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Steam does the opposite of forcing Arbitration on its users (lemdro.id)

submitted 2 months ago by potentiallynotfelix@lemdro.id to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 81 points 2 months ago

Yeah, but Gabe is down to 25% ownership.

He could be pushed out at anytime. It's this weird situation where if a serious challenger to Steam really takes off, the 75% may demand Steam gets shittier to make more money.

But Gabe won't last forever anyways, who knows what will happen without him. Which means people do want some kind of challenger to prevent a monopoly, but that just makes the other scenario more likely

Steam is already a huge outlier

[-] Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago

Who owns the other 75% ?

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 57 points 2 months ago

Not sure, apparently the 25% figure is really new, Wikipedia is sourcing something from 2017 that says he has 50+.

This is the most up to date I can find that attributes a source

https://www.guru3d.com/story/microsoft-reportedly-readies-billion-bid-to-acquire-valve-steam/

Insights from Dior, a prominent figure in the Counter-Strike community, reveal that Gabe Newell owns less than 25% of Valve. This suggests that a significant portion of Newell's wealth is tied to his equity in the company. The decision to sell Valve wouldn’t rest solely with Newell; numerous employees who likely hold stock options could also have a say through a voting process if an offer were made.

So it sounds like a lot was given to employees from the beginning, which track with Gabe.

Then he may have cashed out a couple times, but I doubt that when he could just do the billionaire thing where he borrows against his stock counting on the value increasing enough to pay off the last with a new?

But then again Gabe is different and might not do that out of principle.

It's not publicly traded, so I guess we don't really know unless Valve discloses who owns what. Which I just realized is pretty concerning on its own.

[-] eerongal@ttrpg.network 68 points 2 months ago

AFAIK, most of valve's stock is held by employees, not private investors. It's usually a pretty hard sell of "make the company you work at shittier to make more money", especially since most of the employees probably know gabe personally (valve has less than 400 employees) and likely approve of his leadership.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 37 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It’s usually a pretty hard sell of “make the company you work at shittier to make more money”, especially since most of the employees probably know gabe personally (valve has less than 400 employees) and likely approve of his leadership.

And most of the ones with the high percent have been there since the beginning, probably close to Gabe's age, looking towards retirement. They make good money, but retirement is expensive.

I mean. That link from this year said Microsoft was thinking 16 billion. 1% of that is 160 million.

Or they may die and their kids see dollar signs when a vote comes up

Steam is great now, it's not debatable. But its naive to expect it indefinitely. 10 years, 20 years from now? It wouldn't be surprising if Valve was a lot shittier than it is today

It won't last forever

[-] eerongal@ttrpg.network 6 points 2 months ago

yeah, its hard to predict what will happen to it, especially after gabe steps down or dies, but depending on how much of the company is broadly owned by employees vs individuals, it can help to shield it from bad decisions. Unfortunately, we don't know the exact numbers. If gabe + mike own 51+% then it could potentially lead to overriding employee will in a bad decision for money (either through their actions or through inheritance like you say). Or the employees could just collectively make a bad decision too.

[-] Infynis@midwest.social 24 points 2 months ago

It really feels like we're peasants, gathered by the fire, gossiping fearfully about the prospect of a succession war

[-] Stovetop@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

It really is like a feudal system. There's a reason why the HBO series Succession is framed like the politics between a lord, his heirs, and his vassals.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 5 points 2 months ago

As far as Gabe succession plans go, that's a great good way to do it. You would need the majority of the employees's shares to change something radically... That might actually work

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

Well damn that's going to bite gamers in the ass in the long term.

[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 months ago

I would expect that Gabe is trying to hedge his bets and make the company more of a co-op, where several key figures in the company as well as himself, own the majority, so that there's accountability in what everyone decides.

That way if someone's kid ends up inheriting stock in valve, there's a way to block them out of major decisions if there's a need to.

If that's indeed what's happening, then it's a very long-term play by Gabe. He's looking so fast ahead, so that long after he's departed the company, the values that make valve great (and successful) will endure.