Valve Corporation

===1st Logo (1998)===

Nickname: "The Valve", "The Factory"

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. The camera fades to black.

FX/SFX: Nice animation for its time, showcasing the GoldSrc engine.

Cheesy factor:The animation was a bit choppy.

Music/Sounds: Various factory sounds. The next logo's music can be also heard, but it's very hard to hear without headphones.

Availability: Extremely rare, It was only used as a tech demo for the GoldSrc engine.

Editor's Note: Nice animation showcasing the GoldSrc engine, although the concept can scare people off.

2nd Logo (1998-2004)


Nicknames: "Open Your Eyes", "(Scary) Valve Man", "The Valve II"

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 withe 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.

Trivia: The man in the picture was that of a former Valve employee (his name was never disclosed). Both this picture of the man and the picture used in the next logo were taken between 1995 and 1996.

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, "trembling" effects are added to the photo and copyright stamps follow the fade-out.

FX/SFX: The picture and text fading-in and out, the choppiness.

Cheesy Factor: Is this even suitable for a logo?! The animation of the logo fading-in and out looks slightly choppy. And the valve in the man's eye is a very disturbing sight to see, but judging by the games that follow it, this is probably intentional.

Music/Sounds: A fragment of "Hazardous Environments", a song composed for the company's first title, Half-Life.

Availability: Very rare, Seen on the original CD versions of Half-Life and Counter-Strike. The color toned variant is seen on Half-Life 2. On Steam, Half-Life 2 plasters this with the next logo, while Half-Life and Counter-Strike have no logo at all. However, the logo can be seen after the credits of Half-Life 2: Episode One, just before a trailer for Half-Life 2: Episode Two, on both the original CD and Steam versions (though it can't be seen on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions as included in The Orange Box since the trailer is omitted from those versions). Can also be seen on the Xbox versions of Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike.

Editor's Note: The concept is creative, but the picture of the man along with the disturbing, ominous music can unnerve many players, although this was arguably intentional. However, this logo is a favorite of many.

3rd Logo (2006-)
Nicknames: "Open Your Mind", "The Valve III" 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.

Trivia: The man in the picture was randomly picked off of the street to pose for this picture. His name was never verified.

Variant: On Dota 2, and the Steam version of Portal 2 (after later updates), the man in the picture (slighty more life-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.

FX/SFX: Same as previous logo, but the trembling effects is increased.

Cheesy Factor: Same as previous logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as previous logo.

Availability: Common, Seen on all Valve games from Half-Life 2: Episode One onwards. The "turning head" variant appears in the aforementioned games above.

Editor's Note: But as normal, the concept is intentional and creative, and it is also a favorite of many.
 * Original Variant: 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: Although this was arguably intentional, 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.

4th Logo (VR Variant) (2016-)
Nicknames: "Look Around", "Open Your Eyes II", "The Valve IV"

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.

FX/SFX: You moving your head around with the VR headset. Otherwise, the whole room gradually lights up and brown smokes emerges. You can actually touch the valve that is hanging on the platform that you're standing, but it doesn't do anything.

Music/Sounds: Eerie factory sounds, mixed with the same fragments of "Hazardous Environments" from previous logos.

Availability: Very common, Seen on HTC Vive or Steam VR games made by Valve, such as The Lab.

Editor's Note: The room may feel unwelcoming, but with you being able to look all around, most might find this to be a really cool logo.