Amazon Buys Twitch…Is Valve Next?

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While this is pure speculation on the part of the author, I could totally see Amazon buying Valve. Thanks to TwistedAegis for the link.

With a game distribution platform, Amazon becomes the place where people buy and sell games, play games, stream games, and talk about games to each other. With that infrastructure in place, Amazon can become synonymous with gaming just as it once was synonymous with books and is trying to become synonymous with movies and TV shows.
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trick0502 said:
if they did, i bet we would see hl3...
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This may well be true but it would be a cold day in hell when Valve sells out to any company. It would have to be a hostile takeover facilitated by shar....nvm they don't have public shares!

Valve won't get bought out unless they want to be. They have all the funds and distribution services they could ever need.

I could be very wrong about the buying out thing, I don't know much about all that jazz. :eek:
 
Not that Amazon couldn't afford it but considering tech companies seem to go for 10x to 100x revenues, and valve actually makes money (*gasp*), Gabe would demand an outrageous sum.
 
It's not gonna happen. IIRC Gabe Newell said he had absolutely no intention of selling the company a few months back.

Plus even for Amazon, it might cost to much since if in the off chance Gabe Newell did give a price it'd be insane.
 
Considering Valve brings in ~a Billion dollars a year, their valuation would be extremely high and I don't think Amazon would be able to or willing to foot the bill.
 
Unless Gabe is looking to retire (or suddenly drops dead from his unhealthy lifestyle) I don't see Valve coming under the Amazon umbrella ... they are a private company and can only merge with another based on the desire of their owner, Gabe Newell ... not sure how big the Amazon warchest is but I would expect them to pick up one of the little stores (GOG) or one of the floundering publishers with a store (EA) far easier ... also, no way two alpha personalities like Newell and Bezos successfully coexist ;)
 
Seventyfive said:
Not that Amazon couldn't afford it but considering tech companies seem to go for 10x to 100x revenues, and valve actually makes money (*gasp*), Gabe would demand an outrageous sum.
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True. But given that Gabe isn't really in it 100% for the money, I wonder if/when he gets tired of running Valve (he may never), he doesn't sell to a company he would trust to give it more space to run independently and isn't as much concerned about the purchase price. The sales price would still be plenty of money, I'm sure.
 
Pointless article. Nobody watching twitch is going to care that it's owned by Amazon. Amazon hasn't suddenly bought themselves credibility in the gaming industry. And Valve sure doesn't give a shit.
 
Newell will never sell. Why would they? They've got cash cows and are doing just fine.
 
Well since we are speculating, why not Facebook? Could be the next logical step for FB, e-commerce for their VR and AR venture.
 
I don't see Valve selling, too much of a bright future in terms of $$$
 
Gabe Newell is already in the top 1000 for richest people on the planet. Considering what the company makes like others said, I don't think even Google could afford it.
 
If snapchat is worth 10 billion dollars then I think Gabe should demand 1 trillion dollars on principle alone.
 
TwistedAegis said:
True. But given that Gabe isn't really in it 100% for the money, I wonder if/when he gets tired of running Valve (he may never), he doesn't sell to a company he would trust to give it more space to run independently and isn't as much concerned about the purchase price. The sales price would still be plenty of money, I'm sure.
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He still has a moral and fiduciary duty to his employees and other equity holders in the company to sell at a fair market price.
 
McFry said:
If snapchat is worth 10 billion dollars then I think Gabe should demand 1 trillion dollars on principle alone.
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No doubt. Doesn't seem unreasonable that Valve would be worth at least 100x what snapchat is.
 
I would like to note that it isn't any speculation that Amazon bought Twitch...Twitch themselves announced it...it happened.
 
Nope Valve won't sell out. It might when Gabe throws in the towel, but being a privately held company and with the way they operate over there, there are really many reasons not to sell out. Their whole company structure is not a hierarchy, and they have no official boss. I'm sure that would change if they sold to a company like Amazon.

There's also probably a good reason hl3 has never seen the light of day and at this rate it should probably stay like that.
 
We'll see Amazon Prime Games, and pay $139/year for Prime, or more.
 
Seventyfive said:
He still has a moral and fiduciary duty to his employees and other equity holders in the company to sell at a fair market price.
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Moral? Don't know about that. And would it be the right decision to sell for $1B more to EA, who would then gut the company and run it down the drain, or to (hypothetically) Amazon, who would allow it to continue on largely as they have?
 
Ashbringer said:
Please god no.
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Please God yes.

If Valve were to sell to Amazon, the Steam platform would actually have quality control. If an Amazon product is faulty, or misadvertised, Amazon pulls it. Remember the Sim City debacle? When it's customers complained about quality and functionality, Amazon listened and pulled it. Valve does not care one bit about the quality, or basic functionality of they games they sell. See Air Control.

The customer service would be top notch, were Amazon to be in charge. If I have a problem with an Amazon shipment or product, they solve it right away. Amazon has terrific customer service and everyone here knows it. Valve's customer service is on a sub-Comcast level.
 
It's never going to happen.

Valve makes more money per employee than any other company anywhere.
Valve is rolling in money, enough that Gabe has a half-million dollar 3D printing hobby.
Gabe was independently wealthy from his time at Microsoft, and started Valve to have the freedom to do what he wants, not to build a company and sell out, or to become rich.
 
It's never going to happen. Gabe and co are a different kind of animal. If anything they may sell the Steam portion to Amazon or partner with them or something but Valve as a whole, no chance.
 
I highly doubt either Amazon or Google would be willing to write that check. With the silly prices of lesser tech companies purchased recently the cost for Valve would have to be astronomical.
 
Amazon buying Valve? Nope. Amazon going after Valve and competing with them more aggressively? Yup. I'm certain that's why they bought Twitch. Amazon knows how to run a undercutting price war. And Twitch gives them an edge in making game-buying an interactive experience.

See the game being played live. Ask live questions of the casters. Live streamed announcements and launches from developers. Click the buy now button and get it digitally or 2-day Prime delivery.
 
No, this cannot happen. I just want to be left alone with my Steam Game library. I don't want my games to suddenly disappear like how movies can disappear from one's Amazon movie library.
 
This could happen, but I really don't see it soon.

Picking up Valve to head their game development stuff would be a genius move - especially considering both companies are already stationed in Seattle. However Valve is worth an order of magnitude more money than Twitch. Amazon has pretty thin margins - buying Valve would be a risk that I don't think Amazon is willing to take, yet.

If the Twitch buyout is as profitable as it should be in a few years, I could definitely see this being Amazon's next move though.
 
If there was ever a chance to buy Valve it would of happened years ago. I'm sure there were secret offers in the past that never made it to the table.
 
Saw this one on Reddit today lol

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