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Gabe Newell caps off Steam Machine week by taking delivery of a new $500 million superyacht with a submarine garage, on-board hospital and 15 gaming PCs
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I'd rather see the developers of the game profit before the storefront
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> Should they never expand or develop new things? Oh I didn't realize they were developing $500M yachts donations...
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That's a very specific and bold claim about Valve's internal finances. Do you have access to their private balance sheets and investment budgets? Unless you do, we're both just speculating. Factually speaking: Valve provides a massive, global storefront, handles all payment fraud and chargebacks, provides cloud storage for games, and maintains the entire friend/community network. The 30% is the price for that bundle of services. Whether that's a fair price is debatable, but the personal wealth of the CEO is a distraction from that debate.
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People need to remember a lot of the pro-consumer things that Valve has ever done were things they were forced to by regulation. Like being able to return games? That was to comply with an Australian law, and it was just *easier* to implement it for everyone than just do it for Australia specifically.We're just at the point where "basically fine" is hands down better than the majority. Even if they were forced by regulation, they *followed* the regulations instead of ignoring them and fighting an insane court battle to nit pick it for the next decade. Like, valve doesn't seem to be trying to undermine democracy or somehow bring about an actively worse world. They seem to mostly obey the law and keep orderly as regulations change. If you said you wouldn't mind living Gabes life, I wouldn't think you're a sociopath. People saying that valve is great says a lot more about the rest of the companies than it does about valve, but it still leaves valve near the top of the pile.
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I suppose we can be reassured that the Obscene Yacht industry is still going strong despite the cost of living crisis.
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> The materials were also chosen with an eye on reducing maintenance and repetitive tasks for the yacht's staff, so traditional materials like teak decks and wooden handrails are out, and composite alternatives are in. The diesel-electric power plant works alongside a battery storage system that allows Leviathan to operate for long stretches with no emissions, and it also features an advanced wastewater treatment system. On the one hand, it's nice that mr Newell seems to be reducing the footprint of their luxury yacht above and beyond most of what I have heard happens in the rest of the luxury yacht industry. On the other hand, I shudder to think of what the footprint for the _manufacturing_ of this custom-designed, one-of-a-kind luxury yacht looked like. Not to mention 'composite' usually means some sort of plastic, so now there'll be one more thing spewing microplastics directly into the ocean...
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Ugh. Why are people like this?
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What is it with millionaires and yachts? I hate boats, even on a calm day in a lake which is only about 2 m deep I'm constantly convinced the damn thing is going to sink. Do people actually like being on boats, it's basically like being in a cramped apartment that is really inconvenient to get to and from, that constantly experiences a never-ending earthquake, why is that anyone's idea of a good time? Also I *really* hope somebody has tested that submarine extensively.
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A billionaire whose hobby is Marine conservation. That yacht is a floating lab. Inkfish, founded by Gabe Newell, aims to advance marine science by providing tools and access for deep-ocean exploration, focusing on serving the scientific community rather than personal interests. The organization's mission is to integrate marine science, engineering, and technology to map uncharted seafloor, study biodiversity, discover new species, and protect ocean ecosystems, while also providing open-source data and technical support to scientists
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While all that is indeed good, we shouldn't *have to* rely on the benevolence of the wealthy to be able to have a better world. No offense, but that kind of stuff should be paid for by *taxation.* He is doing some good here, but it's also his pet project, his choice where the money goes, no one else, no input from society at large. It's still overall not a real great thing, because it means that we have to just *hope* that billionaires have pet projects that help society and the earth at large.
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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.
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> A billionaire whose hobby is Marine conservation. That yacht is a floating lab. If your hobby is marine conservation you don't own a fleet of luxury mega yachts
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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.
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Yeah, I don't understand people who ascribe more to GabeN than running a decent business. Steam has done right by me, so I remain a customer. I didn't play many games before Steam came to Linux, then I played more and more as Linux support improved (Proton was game changing),. My opinion of him ends there. Steam is a great product, as is the Steam Deck. If Valve stops making great products, I'll stop buying. Whether Gabe Newell is a good person is irrelevant here.
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That's like arguing the guy who beats his wife isn't so bad because he used to cut on her too, but stopped. It should be 10% max for a store. And publishers all take too big a cut as well
