Well, almost. Valve runs by the same mantra, but the difference is that they know when to buckle down and release. They also know how to develop a game properly in the first place, so they don't run into the problems that George did.
I just saw a quote on Digg that I thought was pretty good for this situation;
"Real artists release".
Which is true. Cowering behind the "It's perfect and art!" mantra and endlessly refining/restarting your game to death isn't art, it's stupidity. A real artists knows when a piece is done or isn't working and when they should put down the brush.
True I forgot about Valve. You are right, Valve knows when enough is enough and
actually releases a game. Was Half Life 2 perfect? No, but it was one hell of a ride. I also like that Valve decided to experiment with episodic gaming with the Half Life 2 story line. It allowed them to release incremental parts of the Half Life 2 story with incremental improvements to their Source Engine.
Another positive thing about Valve is that they give the appearance of being total professionals. You do not see Gabe Newell posting on Twitter about his Direct TV issues, what TV show he is watching, his love for greasy hamburgers, complaining about parking tickets, or raving about some fan made Lord of the Rings film. Does that remind anyone of the so-called leader of a now defunct game studio?
I may be wrong, but the only time I see Gabe Newell in the press is when he is talking about Valve games or gaming in general. His ego is not so huge that he has to entertain the world about is eating and TV viewing habits. He is just a workhorse in the game development world.
If anything, Valve has been smart enough to develop products that will give them revenue so they can take the time to properly develop games. Steam is a perfect example. Hate it or love it, Steam has been a boon for PC gaming and has allowed smaller or older games gain a foothold in the gaming market. It also gives Valve some revenue. Sure Valve milked Half Life and Counter Strike for years, but then they started releasing Source based games left and right.
Valve = good game developer
3D Realms = incompetent developer more interested in eating pizza and playing WoW