Rise of closed platforms like Xbox Live is not a good sign says Newell
Popularity of closed platforms is "ominous"
Valve boss, Gabe Newell has indicated that he is worried by the rise of closed platforms for gaming like Apple's iOS and Xbox Live.
Apple and Microsoft have notoriously closed off their online platforms and have very careful vetting procedures for any prospective content.
Newell said: "On the platform side, it's sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms... They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people's access to those things. I'm worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going - there's going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say 'I'm tired of competing with Google, I'm tired of competing with Facebook, I'll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don't like from my world.'"
Steam is not without its problems though as they are still in a stalemate with EA over the way that they sell downloadable content; a disagreement that has seen two of EA's biggest releases of the year Dragon Age II and Crysis 2 pulled from Valves digital platform.
Thanks The Seattle Times.
