Valve is getting a lot of flowers right now, as the industry reels from the announcement of the Steam Machine. One prominent figure doling out praise is Larian Studios publishing director Michael Douse, who distills how Valve has managed to outdo Meta and Apple in the VR space incredibly well on Twitter. "They built incredible spaces for actual geniuses to cook and manufacturing right next door, focusing on the long game, unbothered by quarterly performance pantomimes," Douse posts, referencing someone's incredulity at Valve's accomplishments. "They lifted many fingers, you just didn't see because they were under no obligation to show anyone." His analysis touches on a couple of key differences between the owner of Steam and all its competition. Valve is a smaller, much more insulated business than Apple, Meta, Sony or Microsoft. It's not publicly traded, removing the need for accountability to shareholders and other investors. "In other words, 72% don't know what a monopoly is," analyst says of study that finds 72% of game devs "see Steam as a monopoly" Baldur's Gate 3 publishing chief says the Steam Machine isn't super high-spec because there's "genuinely no point" when people who want demanding PC performance on TV "know how to turn any PC into a Steam Machine" "Valve does not get anywhere near enough criticism about" gambling in its video games, says DayZ creator after $6 billion Counter-Strike 2 market crashes Notoriously secretive, nothing is announced or discussed by Valve until the company deems it necessary. Even then, access is heavily curated, with limited conversation through the press, if any occurs at all. Look at Deadlock, the new multiplayer FPS developed by Valve that's required an invitation to play for over a year now. If that were anyone else, it'd likely be in Early Access by now, but not these devs, because they don't need to think that way. The Steam Machine has also prompted speculation that Half-Life 3 might finally be coming out, spurred by apparent teasers in the announcement video. If that happens, it'd be the most Gabe Newell way to go about putting out one of the most anticipated and memed games ever. And all before GTA 6 to boot – classic Valve. "Valve does not get anywhere near enough criticism about" gambling in its video games, says DayZ creator after $6 billion Counter-Strike 2 market crashes.