Because his billions were earned from offering an actually decent service beholden to the customers rather than the shareholders, something not many other billionaires seem capable of. Yeah, nobody needs a billion dollars but literally everyone else in the gaming industry would rather shoot themselves in the foot to make a penny now rather than… Just simply not do that and make a dollar later.
This. You do not do a billion dollars worth of work in wages. You are given millions in stocks and those are invested an sat on until they are then worth billions.
You cannot possibly earn a billion dollars. That money is the excess labor value of Valve workers. In the context of how our society is currently structured Gaben certainly isn’t the worst of them, but he’s still a member of the parasite class.
Most of Valve’s money comes from taking a 30% cut of all sales through the Steam store, which is a lot of money. They’re not abusing their market position as much as they could (e.g. if you buy a Steam key from anywhere else, like a key in a physical box at a physical store, or another online key retailer like Humble Bundle, Valve gets no money, as the publisher can generate as many Steam keys as they want for free), but it’s the surplus value of the labour of employees of other companies that Gabe Newell accumulates.
I’ve heard that, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the relationship Gaben has with Valve workers is inherently parasitic. He may be a “good boss,” but he’s still their boss, has ownership of all their work, and could fire them at will.
Also worth noting that most of Gabe’s (and Valve’s) value is not based on anyone at Valve’s work, but instead based on taking a cut from every dev that sells on Steam. Valve is effectively a landlord renting out digital real estate. The fact that they’re able to make obscene amounts of money suggests to me that maybe rents are too damn high.
That’s a good point, it’s an interesting social phenomenon that people tend to be fond of Valve in spite of this because they’re seen as good stewards of the space. It’s like having a landlord that takes good care of the property and makes regular improvements. The property relations are still exploitative, but they’re doing better than most others would within that exploitative framework.
literally everyone else in the gaming industry would rather shoot themselves in the foot to make a penny now rather than… Just simply not do that and make a dollar later.
Ah, the shortsighted joy of publicly traded companies.
Because his billions were earned from offering an actually decent service beholden to the customers rather than the shareholders, something not many other billionaires seem capable of. Yeah, nobody needs a billion dollars but literally everyone else in the gaming industry would rather shoot themselves in the foot to make a penny now rather than… Just simply not do that and make a dollar later.
It is impossible to earn a billion dollars. This is a lie pushed by the ruling class to keep you submissive.
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This. You do not do a billion dollars worth of work in wages. You are given millions in stocks and those are invested an sat on until they are then worth billions.
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You cannot possibly earn a billion dollars. That money is the excess labor value of Valve workers. In the context of how our society is currently structured Gaben certainly isn’t the worst of them, but he’s still a member of the parasite class.
Most of Valve’s money comes from taking a 30% cut of all sales through the Steam store, which is a lot of money. They’re not abusing their market position as much as they could (e.g. if you buy a Steam key from anywhere else, like a key in a physical box at a physical store, or another online key retailer like Humble Bundle, Valve gets no money, as the publisher can generate as many Steam keys as they want for free), but it’s the surplus value of the labour of employees of other companies that Gabe Newell accumulates.
Isn’t valve considered an amazing place to work at in the gaming industry?
Hmm it was at some point, and then there were reports it’s not that amazing if you’re not part of the “in” crowd.
I’ve heard that, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the relationship Gaben has with Valve workers is inherently parasitic. He may be a “good boss,” but he’s still their boss, has ownership of all their work, and could fire them at will.
Also worth noting that most of Gabe’s (and Valve’s) value is not based on anyone at Valve’s work, but instead based on taking a cut from every dev that sells on Steam. Valve is effectively a landlord renting out digital real estate. The fact that they’re able to make obscene amounts of money suggests to me that maybe rents are too damn high.
That’s a good point, it’s an interesting social phenomenon that people tend to be fond of Valve in spite of this because they’re seen as good stewards of the space. It’s like having a landlord that takes good care of the property and makes regular improvements. The property relations are still exploitative, but they’re doing better than most others would within that exploitative framework.
Ah, the shortsighted joy of publicly traded companies.
Homeboy ran a casino targeting gamers for at least a billion.
Every other game company does that, too, ON TOP of all the other shit they do.
Yeah, if valve started taking step towards enshittification people would turn on Gabe in a too.