Valve is a small giant in the world of video games. The latest news is that the company has barely more than 300 employees, but this structure has proven to be very favorable. Legal documents shared with our colleagues at PC Gamer by an anonymous employee reveal statistics that are surprising to say the least. In the video game industry, behemoths like Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard have more than 10,000 employees, while more modest studios like Larian can have fewer than 500. Valve therefore stands out as a special case given its weight in the world of PC gaming.
Even if the company is discreet in terms of games – Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 et Deadlock being the only projects officially in development – the importance of the Steam store could be enough to justify larger staff numbers. Yet, The documents shared reveal that in 2021, only 79 employees out of 336 were in charge of the platform, while 181 workers were affiliated with the “Games” division. One wonders what this branch is secretly cooking up, as updates on current titles struggle to maintain a regular pace. But this “small committee” organization is not without advantages. The source of PC Gamer highlights the company’s impressive net income per employee, well beyond the results of some tech giants.
Valve overtakes Facebook, Apple and Netflix
By analyzing the data at his disposal, the anonymous Valve employee claims that his company rakes in more revenue based on its total number of employees than any other player in the tech industry. The source refrains from revealing the exact value but uses a comparative table to offer a better idea of the astronomical revenues. According to figures from 2018, Facebook generated $780,400 net per employee, followed distantly by Apple with $476,160 per employee. But with only a few hundred employees to its credit and a major presence in the video game industry, Valve would therefore exceed the revenue per employee declared by Mark Zuckerberg’s network a few years ago.
This scaling allows us to highlight the dazzling yet discreet success of the company. Such data risks working against Valve, currently in lawsuit against independent studios Wolfire and Dark Catt. The documents also come from this body seeking to determine whether Steam does indeed have an unfair dominant position in the PC gaming market. The American government having classified this lawsuit as a class action, other players in the industry will therefore be able to join this legal battle. At the same time, Valve is also accused of inaction in the face of the spread of hate messages via Steam’s social features.
Source: www.journaldugeek.com
