Former Valve Employee Rants About the Dangers of "Self-Organizing Companies"

Valve isn’t exactly the beloved company it had been several years ago. Back when it was actually making games, such as Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Left 4 Dead, Valve could do no wrong as far as gamers were concerned, and it was worshipped wherever it went. Those days are long behind is, and now the company is largely disliked. Many people blame its fall to grace on the way the company is structured.

Y’see, Valve doesn’t have at traditional work hierarchy. Rather, people are free to do as they like and are expected to work on projects that are not only enjoyable but also beneficial to the company. In theory, that would make a relaxing, creatively liberating work environment. But according to a former Valve employee, it’s actually kind of a hellhole.

In a very long Twitter rant that's a few days old by now, Rich Geldreich spoke at-length about the dangers of this business system. While he doesn’t name-drop Valve by name, the kinds of events he discusses (such as layoffs and a leaked employee handbook) are things done by Valve and match with the timeline of his posts. And while he says he still prefers the system Valve uses to more traditional business, he made it clear that it was a place that fostered backstabbing and pettiness as employees vied for job security and bonuses.

For example, he wrote this:

"Another type of temp strategic hire you can make is to recruit a well-known author, a famous dev, or a person with specialized skills (like an economist). Have them write gushingly about their amazing experiences at the company. Once you’re done with them quietly let them go."

Which seems to match what Valve did with economist Yanis Varorakis.

It’s worth reading the whole thing, which goes into way more detail than I can really get into in this article. But needless to say, it certainly paints a picture of a company who can barely get its own crap together, let alone its digital marketplace.

Which, as I suggested, would explain a lot.