Accessory makers Dbrand have taken their Steam Machine Companion Cube case off sale, admitting they never actually sought permission from Valve to make it.
You should always check with the IP owner first aside… this does seem like an uncharacteristic move from valve. Like… black mesa existed as a mod for a while… crickets. They remade it in a new engine… crickets. They put it on sale on steam… and valve endorsed it. afaik they never asked permission… but even if they did it’s weird to have a team doing a fully 3rd party remake of a core game and being fully endorsed by the company.
But here you have someone well known, doing a skin essentially… that only works on the valve product… and valve has issue with THAT? odd.
My guess would be that Valve had plans to make one themselves. Maybe as sort of a second gen or limited release thing.
Maybe it’s also just not set a precedent. It is pretty crazy to make a product that uses such a famous piece of IP as a big company and not even asked for permission. It’s one thing if you’re like selling crafts on Etsy, but not even asking at that level is wild.
If someone at Valve hadn’t at least mocked up one as a faceplate a long time ago, I’d be amazed. Dbrands over-engineered full case probably makes their version look real disappointing even if it is likely more technically sound.
Realistically, it probably is the precedent, maybe combined with technical concerns like the thermals/RF/etc.
The weirdest part to me is that this wasn’t a surprise. As soon as valve announced the steam machine it seemed the same day this was announced along with it. They knew it was coming. Why not say something then?
I mean how could they not be? It was being shared literally everywhere previously as soon as it was announced. Someone from Valve had to have seen it, especially when they found it immediately upon launch and shut it down almost instantly. It was obviously on their radar
Valve has a history of hiring modders and making the mods official products (counter strike started as a Half Life mod). Black Mesa was originally a free mod, they then approached valve about selling it later, which Valve then approved. Had the devs not asked permission, Valve probably would’ve shut it down had they tried to sell it.
That is my point though. The original mod just showed up and was being worked on for years. No word from valve. Then they rebuilt into a new engine and wanted to sell it… and I figured that valve would get upset… but no they just gave their blessing and put it on steam. AFAIK crowbar never asked to make the mod or the full rebuild and only talked to them after the fact… and valve was like “sure… go for it”. That’s why this felt oddly different.
Very different because Crowbar Collective never intended to commercialize Black Mesa until Valve reached out to them and suggested doing so. This was monetized from step 1. I imagine Valve’s reaction would have been different if this was just free files for 3D printing for example.
well, there’s a pretty big difference between a mod and a manufactured product for people to buy. They also did ask for permission before actually selling it, which is an important step
You should always check with the IP owner first aside… this does seem like an uncharacteristic move from valve. Like… black mesa existed as a mod for a while… crickets. They remade it in a new engine… crickets. They put it on sale on steam… and valve endorsed it. afaik they never asked permission… but even if they did it’s weird to have a team doing a fully 3rd party remake of a core game and being fully endorsed by the company.
But here you have someone well known, doing a skin essentially… that only works on the valve product… and valve has issue with THAT? odd.
My guess would be that Valve had plans to make one themselves. Maybe as sort of a second gen or limited release thing.
Maybe it’s also just not set a precedent. It is pretty crazy to make a product that uses such a famous piece of IP as a big company and not even asked for permission. It’s one thing if you’re like selling crafts on Etsy, but not even asking at that level is wild.
If someone at Valve hadn’t at least mocked up one as a faceplate a long time ago, I’d be amazed. Dbrands over-engineered full case probably makes their version look real disappointing even if it is likely more technically sound.
Realistically, it probably is the precedent, maybe combined with technical concerns like the thermals/RF/etc.
The weirdest part to me is that this wasn’t a surprise. As soon as valve announced the steam machine it seemed the same day this was announced along with it. They knew it was coming. Why not say something then?
How do you know they were aware of it?
I mean how could they not be? It was being shared literally everywhere previously as soon as it was announced. Someone from Valve had to have seen it, especially when they found it immediately upon launch and shut it down almost instantly. It was obviously on their radar
I didn’t know about it, so no, it wasn’t shared literally everywhere.
Yeah but it’s also not your product and your IP to monitor. That’s quite literally someone’s job there
Fair enough.
Maybe they have something of their own planned?
Valve has a history of hiring modders and making the mods official products (counter strike started as a Half Life mod). Black Mesa was originally a free mod, they then approached valve about selling it later, which Valve then approved. Had the devs not asked permission, Valve probably would’ve shut it down had they tried to sell it.
Black Mesa specifically did have Valve’s blessings. Valve did ask them to remove “Source” from the game’s title IIRC, but greenlit the release.
That is my point though. The original mod just showed up and was being worked on for years. No word from valve. Then they rebuilt into a new engine and wanted to sell it… and I figured that valve would get upset… but no they just gave their blessing and put it on steam. AFAIK crowbar never asked to make the mod or the full rebuild and only talked to them after the fact… and valve was like “sure… go for it”. That’s why this felt oddly different.
Very different because Crowbar Collective never intended to commercialize Black Mesa until Valve reached out to them and suggested doing so. This was monetized from step 1. I imagine Valve’s reaction would have been different if this was just free files for 3D printing for example.
well, there’s a pretty big difference between a mod and a manufactured product for people to buy. They also did ask for permission before actually selling it, which is an important step