Valve won't go public
Floated companies suffer too much shareholder interference, claims Half-Life studio
Seattle developer and Steam owner Valve has dismissed the possibility of ever floating on the stock market.
The given reason was fear of meddling in creative decisions by shareholders.
"Any bad decision I ever see out there is because somebody created this different customer that was whoever funds them," lead designer Erik Johnson told PC Gamer, "and not the consumer of the product."
Said Valve boss Gabe Newell, "You end up with a totally different set of decisions, and the person who's trying to design the experience is like 'Okay, I guess we'll put Christopher Walken in our game.'"
Valve has also remained resolutely independent throughout its life, despite brief, apparently unfounded speculation about a Google buy-out some years back.