In terms of revenue per employee, Valve is extremely well set to weather almost any storm. Beyond Microsoft or Google. Nintendo’s probably also stable, given they own the most valuable IP created.

Gabe Newell is probably trustworthy - as much as a man of his wealth can be anyway. The problem I think Valve could face one day is a rogue board of directors taking the company public after he dies.

Steam does suffer from the ‘purchase a revocable license’ issue, which is always concerning, but the larger issue might be their stance on license revocation on death. For now, passing your login information to next of kin is the workaround, but I wonder if there will come a day where they send emails saying an account has been terminated and licenses voided as the date of birth on record exceeds the average lifespan of a citizen in your nation.

I’ll never know the answer to that, but if capitalism has taught me anything, it’s to distrust corporations making decisions. Maybe Valve could become an employee cooperative of some variety. That would alleviate my concerns.