Newel: Valve Is Moving To Linux Because Windows 8 Will Be A Catastrophe

Gabe Newell, the co-founder and managing director of Valve, has made a rare appearance at Casual Connect where he prophesized that Windows 8 will be a catastrophic failure for Microsoft.

Valve has already announced plans to port Steam and its games library to Linux; A decision now being justified by Newell as a precautionary move to protect the company’s business from the eminent Windows 8 failure.

“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior,” a-t-il déclaré.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.”