We thought for a long time what would come out first: our article or Half-Life 3? As you can see, we won. It’s a pity that old Gabe himself wasn’t warned about this. Perhaps the guy would have at least some incentive. Apparently, all attempts to force Signor Newell to release the third part of the game, which they want to see more than Arabs get European citizenship, are powerless. But did this make Gabe himself any worse? He is, of course, very difficult and cunning (and remembering the volume of his butt, one can estimate the volume of cunning), during his 53 years of life he has done enough things for which fans gaming industry are ready to swing his gigantic carcass in their arms, earning a Schmorl hernia and protrusion of intervertebral discs.
"I was born!"
It all started back in 1962, with the help of simple gestures the parents managed to conceive and then bring into the world the future main titan, defender and most famous promoter of the ideas of sacred and righteous PC gaming. ABOUT early years Little is known about Gabe Logan Newell, but, apparently, even then he knew a lot about commerce and profit. Ancient manuscripts and Egyptian manuscripts from the time of the Third Dynasty begin their narrative from that well-known moment when, back in 1983, a talented programmer up and abandoned his studies at Harvard. Of course, why such trifles when you are self-confident and follow the example of your idols - Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who also dropped out of school.
Actually, Gabe went to them, because the desire to work and the creative talent of the producer were immediately visible. Gabe was visible from afar not only due to the volume of his body, but also due to his performance. In those days, Windows was not a gathering of programmers of all stripes, aimlessly opening windows with the mouse and coming up with new persuasions to update Windows to the tenth. No, then it was a kosher sabantuya of very talented and very greedy young professionals, whose names would later thunder like a booming roar over the small country of computer scientists. Gabe, like any cheeky poz, claims that he is the reason the first three releases of Windows were so viable, and likes to call himself "the producer of the first three releases."
Newell would have continued to work for the “evil corporation”, but under the lush folds of fat near kind heart the creator's talent was hidden, which with every year of work made itself felt more and more strongly. And then at one fine moment the world of video games shook under the onslaught of its beloved brainchild. The gaming industry was then still a very young and virginal girl, but id Software came up with Quake, and it became clear to everyone that the world would never be the same. Gabe was impressed by the work of former Microsoft graphic designer Michael Abrash, who was involved in the art of Quake.
Sensing the wind of change, Gabe realized that he urgently needed to seize the opportunity and occupy the market that had long interested him. Taking the hand of his comrade Mike Harrington, he set out into the unknown, creating a corporation that would change the world - Valve. Well, in fact, they didn’t have any unknowns; the gaming industry knew Gabe well, because it was thanks to his efforts that the second game in the DOOM series became available to Windows users. Yes and special problems with “creating a company from scratch” should not have arisen, because they had money like dirt. The fact is that Newell and Harrington were among the first so-called “Microsoft millionaires” - the first employees of the company who became rich from the growth of its shares. Over 13 years, a lot of money has accumulated, plus Newell’s diplomatic skills. A person who at one time was able to convince the industry of the suitability of Windows for games and thus popularized it could not be doomed to failure.
George Lucas was supposed to distribute the Star Wars source code. Millions of fans could create their own films and stories based on the universe. Most of them would be terrible, but some would be brilliant.
What does it take to be successful?
So, 1996, scary and a leap year. In Russia there are the craziest elections in history, Tupac Shakur was killed in the USA, the STS TV channel began broadcasting. And in the series of these crazy events, no one noticed how two heavily spent millionaires with a large headquarters began to rivet the story.
The company's first game was supposed to be the 3D shooter Quiver, running on the Quake engine. It was assumed that the action would take place in space, which was fashionable at that time, and the main character would be Ivan, a space biker. The game was ready in 1997, but Newell was unhappy with the result and decided to extend the development process for another year. But the game was completed only in 1998 and was completed so well that old gamers still shed tears of joy at the mere mention of it. Half-Life, and nothing more needs to be said. You know everything else yourself. Gordon Freeman, a tire iron and all sorts of monstrous bastards, some of whom insistently, like a drunken deputy, try to suck your head.
If we were chasing everyone new fashion, We would have gone bankrupt long ago.
It was a real success. Only the lazy did not laugh at the developments and ambitions of the newcomers from Valve, but 2.5 million copies sold quickly forced everyone to shut their filthy mouths. Half-Life featured many innovative techniques: for example, unlike most first-person shooters released at the time, Half-Life did not feature in-game videos, and the player could control the character throughout the game. Newell has repeatedly noted that Half-Life was created because the first-person shooters that delighted him so much in the early 1990s had become boring - a number of innovative solutions helped Newell solve this problem.
After the success of Half-Life and the release of the no less epic second part, Counter-Strike became the new brainchild of the office. It is quite possible that you are reading this article during a break between the game, so talking about the degree of its legendary status is simply pointless. And then - the mysterious Portal, the unbalanced and fascinating Team Fortress, the terrible Left 4 Dead and, of course, Dota 2. Well, should I tell you something about DotA?
In the bright offices of Valve
When forming the Valve team, Newell often hired young and talented workers rather than experienced ones, who then went on to achieve great success in the industry. It was Newell who realized the potential of Counter-Strike, a shooter that was first a modification of Half-Life. He acquired the rights to the game and hired its creators on Valve's staff. True, there are other examples. For example, the company employed Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis, who was hired because Gabe liked his blog about the European financial crisis, a former artist puppet theater, creator of special effects for the films “The Lord of the Rings” and “King Kong”. This was explained by the fact that people in the office are highly valued who can simplify everything, but we know that personal sympathy is to blame.
People have come up to me more than once and said:“I constantly tell my son/daughter how lucky they are to work on such a team and how proud I am of them.” And then I say to myself: “This person will definitely work for us for at least another 5 years.”
Once upon a time, a manual was leaked onto the Internet, which every new Valve employee should read. Next to the name of Newell, the head of the company, there is an inscription: “Of all the people in the company who are not your boss, Gabe is not the BIGGEST.”
In general, the Valve office is an anarchist’s dream. Employees independently form working groups, enticing each other from project to project. Among themselves, the group only decides who will become the current leader, who will keep in mind all the information about the project and coordinate it. Valve encourages frequent changes in group compositions so that they are not swallowed up by bureaucracy and remain on the user's side. This approach is manifested, in particular, in the fact that the desks of all employees are equipped with wheels - this simplifies constant movement.
In a literal sense, employees have to invent positions for themselves. But such a situation is possible only if the company is completely independent from publishers, from investors - from anyone. The shares belong to the employees, and if one terrible day Valve goes bankrupt, then no one will be able to buy it, the employees will be dismissed, and the company will smoothly sink into oblivion.
But main reason The reason why Valve is swarming with talent is that no one limits anyone. They don’t put people in a box; they do everything to make it comfortable for him to work. But how is a completely different matter. Valve really values people who can do multiple things at once. Even ordinary programmers who have discovered talent communicate with the public. Valve is a family, it’s as cozy as a birthday party for a grandmother who hasn’t gone crazy, they even all go on a trip together once a year. True, you shouldn’t think that you can sit in the office, dangle your leg and do nothing. If you screw up, you will pay back in full. And if you want to get there, then be known as a mega-talented artist, designer, programmer. Valve has a reputation for being headhunters who massively recruit talent from all areas.
For example, we do not clearly track the time on sick leave or vacation for our employees: Since we trust the decisions they make in development, we also trust their time management skills. In fact, it is not so important how many days a person spent on sick leave and whether he was three days late in returning from vacation or not. But for those who came to work with us, say, from Hollywood, this does not fit into their heads. And we tell them that this thing with flexible vacations and an unlimited number of sick days during the year is something like a table on wheels: to make it convenient for everyone to work.
Probably Gabe’s most important talent is his fantastic instinct and understanding of what the user wants. In the wake of the success of massively multiplayer online games, Gabe and the team developed Steam, an online distribution service for games produced by Valve. Initially, Newell, who always thought not only about the products produced, but also about the user experience, negotiated with Amazon, Cisco and Yahoo, but he was unable to sign a contract with any of the companies for the distribution of games, so Steam was launched in 2003. Over time, other development companies began to distribute their games using the service: SEGA, Atari, Epic Games and others.
Over the 13 years of the service's existence, many features have been added, and Valve recently announced Steam OS, an operating system that will allow players to stream games over their home network and will have even more features. In addition, Valve has been promising to release its own gaming console, the Steam Machine, and the Steam Controller for years. And, of course, let's not forget about the helmet virtual reality SteamVR, developed jointly with NTS. All these products have long been favored by the press and spectators at various gaming exhibitions, but I would like to touch them with tenacious user paws and evaluate them with my own eyes. For some reason, I really want Gabe to win the virtual arms race.
The Steam business model has proven to be very successful and has brought huge profits to Valve, thanks to which the company now competes on an equal footing with Sony and Microsoft and has the ability to produce not only games, but also its own hardware.
Papa Gabe
As you can already tell, Gabe is a real deal. He may look big, kind and stupid as a pillow, but in fact it is enough to at least get a little acquainted with his activities to understand how powerful and enterprising he is. By the way, he runs the company on his own, because Harrington, after he became similar in appearance to the rapper Basta, decided to leave the charismatic leader.
Newell, of course, is not a despot, but in his big fist is concentrated a powerful corporation that regularly gives people a spectacle. And despite the scandals associated with the use of marijuana, ordering prostitutes and using prostitutes with marijuana, he has a strong family, with two nice male toddlers. And as for intoxicating herbs... Well, who doesn’t it happen to?
Gabe also has an interesting hobby - plumbing. He installed machines in his garage and free time grinds out various gadgets. I even bought barrels of salt for bluing steel, look, how clever! The mechanic himself “from the gaming industry” says that this is a great activity after hours spent in front of the monitor.
We should love Newell for his responsiveness. Unlike many other well-known representatives of the gaming industry, Gabe communicates directly with the audience: he actively participates in discussions on the Steam forums, organizes discussions on issues related to the development of Valve, and often responds to user letters. Just remember the story when Gabe helped a user faster than the moderators on Steam. Thanks largely to this, Newell is no longer a person, but just a walking meme. And he, looking at the million jokes dedicated to him, just smiles joyfully. In any case, we hope so.
However, there are things that the fat saint cannot perceive under any circumstances. These are console people. He has a persistent urge to vomit towards consoles; he despises people who buy devices that can be played while lying down. That’s why he doesn’t hesitate to throw a couple of sharp phrases at his colleagues.
The PS3 is a complete disaster in many ways. I think it's pretty clear that Sony has simply lost track of what their customers and developers want. And I think that even now they should just cancel everything and start again. Just say: “This was a terrible misunderstanding, we regret it and we are going to stop selling consoles and convincing developers to create games for it.”
The Wii is a completely different matter. I bet by next Christmas there will be a lot more Wiis sold than Xbox 360. Some people think I'm crazy, but I actually like what Nintendo is doing.
Although he doesn't like Windows either. He tore the rotten G8 to smithereens, preferring Linux.
Number 3 in Gabe's life
Now let’s touch on Newell’s main conspiracy secret: why don’t Valve games have third parts? Even when Gabe was at Microsoft, the third edition of Windows was referred to as Windows 2.1. Does this mean he's afraid of the number 3 and we'll never see another Half-Life?
According to Gabe, modern Valve focuses on strategic goals, providing players and developers with new platforms: the Steam online store, Steam Machines consoles, the HTC Vive virtual reality headset and other similar products. This does not mean that Valve will no longer develop games, but the company treats them as “tools” with which you can learn new skills. As for Half-Life 3, the time for this “tool” has not yet come. Newell said that the company is aware of the experiences of fans of the series and understands them well, but his employees also understand that sometimes you have to wait a long time for what you want. Finally, he hinted that the real impetus for the appearance of a new part of the game could be the massive desire of studio employees to release it.
Simply put, look at the anarchy in their office. They just can't get it together to do it. But even despite this, Gabe does not cease to be the heaviest and biggest icon of the gaming industry.
higher unfinished
CEO
Biography
Newell, along with Harrington, used their personal capital to finance Valve and the subsequent development of the game Half-Life. For these purposes, the source code of the Quake engine was purchased, which was later heavily redesigned. In 1998, the Half-Life series of games was released, which became the basis for such popular games and modifications as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic. Soon after the release of Half-Life, the company began developing the second part of the game. Harrington left the company in 2000, after which Newell bought out his share.
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- His favorite games are Super Mario 64, Doom and Star Trek, which he played on the Burroughs system. Doom game convinced him that video games were a promising future in entertainment, and Super Mario 64 proved to him that games were art too.
Personal life
Married to Lisa Newell, has two sons.
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Excerpt characterizing Newell, Gabe
Having driven along the road, on both sides of which French dialect could be heard from the fires, Dolokhov turned into the courtyard of the manor’s house. Having passed through the gate, he dismounted from his horse and approached a large blazing fire, around which several people were sitting, talking loudly. Something was boiling in a pot on the edge, and a soldier in a cap and blue overcoat, kneeling, brightly illuminated by the fire, stirred it with a ramrod.“Oh, c"est un dur a cuire, [You can’t deal with this devil.],” said one of the officers sitting in the shadows on the opposite side of the fire.
“Il les fera marcher les lapins... [He will get through them...],” said another with a laugh. Both fell silent, peering into the darkness at the sound of the steps of Dolokhov and Petya, approaching the fire with their horses.
- Bonjour, messieurs! [Hello, gentlemen!] - Dolokhov said loudly and clearly.
The officers stirred in the shadow of the fire, and one, a tall officer with a long neck, walked around the fire and approached Dolokhov.
“C”est vous, Clement?” he said. “D”ou, diable... [Is that you, Clement? Where the hell...] - but he did not finish, having learned his mistake, and, frowning slightly, as if he were a stranger, he greeted Dolokhov, asking him how he could serve. Dolokhov said that he and a friend were catching up with their regiment, and asked, turning to everyone in general, if the officers knew anything about the sixth regiment. Nobody knew anything; and it seemed to Petya that the officers began to examine him and Dolokhov with hostility and suspicion. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
“Si vous comptez sur la soupe du soir, vous venez trop tard, [If you are counting on dinner, then you are late.],” said a voice from behind the fire with a restrained laugh.
Dolokhov replied that they were full and that they needed to move on at night.
He gave the horses to the soldier who was stirring the pot, and squatted down by the fire next to the long-necked officer. This officer, without taking his eyes off, looked at Dolokhov and asked him again: what regiment was he in? Dolokhov did not answer, as if he had not heard the question, and, lighting a short French pipe, which he took out of his pocket, asked the officers how safe the road was from the Cossacks ahead of them.
“Les brigands sont partout, [These robbers are everywhere.],” answered the officer from behind the fire.
Dolokhov said that the Cossacks were terrible only for such backward people as he and his comrade, but that the Cossacks probably did not dare to attack large detachments, he added questioningly. Nobody answered.
“Well, now he’ll leave,” Petya thought every minute, standing in front of the fire and listening to his conversation.
But Dolokhov again began the conversation that had stopped and directly began asking how many people they had in the battalion, how many battalions, how many prisoners. Asking about the captured Russians who were with their detachment, Dolokhov said:
– La vilaine affaire de trainer ces cadavres apres soi. Vaudrait mieux fusiller cette canaille, [It’s a bad thing to drag these corpses around with you. It would be better to shoot this bastard.] - and laughed loudly with such a strange laugh that Petya thought the French would now recognize the deception, and he involuntarily took a step away from the fire. No one responded to Dolokhov’s words and laughter, and the French officer, who was not visible (he was lying wrapped in an overcoat), stood up and whispered something to his comrade. Dolokhov stood up and called to the soldier with the horses.
“Will they serve the horses or not?” - Petya thought, involuntarily approaching Dolokhov.
The horses were brought in.
“Bonjour, messieurs, [Here: farewell, gentlemen.],” said Dolokhov.
Petya wanted to say bonsoir [ Good evening] and couldn’t finish the words. The officers were whispering something to each other. Dolokhov took a long time to mount the horse, which was not standing; then he walked out of the gate. Petya rode beside him, wanting and not daring to look back to see whether the French were running or not running after them.
Having reached the road, Dolokhov drove not back into the field, but along the village. At one point he stopped, listening.
- Do you hear? - he said.
Petya recognized the sounds of Russian voices and saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners near the fires. Going down to the bridge, Petya and Dolokhov passed the sentry, who, without saying a word, walked gloomily along the bridge, and drove out into the ravine where the Cossacks were waiting.
- Well, goodbye now. Tell Denisov that at dawn, at the first shot,” said Dolokhov and wanted to go, but Petya grabbed him with his hand.
- No! - he cried, - you are such a hero. Oh, how good! How great! How I love you.
“Okay, okay,” Dolokhov said, but Petya did not let him go, and in the darkness Dolokhov saw that Petya was bending down towards him. He wanted to kiss. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed and, turning his horse, disappeared into the darkness.
X
Returning to the guardhouse, Petya found Denisov in the entryway. Denisov, in excitement, anxiety and annoyance at himself for letting Petya go, was waiting for him.
- God bless! - he shouted. - Well, thank God! - he repeated, listening to Petya’s enthusiastic story. “What the hell, I couldn’t sleep because of you!” Denisov said. “Well, thank God, now go to bed.” Still sighing and eating until the end.
“Yes... No,” said Petya. – I don’t want to sleep yet. Yes, I know myself, if I fall asleep, it’s over. And then I got used to not sleeping before the battle.
Petya sat for some time in the hut, joyfully recalling the details of his trip and vividly imagining what would happen tomorrow. Then, noticing that Denisov had fallen asleep, he got up and went into the yard.
It was still completely dark outside. The rain had passed, but drops were still falling from the trees. Close to the guardhouse one could see black figures of Cossack huts and horses tied together. Behind the hut were two black wagons with horses standing, and in the ravine the dying fire was red. The Cossacks and hussars were not all asleep: in some places, along with the sound of falling drops and the nearby sound of horses chewing, soft, as if whispering voices were heard.
Yesterday, Gabe Newell, the founder and permanent head of Valve, turned 54 years old. His nickname, Gaben (from the combination GabeN), has long become an Internet meme, and he himself has turned into something like Santa Claus for all gamers in the world. In connection with the birthday of this wonderful man, we have collected 13 interesting facts about him.
Gabe Newell does not have a college degree
Like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and other famous IT specialists, Gabe Newell once dropped out of university. He was encouraged to take this step by none other than the eccentric Steve Ballmer, former CEO Microsoft. At that time, Ballmer was the head of sales at the company. He convinced Newell that getting an education would only waste his precious time.
Gabe Newell had a hand in creating Windows
As you might guess, after dropping out of college, Gabe got a job at Microsoft. He became the company's 271st employee and spent 13 years there. During this time, he managed to have a hand in the development of several early versions of Windows. Years of work and subsequent success operating system brought the future king of PC gaming several million dollars. And then he played Doom.
Gabe immediately understood: games are a real art.
The game Doom, released in December 1993, quickly became a worldwide hit. Since it originally ran under DOS, Gabe Newell was tasked with porting it to Windows. It was after meeting Doom that Gabe realized that computer games are real art.
Founding of Valve
A little later, another fateful event occurred. Michael Abrash, an acquaintance of Gabe's, left Microsoft to create the computer game Quake. This game has also achieved huge success in the market. It was then that Gabe realized that he had stayed too long at Microsoft. In 1996, along with Mike Harrington, another employee of the company, Newell quit and, with his own money, founded Valve - the most anarchic company in the world.
The most anarchic company
Earlier, when talking about the history of Valve, we talked about the company's very unusual internal routine. For example, one day a manual for new Valve employees was leaked online. It says that " Of all the people in the company who aren't your boss, Gabe isn't the BIGGEST" There are really no managers in the company, all employees have equal rights, and all decisions, including hiring new people, are made jointly. And all this does not prevent the company from earning big money.
Mad money
Valve has never made its profits public, but they still amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Five years ago, analysts estimated the company's value at about $4 billion. But two years ago, in the fall of 2014, Google tried to buy the company. Larry Page and Sergey Brin offered $18 billion for Valve. Gabe Newell refused. This amount is probably still not enough. By the way, Gabe himself is officially recognized as the richest man in the gaming industry. According to Forbes, his personal fortune is estimated at approximately $1.5 billion. How does he manage to earn so much money? The answer is simple: all thanks to Steam.
Steam
The digital game distribution service Steam was launched in 2003. Today he is the most famous and popular in the world. Approximately 70% of all digital game sales are made through it. The number of Steam users exceeds 125 million. Of course, some large companies, like Ubisoft or Electronic Arts, sell their games through their own distribution services. But the vast majority of developers don’t bother much and use Steam as the main way to sell their games. What makes Steam so popular among gamers? Incredibly generous discounts.
Gabe Newell - playable Santa Claus
Gabe Newell is perceived by the gaming community as a kind of Santa Claus thanks to the generous sales that are regularly held on the Steam service. The main winter sale is dedicated to the New Year. As a rule, there are also large summer, and sometimes autumn and spring themed sales. For a few days, gamers can buy games at huge discounts. In some cases, discounts reach up to 90%. Users joke that during sales days they manage to spend half their salary on games. But they continue to pay again and again.
Gabe Newell - meme man
Gabe Newell became a meme man not only because of discounts on Steam. The main object of users' jokes is the release of the game Half-Life 3, which has never happened to this day. The latest game in the Half-Life series, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, was released more than nine years ago. At the same time, the overall plot of the series remained unfinished. And if earlier Valve representatives periodically mentioned the development in rare interviews, now we don’t even hear gossip about the continuation.
Half-Life fans were upset at first, then they started joking. According to a fictitious fan theory, Half-Life 3 isn't happening because Gabe Newell avoids the number "3." By the way, in Valve’s portfolio, there really isn’t a single game with this number. Judge for yourself: the company released Portal And Portal 2, Left 4 Dead And Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress And Team Fortress 2. The numbering of games in the Half-Life series also avoids the “three”: the original comes first Half-Life, then - Half-Life 2, and then instead of the third part Half-Life 2: Episode One And Half-Life 2: Episode Two. While working for Microsoft, Gabe Newell worked on Windows 1, Windows 2 and... Windows 2.1. And he also has two children.
There are already a whole bunch of jokes about Gabe's avoidance of the "three". Eg, " If Gabe Newell becomes President, Third World War will never start" Gabe Newell himself does not remain in debt and replies that every new joke is in the style of “ Valve can't count to three"delays the release of Half-Life 3 for another two months.
Gabe Newell is always there
Despite having billions of dollars in his pocket, Gabe Newell does not pretend to be a celestial being. He personally communicates with fans, responds to emails and regularly posts on the Valve forum. Interestingly, he found many of the company’s employees by communicating on the Internet. More than half of Valve's four hundred developers are former enthusiasts who developed amateur mods for games. There is a widely known case where Gabe Newell personally helped a user solve problems with account faster than the company's technical support responded to the request. In general, when you go online, know: Gabe is somewhere nearby.
Gabe Newell - gamer
You can meet Gabe not only on the forum, but also in online games. He admitted that he plays the MMORPG World Of Warcraft quite often, and loves Day of Defeat, the Diablo series, Super Mario 64 and Team Fortress. By the way, if you ever meet a player with the username Rabscuttle while playing Team Fortress, do not write anything indecent in the chat or try to cheat. Otherwise, Rabscuttle (this is, you guessed it, Gabe Newell) will take out his special admin weapon and kill you, while banning you from the game.
Gabin - the king of PC gamers
Gabe Newell is an uncompromising critic of consoles and considers the computer the best gaming platform. Even the Steam Machine, introduced by Valve in 2014, is still the same gaming PC in a compact package. Gabe Newell especially dislikes Sony and their PlayStation. When the PlayStation 3 console came out, Gabe openly called it "a real misunderstanding." All in all, as long as Gabe Newell is alive, you don't have to worry about the future of PC gaming.
Gabe Newell loves metal
Gabe's life is not limited to the computer. The head of Valve loves to tinker with metal. In the garage, he equipped a locksmith's workshop, where he makes various souvenirs, household items and stands for his huge collection of knives. According to the latest data, the collection includes more than 600 knives and swords from all over the world.
By the way, it is Gabe’s love for edged weapons that explains the abundance of different models of knives in Valve’s popular shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Every gamer can say with confidence who Gabe Newell is. This genius computer games achieved great success in all his endeavors. In his hands is concentrated power over one of the most famous and profitable studios - Valve Corporation. Today, Gabe Newell is included in the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine. His company is worth about $3 million, and half of this money belongs to the developer personally.
Biography
Born November 3, 1962. Little is known about the developer’s childhood and youth. One thing is clear: as a child, Newell was distinguished by a fairly developed mind, thanks to which he entered college after graduating from school. But get academic degree he was not destined to do so, because at that time the whole world was captivated by the increasingly popular computer technologies, and Gabe was no exception and devoted his time to this science. Risking his future, Newell drops out of school and gets a job at the then unknown company Microsoft. Ultimately, this decision earns him millions of dollars.
Valve Corporation
Having worked for Bill Gates' company for 13 years and inspired by the success of Michael Abrash, who had previously left the corporation and created his own Quake project, Gabe Newell decides to set out on his own. In 1996, together with his friend Mike Harrington, who also worked at Microsoft, he created his own small computer game development studio called Valve. At that time, this small corporation was unknown to anyone, and investors were in no hurry to invest their money in it, for fear of getting burned. Therefore, Gabe and Mike had to part with their money to finance their first developments.
Having bought the Quake engine, they heavily reworked it, and on this basis they created their first masterpiece, Half-Life, released in 1998. The game became an undeniable hit, and it is not surprising that the company began developing the second part of the series. After its creation, the world learned who Gabe Newell was. Based on this engine, such popular modifications and games as Team Fortress Classic and Counter-Strike were born. In 2000, having received an impressive monetary compensation, Mike Harrington leaves Valve, and Gabe becomes the sole owner of this already famous studio.
Valve Games
If we talk about who Gabe Newell is, then we cannot fail to mention the games that he created. In addition to the Half-Life series, Valve studio has become famous for many other high-profile projects. About the most popular of them we'll talk Further. Let's start with the favorite shooter of all gamers - Counter-Strike. This multiplayer game was released in 1999 as a modification to Half-Life and became famous thanks to its online mode. If you want to shoot terrorists and have fun with friends, then you can safely run this old grid on the grid, but still popular game. Another hit released by Valve is the zombie apocalypse game Left 4 Dead. This shooter with survival horror elements, released in 2008, won the title of “Game of the Year”. It's no surprise that after short term a sequel was released, which acquired a corporate mode.
Masterpieces of the gaming industry
Do you love intellectual puzzles? If yes, then you should definitely wander through the labyrinths of Portal. Thanks to its original plot, excellent music and graphics, this game won more than 70 awards and at one time remained among the top sellers for a long time. The puzzle was released by the studio in 2007, and a sequel was released in 2011, surpassing the first part of the game in popularity.
Another brainchild of the Valve studio, which almost everyone has heard of, is Dota 2. This multiplayer game has won millions of fans around the world since its release (2013). From that moment on, Gabe's photo became the object of worship for every gamer. Today there is e-sports with a huge prize pool, where people from all over the world compete in Dota 2, and this says a lot. These games made their creator famous, but that's not all this developer did.
Steam
Another brainchild that can tell who Gabe Newell is is the world-famous service for selling games and software, which appeared in 2003. Through Steam, not only the Valve studio distributes its products, but also other well-known developers, such as id Software, GSC Game World, Rockstar Games, THQ, Capcom, 2K Games, Atari, Ubisoft, Eidos Interactive, Bethesda Softworks, 1C, etc. According to statistics, this service sells about 10 thousand games a year.
Initially, Steam was intended to simplify updates for computer games, in particular Counter-Strike, because at that time any gamer could not be allowed to participate in battles if the version of his game was out of date. But very quickly Gabe came to the conclusion that selling software through such a service was a goldmine. At first, only Valve games could be purchased here, but already in 2005, the catalog of virtual products expanded significantly. Steam quickly gained popularity; already in 2007, this service acquired a new system focused on the social component of the community. Through the Steam Community, users from all over the world can communicate, create their own groups and invite their friends to games. Today, this service is the main leader, leaving competitors far behind.
Gabe Newell can easily be called a legendary figure in the gaming industry. At least because this name revolves around great amount legends and rumors. But today Gamebox will focus its attention on truthful information. We bring to your attention a list of 10 facts from the life of Gabe Newell that you may not have known. Well, if you know, then honor and praise to your erudition.
Gabe Newell is one of the 100 richest people in the United States
In 2017, Gabe Newell entered the top 100 richest people in the United States. Moreover, he is the only representative of the gaming industry on this list. According to Forbes, last year earned a place on the list richest people It was especially difficult for the USA, since, due to high competition, the lower threshold for entering the list of 400 rich people was having a fortune estimated at $2 billion. But Gabe’s fortune allowed him to enter not only the top 400, but also the top 100 wealthiest Americans. Whether you like Valve's development strategy or not, it is still worth recognizing that Newell is very well versed in the gaming industry and knows how to make money from it.Gabe Newell dropped out of Harvard to work at Microsoft
Yes, yes, if you didn’t know, the gaming demigod of our time studied at Harvard, but did not graduate. Some will exclaim indignantly: “Eh, quit so prestigious establishment How irresponsible! However, given Newell's subsequent successes, it is difficult to say that he allowed fatal mistake. Having dropped out of Harvard, Newell went to work at Microsoft, and was encouraged to take this step by Steve Ballmer himself, who at that time headed the sales department at the company. Newell later admitted that he learned more in three months at Microsoft than in his entire time at Harvard. In the software company, the future head of Valve managed to work on several versions of Windows, and achieved a good position there. It is also noteworthy that the creator of Windows, Bill Gates, also did not finish his studies at Harvard at one time. Coincidence?
Gabe Newell saved Half-Life 2
In 2003, a German hacker managed to steal the code of Half-Life 2. Panic gripped the entire studio, because everyone was preparing for a high-profile release. Even then, the developers realized that HL2 would have a huge impact on the industry, otherwise they would not have spent so much time and effort on the game. And now the treasure of the gaming industry is in the hands of an attacker. However, Gabe Newell was not at a loss and offered the guy a job at Valve in the security department. He scheduled an interview for the hacker and even paid for air tickets from Germany. However, he also transferred information about the attacker to US law enforcement agencies, who were supposed to help Valve hospitably welcome the hacker in the United States and bring charges of theft intellectual property. The hacker turned out to be smart and did not succumb to provocation. He also managed to avoid serious punishment in his native Germany, but the release of HL2 was ultimately unaffected.
Gabe Newell told everyone his Steam username and password
In 2011, Valve announced the Steam Guard security system, designed to protect gamers from account theft and other fraudulent schemes. Then Valve stated that the problem of hacking Steam accounts is one of the most common reasons for users contacting the service's support team. This led the company to the idea that it was time to do next step to protect gamers, and developed Steam Guard. Gabe Newell was so confident in the performance new system, that he published his login and password information on Steam so that anyone could try to log into his account. As far as we know, no one has ever succeeded; the system works great. But since then we know Gaben’s login and password, unless he has changed these data by now.
Gabe Newell has favorite games
With this item in the list of facts, everything is as simple as possible: we name Newell’s favorite games, and you remember. No tricks or extra letters. So, this is Super Mario 64, classic Doom and, attention, Star Track on punch cards. The latter, however, can hardly be called a video game. It's more like fiddling with a computer for many hours, where you have to wait 10 minutes for your opponent's move, but the taste and color of all the markers... well, you understand.
Gabe Newell had serious vision problems
In the early 2000s, Gabe Newell himself described his vision problems as follows: “I have the eyes of a dead man,” he said. In fact, he suffered from a disease called corneal endothelial dystrophy. But what's really scary is this high risk completely lose sight. Newella later underwent several operations to restore his vision, and now sees better than ever.
Gabe Newell loves My Little Pony
At one of the conferences, Gabe Newell once admitted that he loves watching the TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. There's nothing particularly strange or surprising about this fact if you don't know anything about the series. The thing is that the target audience of the cartoon is little girls of kindergarten age. However, this did not prevent the emergence of a whole army of over-aged fans of the series, among whom there are quite a lot of not only adult women, but also mature men. And Gabe Newell is one of them.
Gabe Newell ported Doom to Windows 95
After the release of Doom and the overwhelming success of this game, Microsoft became interested in the developer id Software. The company decided to invest in id Software, at the same time gaining control of the franchise. In the end, this did not happen, and then Bill Gates set out to port Doom to Windows 95. Guess who led the team to implement this project? That's right, this is Gabe Newell. This is quite possibly why he loves this game so much, as we mentioned earlier.
Gabe Newell made his first million at Microsoft
Gabe Newell worked at Microsoft for 13 years and became one of the famous millionaires who made their fortune while working for the software giant. But this is not even surprising, but the fact that he left the company with a prestigious and promising position. And all for the sake of founding Valve. At that time, no one could have imagined that Newell’s own company would bring him even more fame and money. But Newell's disruptive character and his truly outstanding business abilities eventually did their job.
Gabe Newell is generous
One of the former Valve employees named Eric Wolpaw, who once worked on the script for Portal and Portal 2, became seriously ill while working at Newell's company. Rather, doctors diagnosed him with a progressive disease called ulcerative colitis. The disease is quite serious. And the point is not only that it can lead to disastrous consequences, but also that people with such diseases need special conditions work and a lot of time to take care of health. Gabe Newell gave Wolpaw everything the necessary conditions for recovery by including special supporting provisions in the contract with him.
