Pitchford Slams Valve... Again

09 Nov 2009 at 11:28:01 by Andy Alderson

Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford has reprised his attack on Valve, criticising the company’s attitude towards the PS3.

In an interview with UK print mag Official PlayStation Magazine (thanks AnalogHype), Pitchford likened Valve’s position on PS3 development to “fanboy” comments.

"I noticed something on the net not too long ago.  Doug Lombardi (Valve's VP Marketing) had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish,” said Pitchford.

“I read it the same way I read fanboys. Like there's a guy who brought the Sony platform and he's a Sony guy, so he decides he's going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there's a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing. Those guys are childish and narrow minded, It's the same kind of thing"

He went on to once again criticise Valve and its Steam distribution platform.

"Valve think their own stuff is the only stuff that matters, to the point where they have their own distribution platform,” he said.

“It's like, I don't care about retail, about Marketplace, or PSN, I'm going to have Steam. It's cool, it's good, and they're doing a good job but at the same time they're reliant on the rest of the world. They had to do that deal with EA. When I see the L4D ad on the television I don't see a Valve logo, I see a EA logo, and when I bought it, I bought it at a store".

Seemingly on a roll, Pitchford then used The Orange Box as an example of a conflict of interest for Valve, highlighting the company’s “sleaziness.”

"I'm actually kind of mad at Doug because with the Orange Box,” said Pitchford.

“[H]e said the 360 and PC versions are the good ones and the PS3 version is like the stepchild because some other developer made it. Well you Valve don't really think that, because look what you've done on the PC side. You've supported that, you've added all this content to Team Fortress 2, and you've left us hanging.

“It's hard to accept that genuinely, because I know the business, I know you guys make half the money on the PS3 version because you've got other fingers in the pie, and other developers getting a cut. It benefits you if nobody buys that, and only buys the PC version, because you make the most money. There's this underlying sleaziness.”

What do you think of Pitchford’s comments? Is Valve cheating the industry? Let us know in the comments section below.

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