Did you hear this? This was the sound of Seattle becoming the gravitational force to the best and brightest.
Valve has been known for all this. They clearly think that now is the time to loot the rest of the truly great in the game industry. Genie is out of the bottle.
Actually, I think that was the sound of Michael Abrash rebooting his writing superpower. Seems to me one of the biggest ways that guy could add value to Valve is by unleashing it (like he did in this post) on a regular basis.
Valve has been known for all this. They clearly think that now is the time to loot the rest of the truly great in the game industry. Genie is out of the bottle.