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Valve Founder Calls PC "Center Of Innovation" For Gaming

by Phil Kollar on Jan 06, 2011 at 02:45 PM

In recent years, Valve has become a major developer of successful console games, including such hits as the Left 4 Dead games and the upcoming Portal 2 (pictured above). They started out as a PC-focused team with the Half-Life series, though, and co-founder Gabe Newell says he still believes PC gaming is the most original and forward-thinking sector of the industry.

Speaking to Develop, Newell said that "open platforms are where innovations are going to occur," listing off several examples of such innovations from recent memory:

"We see [the PC] as the center of innovation of everything that’s going on, whether it’s microtransactions, MMOs, free-to-play, or something like CityVille which -- after its first month -- has 84 million people playing."

Despite moving to include console development, Newell said Valve remains "tremendously excited about the future of PC gaming." Do you agree with him that PC is where most of the innovation is happening in our industry?