobile, leaving their job for another if they don't like it.
here https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/06/companies-worry-more-about-access-to-software-developers-than-capital.html
HedgeNot sure if it's the same in the game development world, but when it comes to software development in general, software developers are a pretty scarce resource and are highly mobile, leaving their job for another if they don't like it.
Mobility yes, scarcity no. There are many times more qualified people who want to enter or stay in the gamedev industry than there are decent jobs in it. Valve would have no issue finding the talent if they're just looking for people who can maintain an old game, and for that matter getting a recognized name like TF2 would be a great addition to any gamedev's portfolio. And that's just one route, I've always thought it'd be great if they contracted out tf2 to another studio to focus on, but they could also acquire an existing studio entirely and get them on it.
My money's on the codebase just being a complete clusterfuck after a decade of patchwork, and it just being impractical for anyone new to want to learn how the whole system works (as a new hire, would you rather fix bugs on legacy code, or implementing features in exciting new stuff?). And until you know a system inside and out, the old adage is "what one programmer can do in one month, two programmers can do in two months."
[quote=Hedge]Not sure if it's the same in the game development world, but when it comes to software development in general, software developers are a pretty scarce resource and are highly mobile, leaving their job for another if they don't like it.[/quote]
Mobility yes, scarcity no. There are many times more qualified people who want to enter or stay in the gamedev industry than there are decent jobs in it. Valve would have no issue finding the talent if they're just looking for people who can maintain an old game, and for that matter getting a recognized name like TF2 would be a great addition to any gamedev's portfolio. And that's just one route, I've always thought it'd be great if they contracted out tf2 to another studio to focus on, but they could also acquire an existing studio entirely and get them on it.
My money's on the codebase just being a complete clusterfuck after a decade of patchwork, and it just being impractical for anyone new to want to learn how the whole system works (as a new hire, would you rather fix bugs on legacy code, or implementing features in exciting new stuff?). And until you know a system inside and out, the old adage is "what one programmer can do in one month, two programmers can do in two months."
TF2 is a nightmare to code in from what I hear, why spend time on a game where its agonizing to code, won't benefit your future, goes thankless, and is all about balancing the old rather than adding the new recently for a community that is incredibly split
TF2 is a nightmare to code in from what I hear, why spend time on a game where its agonizing to code, won't benefit your future, goes thankless, and is all about balancing the old rather than adding the new recently for a community that is incredibly split
Another thing is valve doesnt function like contemporary companies, they give their employees incredible freedom to work on what they want to, if they hired people specifically to work on TF2 who have passion for the game, 1) people working on other projects would request people to be hired for theirs too and 2) those employees need to be proven to be a long term employee and not just only work on TF2 for their entire career at valve
Another thing is valve doesnt function like contemporary companies, they give their employees incredible freedom to work on what they want to, if they hired people specifically to work on TF2 who have passion for the game, 1) people working on other projects would request people to be hired for theirs too and 2) those employees need to be proven to be a long term employee and not just only work on TF2 for their entire career at valve