I think that's a good thing, because it makes sure they get people who are in it for more than the money. I'm not saying that wanting to strike it big in a startup is all about money or is a bad motivation, but rather that it unambiguously paints Valve as a place where employees don't even have to think of it as a career. People are there because they want to make cool things with cool people, not because it's a good stepping stone to another opportunity. I think I read that their retention rate for employees is like 98% or something?

I don't think they need promises of money to attract the kind of people they're looking for. Plus, I'm sure they pay very well, being a 200-300 employee private company bringing in billions in revenue.