EA has tried "over the years" to buy out Valve, the New York Times reports. These talks, had they ever reached negotiation, would have valued Valve at "well over $1 billion," NYT says, which is most likely a ridiculous understatement.

Valve is a private company controlled by founder Gabe Newell, who doesn't release any of its financials, but Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimates Valve is worth $2.5 billion today.

Newell says it's likely Valve's employees would scatter and the company would "disintegrate" before it would be sold.

"It's way more likely we would head in that direction than say, 'Let's find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,'" Newell says.