Valve Marketing Director Says Consoles Need User-Created Content

What is the most important thing consoles need if they want to really matter? According to Doug Lombardi, Marketing Director for Valve Software, it’s user-created content.

“Half-Life 1 was okay as a multiplayer game and Team Fortress Classic was really good, but Counter-Strike kicked both their asses no question.” Lombardi goes on to praise the PC’s open multiplayer channels, saying,” The PC has that great advantage; has had that great advantage, and it comes from multiplayer and modding starting in the early ’90s and [online] multiplayer only showing up on consoles in 2000 or 2001. You’ve got a good 10-to-15-year lead there and you still have broken pathways on both consoles, so the PC has the advantage of time and a clear pathway.”

The downside for console users is that in many cases, PC games that go to console lose their level-editing tools, as well as other user-created content aids. Sony has made some strides in this direction with the PS3, which they say will support user-created content, but how far that will go remains to be seen.

In my opinion, Lombardi is right on. If the console manufacturers want to pull the big multiplayer numbers from the PC, they need user mods (Desert Combat, anyone?), user maps, and much more multiplayer accessibility.