an encapsulation of our guiding principles
Valve is self-funded.
Valve owns its intellectual property... to make our own decisions about our products

when you ... recruit the most intelligent, innovative, talented people on Earth, telling them to sit at a desk and do what they’re told obliterates 99 percent of their value.

We want innovators, and that means maintaining an environment where they’ll flourish.

Employees vote on projects with their feet (or desk wheels). Strong projects are ones in which people can see demonstrated value; they staff up easily.

If you’re working here, that means you’re good at your job. People are going to want you to work with them on their projects, and they’ll try hard to get you to do so.

- Of all the projects currently under way, what’s the most valuable thing I can be working on?
- Which project will have the highest direct impact on our customers? How much will the work I ship benefit them?
- Is Valve not doing something that it should be doing?
- What’s interesting? What’s rewarding? What leverages my individual strengths the most?

Check your assumptions. Pull more people in. Listen. Don’t believe that anyone holds authority over the decision you’re trying to make. They don’t; but they probably have valuable experience to draw from, or information data that you don’t have, or insight that’s new.
When considering the outcome, don’t believe that anyone but you is the “stakeholder”. You’re it. And Valve’s customers are who you’re serving. Do what’s right for them

But rather than simply trusting each other to just be smart, we also constantly test our own decisions

While people occasionally choose to push themselves to work some extra hours at times when something big is going out the door, for the most part working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication.

Providing the freedom to fail is an important trait of the company- we couldn’t expect so much of individuals if we also penalized people for errors. Even expensive mistakes, or ones which result in a very public failure, are genuinely looked at as opportunities to learn. We can always repair the mistake or make up for it.

We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers. They watch us, sometimes very publicly, Sometimes they get angry with us. But because we always have their best interests at heart, there’s faith that we’re going to make things better, and that if we’ve screwed up today, it wasn’t because we were trying to take advantage of anyone.

Everyone is a designer. Everyone can question each other’s work. Anyone can recruit someone onto his or her project. Everyone has to function as a “strategist,” which really means figuring out how to do what’s right for our customers.

We believe that high-performance people are generally self-improving.

Hiring well is the most important thing in the universe.

How do we choose the right people to hire?
..here are some questions we always ask ourselves when
evaluating candidates:
- Would I want this person to be my boss?
- Would I learn a significant amount from him or her?
- What if this person went to work for our competition?

We’re looking for people stronger than ourselves.

Q: If all this stuff has worked well for us, why doesn’t every company work this way?
A: Well, it’s really hard. Mainly because, from day one, it requires a commitment to hiring in a way that’s very different from the way most companies hire. It also requires the discipline to make the design of the company more important than any one short-term business goal. And it requires a great deal of freedom from outside pressure—being self-funded was key. And having a founder who was confident enough to build this kind of place is rare, indeed.

*Disclaimer*
Post 100% written by human / No AI
Photo Cred: Visual Electric

FOCUS ON EXCELLENCE
“Everyone here is really good at what they do. For me personally, I only want to work at places that are going to push me and my craft, and not just in animation, but also the craft of making a really good game.”
MIKE YOSH, ANIMATION DIRECTOR

DIGITAL-FIRST STUDIO
“So much of our work is thinking through tough problems. Our digital first approach gives us the freedom to create our ideal environment to focus and become more effective at problem-solving.”
JON PAQUETTE, SENIOR NARRATIVE DIRECTOR

COLLABORATION
“The reality is a game is made up of a thousand tiny moments and a thousand little ideas and we want everyone to be able to contribute.”
AL HASTINGS, HEAD OF ARCHITECTURE

ANYONE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT
“At Insomniac there’s just a general culture that everyone’s opinion is valued…you can speak up and your opinion matters.”
BEN VAN DYKEN, ADVANCED SENIOR ANIMATOR

CREATIVE OWNERSHIP
“In Sunset Overdrive, our lead animator was working on character death respawns and he thought what if we did them in a cool Insomniac way that really fit the tone of the game? We ended up making a lot of them and it kinda made you want to die in the game just to see the next respawn. I think THAT kind of thing is what makes Insomniac, Insomniac.”
BRIAN HASTINGS, HEAD OF CREATIVE STRATEGY

OPEN-DOOR POLICY
“Ted and I both have said people can come talk to us anytime about anything. Maybe that doesn’t exist at other studios, maybe part of that is because when you’re that big you can’t just walk into a leader’s office. But that’s what’s cool about being here. People at every level at Insomniac are invested in the projects we’re making.”
JOHN FIORITO, HEAD OF OPERATIONS

TO CREATE GAMES THAT HAVE A POSITIVE AND LASTING INFLUENCE ON PEOPLE’S LIVES.

TO INSPIRE PLAYERS WITH STORIES OF UNDERDOGS AND CREATE UNFORGETTABLE WORLDS

TO SET THE INDUSTRY BAR WITH OUR CRAFTSMANSHIP AND BE LEADERS IN GAME DEVELOPMENT

TO CHALLENGE AND INSPIRE EACH OTHER WITHIN OUR COLLABORATIVE CULTURE AND HELP THE LESS FORTUNATE

TO CALIBRATE OUR WORK FOR BROAD APPEAL AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS