Rumor Mill: Google Eyeing Acquisition of Valve Software?

Rumors were flying Thursday morning that search engine giant Google (News - Alert) might be in talks to acquire Valve Software, an entertainment software and technology company based in Bellevue, Washington.

 

The rumor apparently could be traced back to a Wednesday morning Inquirer report, citing “well placed sources” who indicated a Google-Valve deal was in the works.

 

Reports from blogs and other news outlets, including washingtonpost.com’s TechCrunch, Information Week and CNET, indicated that Google might be close to acquiring Valve for an undisclosed price.

 

An update at 9:40 a.m. from CNET, however, cited a report on gaming site Kotaku stating that someone had spoken to Valve’s marketing director Doug Lombardi and was told the rumors were unfounded.

 

Valve is probably best-known for having developed the games Half-Life 2 and Portal. It also offers a gaming engine (Source) and a broadband platform for delivering digital content (Steam).

 

With no official announcement from either Valve or Google, it remains to be seen whether this is just another tech rumor or turns out to be true. Regardless, such a deal does make a certain amount of sense.

 

Most likely, CNET blogger Stephen Shankland said, Google is interested in Valve’s Steam platform, which he described as “an online foundation for selling and distributing games, updating patches, enabling multiplayer online chat, and using digital rights management to control who has permission to use elements like game versions or game terrain.”

 

While gaming isn’t exactly Google’s forte, Shankland said Steam could be used more broadly, and is probably appealing to Google since the technology could help the company in its goal to be “the clearinghouse for online activity.”

 

Valve was founded in 1996, and its portfolio of games has reached 20 million retail units shipped worldwide. The company reports on its Web site that these games make up “80 percent of the PC online action market.” The Steam platform, meanwhile, has garnered more than 10 million registered users.