Background[]
Valve logo
Valve Corporation is an American video game developer and distributor that was founded in 1996 in Bellevue, Washington.
Valve Logo (1996-2018)
They are best known for their 1998 debut product, Half-Life, and the Steam digital distribution platform. They are also known for the Counter-Strike series, the Team Fortress series, the Left 4 Dead series, the Portal series, and the Day of Defeat series.
Logos[]
1st logo: We zoom in over the exterior of a big dark gray building (sort of like a jail), and go through one of the windows. We see a shirtless bald man wearing long pants getting ready to pull a lever that starts-up a weird-looking machine that looks kinda like a letter press. He puts his profile on the base and when the thing (which has the Valve logo on it) goes over his head, it plants a dark red valve on the side of his head. He gets up, strangely without any ache or pain whatsoever as if nothing happened.
2nd logo: On a black background, we see a fading-in sepia tone picture of a young man with black slick back hair (or something like that) with a goatee looking at the camera with a red valve sticking out of his left eye. After the picture fades in, a white box outline fades in in the bottom right corner of the picture, containing the word "VALVE" where the "E" is a superscript. Both the picture and the text then fade out slightly faster than the speed they faded-in.
Variant[]
For Half-Life 2, the color of this logo has been toned down from its original sepia, the fade-in and fade-out are smoother, glitching effects are added to the photo and copyright stamps follow the fade-out.
3rd logo: On a black background, we see a fading-in sepia tone picture of a man's bald head (with most of his head and face silhouetted by darkness) with a red valve sticking out of it. Similar to the previous logo, after the picture fades in, a white box outline fades in in the bottom right corner of the picture, containing the word "VALVE" where the "E" is a superscript. Both the picture and the text then fade out slightly faster than the speed they faded in. On some games, the logo is followed by another logo saying "powered by source" (Valve's game engine) with an orange symbol surrounding the "E" and copyright stamps below.
Variant[]
On Dota 2, and the Steam version of Portal 2 (after later updates), the man in the picture (slightly more live-actioned) briefly turns his head towards the camera near the end of the logo before cutting back to normal. The picture also fades in and fades out at the same speed. In addition, the Valve print logo (with the box outline and the letters now in a light tan color) doesn't fade into the picture or fade out with the picture, it instead fades in and out (via "wipe" effect) by itself after the picture fades out. This will presumably be seen on future games from the company.
4th logo: In a room filled with red valves, we see the Valve logo in white and 3D. Everything that happens involves you looking around in your VR headset.
5th Logo: Same as the 2006 logo, but the 2018 Valve logo is used instead of the 1996 logo, the valve logo is in the middle, and the image of Ray Ueno is more darker. Also, the logo is not in a box.
Music/Sounds[]
1st logo: "Hazardous Environments", a song composed for the company's first video game:Half-Life.It is hard to hear it without headphones, however. Associating factory background sounds can also be heard.
2nd logo: A fragment of Hazardous Environment.
3rd logo: Same as before.
4th logo: Eerie factory sounds, mixed with the same fragments ofHazardous Environmentfrom previous logos.
5th Logo: Same as before.
Scare Factor[]
1st logo: Medium; the valve going on the man's head along with the ominous music may creep some out. This is not the scariest logo used by Valve, however.
2nd logo: Medium to high; the strange picture of the man along with the disturbing, ominous music can unnerve many players, especially if they get caught off guard. However, this logo is a favourite of many.
3rd logo: Depending on the variant:
- Original Variant: Medium. Like its predecessor, the picture along with the disturbing, ominous music can unnerve many players, but this logo is nowhere near as freaky-looking as the first one was.
- "Turning Head" Variant: Nightmare. The once-still picture of the man now turning his head towards the camera is bound to surprise players used to the original variant as well as first-time viewers. The retained ominous music doesn't help matters. But as normal, it is intentional.
4th logo: Low to high, as the music is still there, and the room may feel unwelcoming. But with you being able to look all around, most might find this to be a really cool logo. The next logo however is a different story...
5th logo: Medium to nightmare. The darker image of the man from the 3rd logo, him very slowly turning his head, the dark atmosphere, the fact that it's in VR and the Hazardous Environments piece all combined are bound to scare many.
Trivia:[]
- The guy in the 3rd logo is still unknown to this day, however, the turning head variant was worked on by a similar looking Valve employee named Arsenio Navarro.
- The guy in the 2nd logo is Valve employee Kelly Bailey.
Videos[]
The Valve logo (2012 version)
Valve Logo 1998-2013