Newell dobs in Apple for "ominous" trend of closed platforms

Valve leader Gabe Newell has said the growing popularity and success of closed platforms is likely to squash innovation.

"On the platform side, it's sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms," Newell said during a panel at the WTIA TechNW, as reported by the Seattle Times.

"I'm worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going - there's going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say 'I'm tired of competing with Google, I'm tired of competing with Facebook, I'll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don't like from my world.'"

Newell described the closed console model as a "wrong philosophical approach" and predicted "very large structural investments and structural changes" which will encroach on efforts to retain open platforms.

Then, the Valve founder pointed a finger.

"I consider Apple to be very closed," he accused, comparing Apple to console platform holders who "view themselves as more rent guys who are essentially driving their partner margins to zero".

"They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people's access to those things."

Newell wasn't just lashing out; he genuinely believes Apple is a threat to existing platforms.

"I suspect Apple will launch a living room product that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear," he warned.

Thanks, Kotaku.