Your boss reports to his boss. He can deny responsibility and blame his team, but normally if he has the power to hire/fire people that's still his problem.

From what I've heard about Valve, it sounds like there's a class of people that can fire you and therefore force you to do things, but you are still directly responsible if things go wrong. So the high-level people have power without accountability, and the low-level people have accountability without power.

That doesn't sound like a bad deal if you enter with a lot of political capital (maybe you are a world-renowned expert or friends with Gabe Newell). Doesn't seem like a particularly great place to work for everyone else though.

So, Valve is a terrible company bogged down by incompetent middle managers, just like many other terrible companies run by incompetent middle managers. The only difference is that at Valve their official title is "co-worker" instead of "boss".

I'm not sure that perspective is useful.

It is to some degree since a "co-worker" can be completely absolved of any responsibility for your performance.

Cowards.

It sounds more like everyone is terrified of accusations of factionalism and being purged.

But Valve is famous for their speed of work which would normally get people fired in different companies.

They do make perfect games though.

What games?

Ricochet, for one.

Well, it can help if your boss's job description says they're responsible for your performance. Theoretically, that's why they're given the power to fire you in the first place.