Valve is entering hardware market

While it's been rumoured, hinted at and teased for a long time, we now have confirmation that Valve is set to enter the hardware market. Granted, it's not from an official announcement, but a job posting on the Valve website looking for someone to develop hardware.

The available position is for an “industrial designer,” and a successful applicant will apparently be joining forces with a: “world-class group of electrical, mechanical, software engineers and designers” to work on new experiences through “hardware and software.” Valve clarifies its reasoning behind this seeming change of focus, by saying that while it is traditionally a software company, it has become “frustrated” by the “lack of innovation” in the hardware game, so has decided to “jump in.”

The job posting particularly highlights the fact that the simple mouse/keyboard setup hasn't been updated in many years, perhaps suggesting that the developer plans to work on changing the way we input information on a desktop.

If you fancy taking a crack at working for Valve, you'll need to fulfil the following requirements:

• BS/BA/BFA degree (or equivalent) in industrial design (or equivalent)
• 6+ years of professional experience shipping world-class, high-tech hardware products
• A thorough understanding of product design principles
• Highly effective multidisciplinary collaboration skills
• Personal commitment to quality, attention to detail
• Confidence with 2D and 3D design visualization tools
• Effective, articulate design communication and decision-making skill

KitGuru Says: So guys, what are Valve working on do you think? It could be a Steam console, it could be a new controller, or even the wearable computing Gabe Newell once talked about. Place your bets now!

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