Valve to spearhead innovation in PCs, begin recruiting

By: Moses Abaortae

  |   September 4th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

A job listing on Valve’s website is looking candidates experienced in hardware development as the studio looks to take matters into its own hands and move the PC forward as a platform for gamers.

When one looks at the consoles that have been released by the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo over the years and compare them to PCs then the difference in innovation between the two becomes apparent.

While PCs seem to be focused on providing more power and memory, the Nintendo Wii demonstrated that unique experiences can prove to be a successful foundation for hardware as well.

Since then both Microsoft and Sony have taken notice and released the Kinect and Move respectively. However, the PC still has the same layout in terms of keyboard and mouse with companies such as Razer and Alienware showing any signs of innovating.

Valve has apparently had enough and is set to make the transition from software to hardware in order to rectify the issue. The post on their website read:

“Valve is traditionally a software company” before continuing, “Open platforms like the PC and Mac are important to us, as they enable us and our partners to have a robust and direct relationship with customers.”

The post went on: “We’re frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we’re jumping in. Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed in any meaningful way over the years. There’s a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked.”

Any candidate looking to join Valve and fulfill the company’s vision is required to have “6+ years of professional experience shipping world-class, high tech hardware products,” among other qualifications as well.

Valve is one of the studios attempting to be on the forefront of the evolution of the gaming industry and has a proven track record of doing so in the past. Their digital distribution platform, Steam, was the first to be accepted by the main stream and sparked the release of other publishers making similar moves.

Gabe Newell, the founder of the company, also proposed various solutions to combat piracy as well, including making the content more accessible so that consumers did not have to resort to pirates.

However, the hardware market is a different ball game altogether and it will be interesting to see how Valve adapt, if at all they can. Yet there is one announcement that gamers are literally begging for and that is the one surrounding the next instalment in the Half Life series. Valve has remained silent on the matter and the wait is starting to become unbearable for many.

But what do the readers think; will Valve manage to make an impact in the hardware market or not? Let us know in the comments section below.