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Valve software boss Gabe Newell said "not sucking" was more important for game development than "premature monetization."
In an interview with Gamasutra focusing on the Portal developer’s upcoming DotA 2 game, Newell said the choice of game was "not like this incredibly, deeply reasoned business strategy," but rather "I’m a huge fan of this!" he said.
When pressed as to whether Dota 2 would be free to play, in line with Valve’s recent experimentation with the free to play Team Fortress 2, Newell said "The primary focus for us at this point is not worrying about monetization, and it’s instead worrying about getting the game right."
The Valve boss went on to describe "premature monetization" as the "root of all evil", adding that he believed gamers could point to games "shipping too early, or sucking" as being a more more "dominant story" in the games industry.
"I mean look at Minecraft, right? Notch wasn’t thinking through his incredibly precise monetization strategy," Newell added.
Read the full Gamasutra interview with Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson here.
