Mon, Feb 25, 2013 | 17:43 GMT

Valve’s Doug Lombardi responds to departure rumour

Valve supposedly let go of 25 employees a few weeks ago. Rumours surfaced today that suggested the company’s VP of marketing Doug Lombardi was among those who have departed the Seattle outfit. He has now sent VG247 an email reply on the matter.

Update:

We asked him about all of the below, as first tweeted by Superannuation.

Doug simply replied, “False”, in that classic Lombardi way.

Phew. Although we’re still puzzled as to why Valve is listed under Doug’s previous employers, as seen below. You have to be logged in to LinkedIn to see it, but I’ve screen-capped it for you here.

Decide for yourself in the comment box.

Original story:

Lombardi’s LinkedIn profile states that he has left the company having first started there in January 2000.

Next to his profile image, Valve is listed under Lombardi’s previous employers:

Director of Educational Programs Leslie Redd, has also listed that she has left the company on LinkedIn.

To catch up with the initial reports of staff leaving Valve, check out our coverage here.

We’ll have more on this matter as we hear it, so please do treat this as rumour until we hear more. We’ve contacted Valve directly for comment.

Thanks Superannuation.

14 comments

Eregol
25/02/13, 4:48 pm

Jumped the gun a little mebe?

Badumtsss
25/02/13, 4:50 pm

It says “Currently holds this position” next to “VP of Marketing, Valve Software”. Am I looking at it wrong?

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 4:51 pm

@3 not from where I’m sitting.

I’ve put a screen grab of what I see above.

Johnny Cullen
25/02/13, 4:52 pm

Wow.

Badumtsss
25/02/13, 4:54 pm

Probably have to be logged in to see. Thanks for screenie.

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 4:56 pm

@5 no problem. There’s a second screenie

DSB
25/02/13, 5:13 pm

If true, that’s just crazy.

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 5:14 pm

@7 yeah man, mega-crazy. I’ve emailed Valve to see what they say, but unfortunately, Lombardi was the most contactable guy there.

Johnny Cullen
25/02/13, 5:23 pm

Doug’s just said he hasn’t left on Facebook, apparently. And there’s this too. https://twitter.com/mroahrig/status/306085822199906305/photo/1

#10

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 5:34 pm

He replied to my email. See above.

Jury’s still out in my mind though. He still has Valve listed under previous employers on LinkedIn.

#11

DSB
25/02/13, 6:13 pm

That would’ve been pretty huge, man.

Usually it takes quite a lot to make Valve respond to anything, nice one Dave

#12

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 6:17 pm

@11 thank you I’m glad we got him. He’s always fastest to respond at Valve so I’m glad he’s not leaving.

#13

BraveArse
25/02/13, 7:12 pm

here’s an idea from way out left field. What if Valve has spun out a new company to deal with Steambox? That would allow all of these contradictory rumours and denials to coexist would it not?

like I say, left field, but it has a ring to it…

#14

Uncontested
26/02/13, 12:04 am

This happens all the time in the corporate world. Everyone knows you’re leaving but you still have to deny it publicly. I remember a Manager where I work had rumors for a month before he got let go. Until the day before the axe came down he and upper management were saying the he “is here to stay.”

I will take the odds on that he will be out from Valve shortly.

For whatever reason I guess he figured no one would notice the update on Linkedin