What would anyone gain from him being propped up post death? I dunno, not loss of faith in Valve and so keep pc gaming in check and healthy.
We know that Valve stands as a threat to Microsoft and keeps them from doing their shittiest moves, they've done that for a long time. And that keeps at least Sony from doing the same. Nintendo can't help themselves, but I'm afraid to think of what they'd become if Microsoft were able to just shit all over everybody and the console wars unthreatened by Valve in the PC space.
I don't think Valve relies on gaben for much more, but at the same time, we have all seen, historically, what happens when the founder or founding members of huge tech companies leave or die, if gaben died, their image may falter and they might be eventually pushed to IPO, resulting in basically the end of one of the big things that makes Valve special, and so would equate to the "loss" of Valve as a unique/special global tech player.
Kind of like how the loss of the queen of England recently was a weird destabilizer for some parts of Europe. The king took over, more scandals popped up, etc.
I don't know why people are so quick to poopoo this, it's all mostly for fun.
So then I thought, what if Valve chose to prop up a gaben projection, as a kind of stabilizer? They totally could, and it wouldn't be hard or really cost them anything. Change, alone, is hard for people, and I really do think that people underestimate the potential chaos theory effects of minor stuff, and he's not really a minor guy, he's a figurehead for one of the most important tech companies in the world. The guy genuinely has a lot of power. Real power, too. My hope is that Valve is filled with good people who are even half as smart and passionate as him, so that when he really does die, they can keep it together. But, we'll never know until we know. Which is why you wonder these things.
I mean, I guess, or not. It's pretty easy to shrug it off and say it, or nothing, matters, or to say that it'll just be fine. But, of course it won't be, it's never just fine, power vacuums are always filled by something, and if I am allowed to have hope, I'd like to have hope that the people at Valve actually do care and are thinking AT LEAST about stuff like this. With great power comes great responsibility.
Oh well. I know plenty of people are gonna think this is dumb or I'm ridiculous. I could have just not, or been plain and normal. But... What's the fun in that?
15 Jun 2026 18:24