Valve is the most desirable employer in the video game industry, study finds - Polidicks

[url]http://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-is-the-most-desirable-employer-in-video-game/1100-6421807/[/url] [quote]Below are the results of the IGDA's study, which was based on data from the group's annual developer satisfaction survey. For the study, the verbatim question put to developers was, "What developer/publisher would you most like to work for?" It's not hard to see why Valve might be a desirable choice for people breaking into the business or looking for a new opportunity. ... The most desirable developer or publisher employers, according to the IGDA study: 1. Valve (Half-Life, Steam, Portal) 2. My own company 3. Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Skylanders) 4. BioWare (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars: The Old Republic) 5. Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Just Dance) 6. Current employer 7. Nintendo (Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong) 8. Naughty Dog (The Last of Us, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted) 9. Double Fine (Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Broken Age) 10. Bethesda Game Studios (Fallout, The Elder Scrolls)[/quote]

People would rather work for Valve than their own company. That says a lot.

Probably because if they can work at Valve they can get rich by doing fuck-all because that company doesn't have a logical management structure (or any at all).

Where's Facepunch Studios? :v:

[QUOTE=Buck.;45746842]People would rather work for Valve than their own company. That says a lot.[/QUOTE] Well Valve gives its employees a lot of freedom (the Infobook states they can basically work on any project whenever they want) and a lot of money, so I kinda expected it.

I'm pretty surprised at how high "current employer" is on the list. It's higher up than some pretty huge names in the industry.

Everyone wants to work at Valve so the can get the dirty secrets of HL3 [QUOTE=Antdawg;45746864]Probably because if they can work at Valve they can get rich by doing fuck-all because that company doesn't have a logical management structure (or any at all).[/QUOTE] Lack of a typical management structure doesn't mean they do fuck all obviously.

VALVe doesnt even have to make games anymore to stay afloat.

I suppose the pro's of working for Valve are the same as working for your own company minus the liability. You still get a lot of freedom, great pay and to top that off you already have probably the best people in the industry to work with.

Working at Valve isn't all its advertised for, many people randomly get fired for no good reason at all. It's flat management structure is both awesome and terrifying.

[QUOTE=Colliseemoe;45746877]I'm pretty surprised at how high "current employer" is on the list. It's higher up than some pretty huge names in the industry.[/QUOTE] Keep in mind that current employer could easily be any company on that list

I heard that because of the lack of a real hierarchy they have a lot of issues with bullying and harrasment over at Valve. People assigned as leads to project can tell the higher ups whatever the hell they want if they don't like you. I had problems like that before working for a publisher and almost a year later for a dev. In both cases I had someone not liking me or my contribution to a project, started talking shit to the higher ups which got me into trouble. In both cases I left the studio because I wasn't able to defend myself and just couldn't handle the stress. : / In both cases it was a woman who could not accept my skills as a 3D and 2D artist who was scared that I might replace her, in both cases she was a narcist fighting against any rule and team decision just because she doesn't wanted her idea to go unnoticed... in both cases she was close to the boss and in one case, the co-workers were really scared of her, keeping their mouth shut in front of her. This can't be a coincidence, there must be a 3rd one waiting for me in the next studio.

imagine working for the only people in the world who know the fate of half-life 3

I'd love to work at VAVLe, I mean look at that snack bar! [video=youtube;8cILFxVpFLY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cILFxVpFLY[/video]

[QUOTE=Marlamin;45746916]Working at Valve isn't all its advertised for, many people randomly get fired for no good reason at all. It's flat management structure is both awesome and terrifying.[/QUOTE] Didn't that happen when they closed a few projects that lead nowhere?

Gabe has a lot of weight when it comes to consumer likeability.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;45746865]Where's Facepunch Studios? :v:[/QUOTE] You get to cancel Rust if you come to Facepunch, it has to be at the top.

Its probably because of the big pink cookie

I feel dumb for thinking "My Own Company" was some pseudo-indie game developer. :(

[QUOTE=Marlamin;45746916]Working at Valve isn't all its advertised for, many people randomly get fired for no good reason at all. It's flat management structure is both awesome and terrifying.[/QUOTE] No they're fired when they're not needed just like any other business.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;45747092]No they're fired when they're not needed just like any other business.[/QUOTE] There's a difference between dismissal (when a specific employee screws up in a certain way) and retrenchment/redundancy (when employees aren't needed). When that incident at Valve happened a while ago, the conditions certainly weren't typical of either of the latter.

I would let them keep the paycheck and sleep under my desk eating crumbs. A free holiday every year, talented artists and programmers to learn from and work with, and a hell of a lot of freedom. Sounds like a wonderful life for me.

I've actually heard otherwise from Valve employees, including a few that they only just recently fired for stupid reasons. Otherwise being that it wasn't as great as it seemed to be when they started.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;45747092]No they're fired when they're not needed just like any other business.[/QUOTE] Up to at least two weeks ago, that hasn't been the case at many of the firings at Valve.

Pretty surprised to see Ubisoft and Activision so high

If I could, I would like to work at Valve.

[QUOTE=SexualShark;45746888]VALVe doesnt even have to make games anymore to stay afloat.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I was thinking it was strange that Valve would be at the top of a list of ideal development studios to work for, when they haven't really made much recently. Hell, were they even AT Gamescom this year or did they merely not announce anything there?

[QUOTE=ironman17;45747153]Yeah, I was thinking it was strange that Valve would be at the top of a list of ideal development studios to work for, when they haven't really made much recently. Hell, were they even AT Gamescom this year or did they merely not announce anything there?[/QUOTE] They didn't announce anything, the showed off the new controller and that's it. I guess L4D3 and HL3 aren't at a point in development yet where they are ready to show stuff off.

I'd love to work at Valve, but my goal would actually be Blizzard. I grew up with their games and they seem to have a great workplace, they have loads of events for their employees and things like that.

I would work as a janitor if I had the opportunity to work at Valve, maybe Joe Dirt it.