This yacht is many things, one of them being a floating lab. It's not like it isn't a super-luxury yacht for $500 million, also. Or like he hasn't a couple more super-yachts. I mean, good for the man, good that he's doing marine conservation on the side, or that he actually cares about his companies, employees, etc. But also, wow, what kind of amounts do billionaires spend on playthings, and what you could do with such money for the betterment of society.

Why does he need society's input? Last I checked, charities didn't ask society at large, they just get funding from the people who care. Am I wrong to go to the park to pick up litter without asking society at large if that's the best use of my time? We don't need to have everything go through a committee. If he wants to do a good thing, that's awesome.

Depending on where one lives and how lavish they want to live, 1mil USD at 4% interest is enough to make a life on. That's what my financial advisor tells me and I think it's more than reasonable.

I don't think anyone thinks he's a saint, despite the memes. Except if you compare him to the fucking sleazeballs at companies like Epic, Rockstar, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, etc. etc., not to mention every other publicly traded corporation, he kind of his. Again, **by comparison**. He single-handedly improves the entire industry. He could very well have developed a locked down Steam OS that won't do anything but play games but he instead invested in an open source platform that sorely needed it, and makes the world a better place. Steam doesn't have to put up big banners for Denuvo or AI or games that require a remote account but they do, purely for the benefit of the users.

Yes, but I think inflation quickly makes that a pretty low number.

If I were a billionaire I would buy an old ass ship (forgive me IDK much about naval history) like an ironclad, retrofit it with a nuclear reactor and then full horsepower it through a yacht yard

>there's one implication that worries me Well, _two_ implications 

I suppose so, but maybe they don't want to grow too large. Microsoft absolutely devouring studios the last few years has not produced any truly great games. Valve clearly know how to make a good game still, when they want to.

Well, I agree that the writing is really good. But the gameplay hook is what really makes it a great game tome.

30% is too much! Clearly Steam doesn't need that much to operate (the percentage of each sale that go to Valve)

Tbf gabe has been pushing for ocean exploration for a long time since we barely know our oceans and he has the money to fund that. Very cool stuff normal people can't do.

The governments of normal people could be doing it but the money is going to billionaires instead.

I agree, it's easier to do it worldwide, but that doesn't stop companies from writing extra code to comply with local restrictions only locally. Look at all the US companies where their websites function differently if you are in california or not. It was a law, but they were by no means forced to be good about it and let everyone in the world benefit.

I've been told over and over again that Valve *needs* that 30% and they can't possibly do all that they do with a lower margin. Clearly hosting some files, hosting a forum, processing payments, etc is about ONE THIRD of all the talent and effort that goes into creating a game.

The situation sucks, but I guess we have to count our "wins" these days. If this money he is using to advance marine science was taxed, I guarantee it would be given straight to the US Military for creating more weapons of mass destruction. A lot of things need to change in this world.

It seems really really relevant though...

More developers doesn't always means faster shipping of products, but it can lead to disconnected and soulless releases. Valve only release something new when it makes sense to or they have an innovation that means it makes sense to. They don't really work at a slow pace in my opinion, it's just you may not always see constant changes in one part of their products all the time because of how the engineers work (freedom to work on whatever). Probably for the best they aren't hiring thousands of people to pump out random stuff that is only there to make money. They make stuff that makes sense.

Refreshing to hear this take. Valve and Gabe get glazed so hard when at the end of the day it's about the bottom dollar for them too. Honestly I think people love them so much because everyone else has been horrible by comparison.

I think we're just at a point where a company not constantly trying to find ways to squirm out of every single thing is a breath of fresh air. "Hi! We're valve. We're mostly following the law without fuss, mostly make money by getting people to buy things they want, and our excessively wealthy owner acts like a preposterously rich person, not a comic book villain: Fantasizing about living his life isn't deeply concerning. The hardware we sell isn't deliberately worse for consumers to no benefit to ourselves" -- Hands down one of the best "big" companies out there.

Fucking disgusting. There's no way to be a billionaire while not being a total shitstain that just sucks the society dry.