Valve: PS3 is 'too complicated'

Valve: The legends behind Half Life and Left4Dead
Valve: The legends behind Half Life and Left4Dead

Not for the first time, software giant Valve has answered the question as to why it doesn't develop for the PS3, with Tom Leonard critical of the technical hoops that developers must jump through to make games for PlayStation.

Valve has hardly established itself as a PlayStation fanboy in the past few years, making it abundantly clear that it is very much in the traditional PC camp, but it also likes the more PC-like appeal of the Xbox.

Asked once again about the lack of support for the PS3, Leonard did not mince his words, reportedly telling Loot Ninja : "The PC and the 360 are just more straightforward.

"We can focus on what we want to do, which is make game experiences, instead of sweating bullets over obscure architectural decisions they make with their platform."

Technical fetish

"I didn't come into this business in the '90s because of some technical fetish. I came in because I wanted to give people experiences that made them have fun," he added.

Sony has never pretended that the PS3 is easy to code for, and this week has seen a senior EA executive claiming that, in terms of gaming power, the Xbox is maxed out, but the latest PlayStation has more to come.

But as one of the industry's biggest hitters, Valve's continued resistance will continue to jar with PlayStation fans everywhere, and of course hand a welcome slice of cheer to the PC gaming market.

From Loot Ninja Via Kotaku

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.