Except part of managing an intellectual property is controlling any output associated with that property. Valve is very strict about the quality of products they release, that way when people see Half Life or Left4Dead or Portal they know it's a quality game. If valve licenses Portal to someone just because that person wants to make an iPhone game and valve isn't making one of their own, then that game will be tied to valve's intellectual proper--and intellectual properties have value. If that game turns out to be bad, then the consumer will now associate that bad product with valve's products and Valve has lost equity in their property. And an idependent developer who announces a game based on someone elses intellectual property before even securing rights probably won't make a good game. On top of that, as far as I know, Valve has never licensed any of their intellectual properties because they (very wisely) want to maintain hands on control over what is released.
You're forgetting that part of licensing usually involves a contract which gives the licensor ultimate control over the product (I.e. Whether they allow it to be released or not). A good example would be when Nintendo licensed Metroid to Retro Studios for the Metroid Prime series, which they famously maintained pretty tight control over and threatened to pull the plug more than once. But yes, a developer who doesn't give a convincing first impression isn't likely to get far.
If your not a fake post 3 screens or proof. Otherwise the whole world will know you as a fraud, a fake, a phony, someone who pretended to do something...
