It turns out that the hack was more insidious than just an excuse to disseminate questionable material. Gabe Newell, the co-founder and managing director of Steam’s creator, Valve Corporation, notified Steam users in a bulletin message on the user forums that the hack may also have compromised users’ credit card numbers and other personal information. Valve now knows that the hackers gained access to a database with this encrypted information, Newell explains, but are unclear if they took it or will be able to crack its encryption.

This compromised database held a wealth of sensitive information such as user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, e-mail addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information, Newell confirmed.

Newell states that, at the moment, the company does not have evidence that the encrypted credit card numbers or personal info were taken by the intruders, and assures users that Valve is “still investigating” the matter. He concludes that while there is also no evidence of credit card misuse as of yet, Steam users should remain cautious and “watch your credit card activity and statements closely.”

You can read the full text of Newell’s message here.

Our focus is really much on building something that's cool, and then we'll worry about monetization. So we're not going to worry about that until later. Premature monetization is the root of all evil.Newell on premature monetization

When Newell was asked if he believed being aware of monetization design was important during the game’s design period, he responded,  ”I think not sucking is way more of an important thing to pay attention to first.”

If only more publishers and developers had the same mind-set and we’d have more quality game on shelves.

Be sure to give the whole interview a read as well.

Do you agree with Newell’s statement or is that just part of the “root?”

I think that they're going to be more happy in the future as we take advantage of the capabilities that we have on the PlayStation 3 that we don't have on the 360...I think that Sony's made a really smart set of decisions about their approach, and that they'll continue to garner more and more benefits from that approach going forward.Gabe Newell

Another notable tidbit was that Portal 2 sold more on PC than it did on consoles, while the Left 4 Dead series fared better on 360 and PS3. Gabe claims this was entirey accidental, and the company never goes into the game design phase targeting a specific platform; rather, Valve just tried “to build good games and then we tend to be surprised.” Hit up the source link below for the full interview.

Steam integration is not the only time Sony has allowed this sort of thing to happen. CCP Games has also been given access to allow cross-platform play for its upcoming shooter, Dust 514, which will connect to the PC Eve Online.

I think Sony will start to benefit from what it’s doing.

 

They’ve done the scary thing and I think it’s up to us as developers to make sure Sony and its customers are rewardedNewell on rewarding the PS3

Newell also thinks that Sony’s decision to open up its online service will ultimately pay off in the end and he also added that it’s “absolutely important” that games like Portal 2 and Dust 514 are a success for Sony and the PS3.

I think not only us but other developers are benefiting from Sony’s approach. We and other developers have to show we’re creating value to Sony for opening up its network. We have to show them it’s a smart business move.

 

We need to reward Sony for making this decision. We need to prove Sony is right.Newell on Sony opening its online platform

Do you think this is the start of a change regarding the online networks for consoles? Will Xbox LIVE and the Wii or Wii U’s online platforms follow suit?

We'll just go into progressively wider and wider distribution. I don't think it'll be shipped until next year.Newell on Dota 2 releasing in 2012

Dota 2 was originally planned for release before the year’s up, but Newell adds, “with a game like this, you just keep shipping. You add new heroes. You try out new game modes. You are constantly tweaking item and hero balance. It’s very much an ongoing thing.”

While it looks like Dota 2′s release is being figured out, the game’s business model is far from being settled.

In terms of the game going free-to-play  (F2P), Newell states:

We don't know. We don't have plans yet. The problem isn't to figure out what your monetisation strategy is. If you have something with a super careful monetisation strategy and it sucks, it doesn't matter.

 

The most important thing is to do something that resonates well with the existing Dota players and creates a vehicle for new players to join into the community. That's the hard problem. That's the interesting one to solveNewell on Dota 2's business model

Will the game going F2P convince Dota 1 players to finally jump ship? If so, can Valve also convince the large userbase for Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends to go Dota 2 as well?

If you think this is something Valve wants to “teach” EA a lesson, think again. Gabe Newell, president of Valve, has publicly stated that he thinks it’s Valve’s responsibility to show EA why it’s smart bussiness to add its games to Steam instead of taking them out.

Newell, in an interview with Develop, said the reason this is happening is down to “a whole complicated set of issues”. While it might be complicated, Newell suggested that it’s also reconcilable.

I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that.

 

We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that.

EA has publicly claimed that the reason they’re pulling games from Steam is because Valve does not allow micro-transactions from the publisher’s end. This is something Newell also wants to address.

Companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers' PCs on a regular basis.

 

The same thing is true of Steam. We have to prove we are creating value on an ongoing basis, whether it’s to EA or Ubisoft or whoever.

 

We really want to show there’s a lot of value having EA titles on Steam. We want EA’s games on Steam and we have to show them that’s a smart thing to do.

Newell finishes off by saying that they’re going to prove to EA that they have happier customers, a higher quality service and will make more money if they have their games on Steam.

There’s hope for Battlefield 3 on Steam yet!

The official reveal will take place at The International – a tournament hosted by Valve that will have 16 of the best Dota teams in the world competing in the Dota 2 championships through a double-elimination playoff format that will take course throughout Gamescom’s five-day event.

The tournament team winners will receive a cool $1 million from Valve! How’s that for some farming! And what’s more, the press release also states that Dota 2 will be coming out later this year for PC and Mac!

Of course this can’t be an official announcement without hearing from Valve big boss Mike Newell.

The International is the first public Dota 2 event and will give the tens of millions of gamers playing Dota around the world their first look at the new game. I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary.Gabe Newell on Dota 2

What say you, Dota players? Are you ready to jump ship to Dota 2 later this year?