In an interview with PC Gamer, Valve's Gabe Newell discusses the lack of updates for the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2, saying the team figured Microsoft would fix the "train wreck" that is Xbox Live's downloadable content rules.
Putting your faith in Microsoft to change its rules seems like a losing strategy, and in the case of Valve's Team Fortress 2 for the Xbox 360, it certainly was. Discussing some of the developer's failures over the years in an interview that included project manager Erik Johnson and marketing director Doug Lombardi, Newell explains that Valve felt Microsoft's rules regarding how often downloadable content can be offered and how much can be distributed for free were "untenable."
We thought that there would be something that would emerge, because we figured it was a sort of untenable… "Oh yeah, we understand that these are the rules now, but it's such a train wreck that something will have to change."
That something did not change, resulting in a PC version of Team Fortress 2 that's evolved far beyond the release for Microsoft's consoles.
During the same interview, Newell commented on the PlayStation 3, which will be on the receiving end of a Steamworks-enabled Portal 2 next year, following a surprise appearance by Valve's managing director at Sony's E3 2010 press conference.
That's why we're really happy with the current situation with the PS3… We're solving it now in a way that is going to work for our customers, rather than assuming something is going to emerge later that will allow us to fix this.
Interview: Valve on 13 things they've failed at [PC Gamer via Destructoid - Thanks Lonewanderer!]