Developers would rather work for Valve than open their own studio
The state of affairs in the game industry allows almost anyone to open their own studio. This is exactly what many artists, designers and programmers do – but some will still prefer to work for Valve if they are given the opportunity to choose.
The developer who created Half-Life and Portal is the most attractive employer in the game industry, according to the latest opinion polls conducted among the initiative group of the International Game Developers Association. The company that produces games and owns the Steam gaming network has been called the main alternative to its own studio in the game industry. The results of the study also include almost all well–known developers and publishers – although it is impossible not to notice that Electronic Arts is absent.
Here is the full list:
- Valve
- Own company
- Activision Blizzard
- BioWare
- Ubisoft
- Current employer
- Nintendo
- Naughty Dog
- Double Fine
- Bethesda Game Studios
The fact that Valve topped the list is far from a surprise. The publisher is known for its horizontal corporate culture, in which employees are encouraged to work on those projects in which they really want to participate. An important role is played by the fact that the company’s track record includes some of the most popular games in the industry, such as the Half–Life shooter franchise and Dota 2 online multiplayer.
It is also not surprising that your own business is in second place on the list. Earlier, GamesBeat reported on the emerging trend among famous developers, such as Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of Gears of War, and designer Brian Reynolds, who worked on Civilization: they are leaving companies with a solid reputation in order to create their own studio. At the same time, energetic independent developers are starting to work for themselves and do not want to give up such freedom for the sake of working for Ubisoft.
As part of the study, the Association already mentioned interviewed 2,200 developers. Such surveys are held annually and help to better understand the needs of the members of the Association.
