Would you finance Valve in their next project?

[Zeus]

Newell put forth the idea of fan-financed games as a way of eliminating the publishers. You would be investing in the game - and thus be eligible to share in the profits - and get a free copy of the game

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/100/1005657p1.html

Here's a question from an auditor: how the hell do we know if the profits are what you say they are? Can I look at your books?

[Flip]

You wouldnt look at their books, you would hire a third party to do that for you, just like shareholders of any company on a public exchange.

[Zeus]

You wouldnt look at their books, you would hire a third party to do that for you, just like shareholders of any company on a public exchange.

Yes, I know. What I meant is, they're a private company, no? Are they going to make their financials - audited financials - available to those who invest?

[SineSwiper]

If I had the money, I would finance Valve to make a golden bridge to England. Valve has never really made a bad ANYTHING, so anything they want to do, I'm game for.

[RentCavalier]

I would prefer it if they were a publically traded company though. I share the auditor's concern.

[Flip]

Im sure that even as a private company/endeavor the investors would have access to the auditor's report and financials if they wanted to... I can already picture the bitchfest that would be posted on forums about salary expenses and other costs, lol.

[Mental]

I'd probably be on board for something like this.

[SineSwiper]

I would prefer it if they were a publically traded company though. I share the auditor's concern.

If they were a publicly traded company, nobody would care about anything except "Duhhhhh...numbers go UP...duhhh...numbers go down....duhhhhhhh!" Doesn't matter if they are killing puppies and feeding their remains to the public. If they are making money doing that, the public will still buy their stock until the numbers go down.

Why do you think our capitalistic empire is so fucked up?

[Zeus]

I would prefer it if they were a publically traded company though. I share the auditor's concern.

If they were a publicly traded company, nobody would care about anything except "Duhhhhh...numbers go UP...duhhh...numbers go down....duhhhhhhh!" Doesn't matter if they are killing puppies and feeding their remains to the public. If they are making money doing that, the public will still buy their stock until the numbers go down.

Why do you think our capitalistic empire is so fucked up?

I sort of agree with Sine but with about half the disdain for public stockholders (mind you, that still means I think they're morons :-).

If they were to become a public company, the pressures to meet forecasts, announce actual release dates and stick to them, and the financial scrutiny that comes with each and every release would severely stun creativity and destroy the culture that makes their games of the quality they are IMO. In a few years, there would be huge changes in personnel and culture and they just wouldn't be the same company anymore.

The ONLY way this works is if they're a private company that makes audited financials available to all registered investors. They would risk the info coming out for sure, but they will have to provide them - or at least specified audited financial information for that particular project - to make it work

[Flip]

I THINK, but am not sure, that even as a private company investor you can only request a copy of the financial detail in writing and the comp can still say to go screw yourself. If they do provide you with it, though, i'm sure there is some caveat that 'This is the ownership of blah blah co. and reproduction/public publishing is illegal.'

I dont really deal in this stuff so i'm going purely based on learned knowledge from forever ago.

[Zeus]

I THINK, but am not sure, that even as a private company investor you can only request a copy of the financial detail in writing and the comp can still say to go screw yourself. If they do provide you with it, though, i'm sure there is some caveat that 'This is the ownership of blah blah co. and reproduction/public publishing is illegal.'

I dont really deal in this stuff so i'm going purely based on learned knowledge from forever ago.

I'm sure that it'll be something like that and you and only see the financials if you invest a certain amount. But I'm curious if they would even do something like that or if it'll be "we're Gods, give us money and we'll tell you how much we'll give you back"