According to a recently-published article in the New York Times, despite the fact that Valve and Electronic Arts (EA) have seemingly had a close association with each other for years, there was a time when EA was mulling the option of acquiring Valve, and had also approached Valve several times for the acquisition.

The NY Times report, referencing unidentified sources familiar with the proceedings at EA, has not given any precise timeline for the proposed EA takeover of Valve; but has nonetheless said that, if the talks between EA and Valve had progressed to the point of acquisition at that time, Valve would apparently have been valued at "well over $1 billion."

With the negotiations apparently failing to make headway at the time EA was thinking of taking over Valve, Gabe Newell - who founded Valve along with partner Mike Harrington in 1996 - said that Valve is not a studio which can be expected to be bought out by a bigger company, at least in the near future.

Newell also said in the NY Times article that before Valve is ever bought out by a larger company at some point in the future, it would first prefer to "disintegrate" before the acquisition, with its employees going their separate ways.

Newell said that, in the face of an acquisition, disintegration was more likely the direction in which Valve would head, rather than "find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate."