It seems that even a seemingly successful company can still make the decision to lay off a portion of its workforce. That appears to be the case at Bellevue, Washington-based Valve. Internet reports have come in that the developer behind the Half-Life and Portal games, and the Steam PC game download service, has let go of a number of its employees. If true, it would be the first time Valve has laid off a large wave of workers since the developer was established.
Exactly how many workers have been laid off from Valve is not clear. Gamasutra reports that the numbers could be as high as 25, and adds that one of the people who has left is Valve"s director of business development Jason Holtman. Unnamed Valve employees have labeled the layoffs as a "great cleansing" and that they were a part of "large decisions" that have been made by the company.
The departments that have been affected the most at Valve are in the Android and hardware departments, according to the unconfirmed reports. In the past few months, Valve founder Gabe Newell has been talking up the company"s plans to offer some kind of PC-based game machine that would hook up to a TV similar to a game console. The prospects for such a "Steam Box" have generated a lot of hype and media interest.
So far, Valve has yet to offer an official comment about the layoff reports.
Source: Gamasutra | Image via Valve