Gabe Newell | |
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Born | Gabe Logan Newell November 3, 1962 [1] [2] Colorado, U.S. |
Other names | Gaben |
Education | Harvard University (dropped out) |
Years active | 1983–present |
Known for | Co-founding Valve |
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Spouse | Lisa Mennet Newell (m. 1996,divorced) |
Awards |
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Website | valvesoftware.com |
Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), also known by his nickname Gaben, is an American businessman. He is the president and co-founder of the video game company Valve Corporation.
Newell was born in Colorado and grew up in Davis, California. He attended Harvard University in the early 1980s but dropped out to join Microsoft, where he helped create the first versions of the Windows operating system. In 1996, he and Mike Harrington left Microsoft to found Valve and fund the development of their first game, Half-Life (1998). Harrington sold his stake in Valve to Newell and left in 2000. Newell led the development of Valve's digital distribution service, Steam, which launched in 2003 and controlled most of the market for downloaded PC games by 2011.
As of 2021, Newell owned at least one quarter of Valve. He has been estimated as one of the wealthiest people in the United States and the wealthiest person in the video games industry, with a net worth of $9.5 billion as of 2024. He is also the owner of the marine research organization Inkfish and the neuroscience company Starfish Neuroscience.
Newell was born on November 3, 1962, in Colorado, and attended Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. [4] [5] He worked as a paperboy, and later a telegram messenger for Western Union. [6] He enrolled at Harvard University in 1980, but was convinced to drop out to work at Microsoft by the head of sales in 1983. [4]
Newell spent 13 years at Microsoft as a programmer and technical executive, and produced the first three releases of the operating system Windows. [7] [8] Newell later said he learned more during his first three months at Microsoft than he ever did at Harvard, which was one of the primary reasons why he dropped out. [9]
In late 1995, Doom , a 1993 first-person shooter game developed by id Software, was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 95. Newell said: "[id] ... didn't even distribute through retail, it distributed through bulletin boards and other pre-internet mechanisms. To me, that was a lightning bolt. Microsoft was hiring 500-people sales teams and this entire company was 12 people, yet it had created the most widely distributed software in the world. There was a sea change coming." [10] At Microsoft, Newell led development on a port of Doom for Windows 95, which is credited for helping make Windows a viable game platform. [11]
Inspired by Michael Abrash, who left Microsoft to work on the game Quake at id, Newell and another employee, Mike Harrington, left Microsoft to found the video game company Valve on August 24, 1996. [8] [4] Newell opted to found Valve instead of retiring as he felt working with "other really smart, motivated, socially orientated people to create product that would affect millions of other people" was "the most fun I could have". [12]
Newell and Harrington funded development of the first Valve game, the first-person shooter Half-Life (1998), [13] which was a critical and commercial success. [14] Harrington sold his stake in Valve to Newell in 2000. [7] Newell gave Valve no deadline and a "virtually unlimited" budget to develop Half-Life 2 (2004), promising to fund it himself if necessary. [15] He and Valve came close to bankruptcy during a legal battle with Vivendi Games, which ended when an intern discovered an email revealing that Vivendi was destroying evidence. [16]
During the development of Half-Life 2, Newell spent several months developing Steam, a digital distribution service for games. [17] By 2011, Steam controlled between 50% and 70% of the market for downloaded PC games and generated most of Valve's revenue. [18] At a technology conference in Seattle that year, Newell argued that software piracy was best addressed by offering a superior option rather than pursuing anti-piracy technology. He cited Steam's success in Russia, where piracy is rife, as an example. [19]
In 2007, Newell expressed his displeasure over developing for game consoles, saying that developing processes for Sony's PlayStation 3 was a "waste of everybody's time". [20] [21] On stage at Sony's keynote at E3 2010, he acknowledged his criticism but discussed the open nature of the PlayStation 3 and announced a port of Portal 2 , remarking that with Steamworks support it would be the best version for any console. [22] Newell also criticized the Xbox Live service, referring to it as a "train wreck", [23] and Windows 8, calling it a threat to the open nature of PC gaming. [24] At the 2013 LinuxCon, Newell said the Linux operating system and open source development were "the future of gaming". He accused the proprietary systems of companies such as Microsoft and Apple of stifling innovation through slow certification processes. [25]
In 2009, IGN named Newell one of the top 100 game creators, writing that it was "almost impossible to gauge" Valve's influence on game design, technology and the video games industry. [26] In December 2010, Forbes listed Newell as "A Name You Need to Know", primarily for his work on Steam and partnerships with multiple major developers. [27] In 2013, Newell was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame [28] and received the BAFTA Fellowship for his contributions to the video game industry. [29] As of 2024, Newell had become less involved in Valve and was spending more time on personal projects. [30]
In 2020, Newell and the Valve employee Yahn Bernier created a car racing team, the Heart of Racing, to raise funds for children's charities in Seattle and New Zealand. [31] In 2022, with Philip Sabes, Newell co-founded the neuroscience company Starfish Neuroscience to develop neural interfaces. [30] Newell is the owner of the marine research organization Inkfish, which owns several ships and submarines. [32] [30] In November 2022, Inkfish purchased the Hadal Exploration System, a private deep-sea exploration platform, from the undersea explorer Victor Vescovo. [33]
In October 2017, Forbes listed Newell among the 100 wealthiest people in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $5.5 billion. [34] [35] In December 2021, Forbes estimated that Newell had a net worth of $3.9 billion [35] and owned at least one quarter of Valve. [35] According to Charlie Fish, the author of TheHistory of Video Games, as of 2021 Newell was the richest person in the video game industry. [4] In 2024, Forbes estimated that Newell owned 50.1% of Valve and had a net worth of $9.5 billion. [7]
Newell formerly suffered from Fuchs' dystrophy, a congenital disease which affects the cornea. He was cured via two cornea transplants in 2006 and 2007. [18] On the same day he founded Valve with Harrington, Newell married Lisa Mennet. [4] They have two sons. [36] The birth of their first son in the late 1990s inspired the final boss of Half-Life, as the couple considered childbirth the most frightening thing they could think of at the time. [37] As of 2019, Newell and Mennet had divorced. [38]
In 2011, Newell said his favorite video games included Super Mario 64 , Doom , and a Burroughs mainframe version of the 1971 Star Trek game, which was the first game he ever played. [39] Doom convinced him that games were the future of entertainment, and Super Mario 64 convinced him that games were art. [39] Newell was a fan of the animated series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic . [40] [4] He also recorded a voice pack for the Valve game Dota 2 , which referenced many previous statements and phrases from himself in a humorous manner. [41]
Within the gaming community, Newell has the nickname Gaben, derived from his work email address. [42] Newell said that he tried to grow into his public image: "[Fans] hug me when they run into me. I'm not a hugging person, but that's what they want. I was with my kids the first time that happened in public, and my kids were pretty cool with it. But I wasn't. 'Dad, roll with it.' Even now, I'm learning from our customers." [43]
Newell was visiting New Zealand with friends when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, and elected to stay in Auckland once travel restrictions were eased. [44] As an expression of gratitude for New Zealand's hospitality, he and others arranged a free event, We Love Aotearoa, with live performances from musical artists across New Zealand. It was accompanied by VR stands for Valve games such as Half-Life: Alyx and The Lab . [45] The event was postponed from August to December due to a lockdown induced by a second wave of COVID-19. [44] [46] Newell applied for permanent residency in New Zealand in October 2020, but had returned to Seattle by 2021. [47] [48] Newell owns several ships, and has lived mostly at sea since the pandemic. [7]
Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is overrun by alien creatures following a disastrous scientific experiment. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration and puzzles.
Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the game franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota.
Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is played entirely from a first-person perspective, combining combat, puzzles, and storytelling. It adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, a multidimensional alien empire.
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. Other notable third-party games using Source include Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable. Valve released incremental updates to the engine during its lifetime. Source was succeeded in 2015 by the release of Source 2.
Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve Corporation. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing third-party titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features, like game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) measures, social networking, and game streaming services. The Steam client offers features such as automatic updates, cloud storage, and community features such as direct messaging, an in-game overlay, discussion forums, and a virtual collectable marketplace. The storefront also offers productivity software, game soundtracks, videos, and sells hardware made by Valve, such as the Index and Steam Deck.
Mike Harrington is an American programmer and businessman. He is the co-founder of the video game company Valve. After the success of the first Valve product, Half-Life (1998), Harrington left Valve in 2000. In 2006, he co-founded the photo editing service Picnik.
Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat tool developed by Valve as a component of the Steam platform, first released with Counter-Strike in 2002.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it is the second of two shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Players control Gordon Freeman, who travels through the mountains surrounding City 17 to a resistance base with his ally Alyx Vance. Like previous games in the series, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving and narrative elements, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.
Half-Life 2: Episode Three is a canceled first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was planned as the last in a trilogy of episodic games continuing the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Valve announced Episode Three in May 2006, with a release planned for 2007. Following the cliffhanger ending of Episode Two (2007), it was widely anticipated.
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games created by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling, and are played entirely from the first-person perspective.
The Orange Box is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, Half-Life 2 and its first stand-alone expansion, Episode One; had previously been released in 2004 and 2006 as separate products. Three new games were also included in the compilation: the second stand-alone expansion, Half-Life 2: Episode Two; the puzzle game Portal; and Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer game sequel to Team Fortress Classic. Valve also released a soundtrack containing music from the games within the compilation. A separate product entitled The Black Box was planned, which would have included only the new games, but was later canceled.
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash memory cards. This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.
GoldSrc, sometimes called the Half-Lifeengine, is a proprietary game engine developed by Valve. At its core, GoldSrc is a heavily modified version of id Software's Quake engine. It made its debut in 1998 with Half-Life and powered future games developed by or with oversight from Valve, including Half-Life's expansions, Day of Defeat and games in the Counter-Strike series.
Portal is a series of first-person puzzle-platform video games developed by Valve. Set in the Half-Life universe, the two main games in the series, Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011), center on a woman, Chell, forced to undergo a series of tests within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center by a malicious artificial intelligence, GLaDOS, that controls the facility. Most of the tests involve using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" – nicknamed the portal gun – that creates a human-sized wormhole-like connection between two flat surfaces. The player-character or objects in the game world may move through portals while conserving their momentum. This allows complex "flinging" maneuvers to be used to cross wide gaps or perform other feats to reach the exit for each test chamber. A number of other mechanics, such as lasers, light bridges, high energy pellets, buttons, cubes, tractor funnels and turrets, exist to aid or hinder the player's goal to reach the exit.
Steam Machine is a discontinued series of small form factor gaming computers by Valve, designed to operate SteamOS to provide a home game console-like experience. Several computer vendors were engaged with Valve to develop their own versions of Steam Machines for retail, offering additional options atop Valve's requirements such as dual-booting options with Microsoft Windows and the ability to upgrade the computer. Consumers could digitally purchase video games on their Steam Machine through Valve's namesake Steam storefront.
SteamOS is a Linux distribution developed by Valve. It incorporates Valve's popular namesake Steam video game storefront and is the primary operating system for the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device, as well as Valve's earlier Steam Machines. SteamOS is open source with some closed source components.
Source 2 is a video game engine developed by Valve. The engine was announced in 2015 as the successor to the original Source engine, with the first game to use it, Dota 2, being ported from Source that same year. Other Valve games such as Artifact, Dota Underlords, Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, and Deadlock have been produced with the engine.
Artifact is a 2018 digital collectible card game developed and published by Valve for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It focuses on online player-versus-player battles and is based on the universe of Dota 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game by Valve. Artifact was designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield.
The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer produced by Valve, designed to run the large library of games available on the Steam storefront client. Built upon the experiences gained from Valve's earlier ventures with Steam Machine and the Steam Controller, the Steam Deck integrates a custom AMD APU and SteamOS 3.0, a Linux-based operating system. The Steam Deck represents Valve's pivot towards a fully internal hardware development approach, following the challenges faced with Steam Machines' reliance on external manufacturers and the requirement for native Linux game support.
If Your Birthday Is Today [November 3]: Video game entrepreneur Gabe Newell (1962) shares your birthday.