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 the subsequent success of the 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.
Doom game, 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, Gabe's acquaintance, left Microsoft Corporation to create 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 there 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 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 and do not even think about cheating. 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.
Name: Gabe Newell
Age: 56 years old
Activity: programmer, businessman, founder of Valve
Family status: married
Gabe Newell: biography
Gabe Newell is an American programmer, billionaire, founder of the Valve company, which creates computer games. The developer’s popular projects include gaming platforms “Half-Life”, “Steam” and others.
Childhood and youth
Gabe Logan Newell was born in early November 1962 in Seattle. Gabe Newell prefers not to disclose information about his parents. In an interview, the entrepreneur said that he began creating computer programs at the age of 13. The young man used the ALGOL programming language.
The hobby contributed to Gabe’s admission to Harvard University, but a few years later he dropped out of school and got a job at the newly created Microsoft company, of which he became the founder. The success story of a talented programmer began with this bold step.
Career and business
The creation of computer equipment has fascinated me young employee, he was among the developers of the first three versions of Windows. Soon Gabe, one of the first shareholders of Microsoft, increased his fortune to several million, which later influenced his career. In addition to software hardware, Newell became interested in developing game consoles. Using the example of the success of Doom and Super Mario 64, he was convinced of the profitability of this line of business.
After thirteen years of work at Microsoft, changes occurred in the young programmer’s biography: together with his friend and colleague Mike Harrington, Gabe decided to create his own computer game production company. This happened after Microsoft employee Michael Ebrash left for id Software, a company that began producing game console"Quake"
In 1996, a company called Valve appeared, whose first project was the Half-Life platform. It was created with the personal savings of the founders Newell and Harrington. The game, which takes place in secret CIA laboratories, immediately found its gamer: in the first months, 2 million copies of the game were sold.
The rules of conduct for employees within the Valve company were democratic from the very first days. In contrast to the Microsoft charter, which was famous for its corporate strictness, Gabe and his partner decided to create a production structure devoid of departments, bosses, managers and executives. At Valve, employees are allowed to spend working time on personal needs, visiting cafes, gyms and spas. The management model showed its effectiveness - the company's capitalization soon exceeded $1 billion and continued to grow.
Two years after the first success, in the process of creating the Half-Life-2 modification, Mike Harrington leaves the company, and Newell buys out his partner’s shares. In parallel with the improvement of the already famous platform, Gabe begins work on “Steam”, which over time became one of the most popular computer game servers.
The secret to the success of a talented developer is that he himself becomes a big fan of games and continues to play them with passion all these years. The programmer is sure that creating consoles is akin to art. Gabe enthusiastically fights on the World of Warcraft online server. Newell's favorite games are still Super Mario 64, Doom, Dota 2 and Star Trek, and his favorite hero is Team Fortress 2 Spy.
The tactics for creating popular shooters such as Counter-Strike are based on the right selection of personnel. Gabe invites unknown but talented young computer scientists to work at Valve. Two programs appeared under the Half-Life brand - Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic, as well as the mega-popular video games Portal and Left 4 Dead, which were released over the next 10 years.
The company has a legend about the magic of the number “3”. This happened after the programs for preparing their third versions never reached the release date. For example, the Half-Life 3 platform, after many years of preparation, never saw the light of day. Therefore, for the 4th version of the famous game, the creators decided to change the concept and even introduce a new main character - the son of the scientist Freeman.
Thanks to the right policies within the team, in 2010 Gabe Newell was included in the Forbes list as one of the most famous computer scientists in the world. According to statistics, by 2012, the capitalization of Valve's assets amounted to $2.5 billion, and the percentage of profit for each of the company's 400 programmers was higher compared to other developers such as Google and Apple.
The owner of the company had a fortune of $1.3 billion. Gabe, like his former boss Bill Gates, became one of the richest people on the planet who started a business without having a full higher education. At the end of 2017, the programmer’s fortune reached $5.5 billion, which allowed the entrepreneur to enter the list of the 100 richest people in the United States according to Forbes magazine.
Gabe Newell's rise to popularity among gamers depended on his open communication with users. The owner of the gaming concern himself corresponds with the forum members of the Steam website, creates topics for discussion and always answers letters.
Personal life
The personal life of the entrepreneur was happy. Gabe Newell has been married to Lisa Newell for over 30 years. His family has two children. Now the owner of Valve lives with his wife and sons near Long Beach in Los Angeles. Gabe Newell doesn't use social networks, photos of the programmer on Instagram appear on the pages of computer game fans.
Gabe Newell has an energetic, cheerful character, which allowed him to overcome a serious illness. In the early 2000s, a programmer experienced dangerous disease called Fuchs' dystrophy, which could have left him blind. At the age of 45, the programmer underwent eye surgery, which allowed him to see as before. Surgical intervention was carried out successfully, and the diagnosis was defeated. Gabe's health after the operation is not alarming.
Gabe is interested in collecting bladed weapons. The owner of the Valve company placed some of the samples in his office. The programmer owns 600 blades, including Japanese wakizashi swords, sai tridents and carved knives. As a hobby, Newell set up a workshop in his house, where he himself forges blades. The programmer also has an unusual hobby - Gabe is thrilled to see footage of the animated series for children “My Little Pony”. The programmer's hobby list includes motorsports.
Gabe Newell's income allows him to donate funds to charity. The charity championship The Heart of Racing is being held with the participation of the programmer. Gabe also supports a pediatric heart clinic in Seattle. At one time, the billionaire donated funds to the needs of the American Civil Liberties Union.
At the beginning of December 2016, information appeared on the Yandex server that the creator of Valve, Gabe Newell, had died untimely. But on the official websites of the company, as well as on other news resources, nothing was known about the death of the director. Programmers believe that this news was the result of a computer system error. A few days after the obituary appeared in the public domain, the false entries were deleted.
Gabe Newell calmly reacted to the glitch in the search engine program and did not even sue Yandex for this error.
Gabe Newell now
In 2017, Gabe participated in the computer tournament “The International 2017” (“International 2017”). Together with TV presenter Casey Aitchison and Jakelm Sir Action Slacks Kanner, Gabe Newell starred in a comic video in which he played the role of a security guard. An announcement was made at the tournament about the release card game"Artifact" based on the "Dota 2" platform. The presentation of the computer product is scheduled for 2018.
Games
- Half-Life series
- Portal series of games
- Counter-Strike series of games
- Team Fortress series
- Left 4 Dead series
- Dota 2 game
- Game Artifact
- Game In the Valley of Gods
- Game engines GoldSrc, Source and Source 2
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 of the gaming industry are ready to rock his gigantic carcass in their arms, earning a Schmorl's hernia and protrusion of intervertebral discs .
"I was born!"
It all started back in 1962, with the help of simple gestures, parents managed to conceive, and then push 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 act according to 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 pure 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 the course of 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, in the USA Tupac Shakur was killed, 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 be 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 - operating system, which will allow players to stream games over their home network and will have even more additional features. In addition, Valve has been promising to release its own gaming console, the Steam Machine, and the Steam Controller. And, of course, let’s not forget about the SteamVR virtual reality headset, 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 began to look like 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 accept under any circumstances. These are console people. He has a persistent vomiting urge to 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, a virtual reality helmet HTC Vive 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.
After dropping out of Harvard University, Newell worked for 13 years at Microsoft, eventually becoming a millionaire. Newell calls himself "the producer of the first three releases of Windows." Inspired by the work of Michael Abrash, who had previously left Microsoft to create the computer game Quake from id Software, Newell and another Microsoft employee, Mike Harrington, also left Microsoft and created Valve Studios in 1996.
Newell, along with Harrington, used their personal capital to finance Valve's subsequent development of 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 like 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 stake.
Newell suffered from Fuchs' dystrophy - congenital disease, in which the cornea of the eye is destroyed, and at some point his vision dropped to a critical level, but two cornea transplant surgeries restored his vision. “I not only began to see again, I began to see better than ever before. I felt like I was in fairy tale. Then it dawned on me how fast the future is coming,” Newell recalls.
- In 2007, Newell openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the various limitations of game consoles faced by game developers, in particular, he negatively noted Sony's policies towards the PlayStation 3 system.
- In December 2010, Forbes magazine included Gabe Newell on its list of "names you should know." Newell was included on the list primarily for his company's work on the digital distribution service Steam, as well as its partnerships with some major computer game developers.
- His favorite games are Super Mario 64, Doom and Star Trek, which he played on the Burroughs system. Doom convinced him that video games were a promising future in entertainment, and Super Mario 64 proved to him that games were also an art form.
- A few years ago, a friend encouraged Gabe to pick up a hobby, after which Newell decided to take up plumbing. Instead of a car, he installed a grinding and milling machines, as well as barrels of salt for bluing steel. In his free time, Newell makes and crafts gadgets and toys, like iPad stands and swords. "It seemed to me that this good vacation after constantly sitting in front of a screen,” explains Newell.
- Valve, which employs 250 people, doesn't disclose its financials but is "extremely profitable," according to Newell. Gabe says the company is more profitable per employee than Google and Apple.
- Newell is a subscriber to Blizzard Entertainment's popular MMORPG World of Warcraft.
- Various sources estimate Valve Software to be worth between $2 billion and $4 billion (estimated as of 2011).
- According to Newell, about half of the company's employees are former game modders.
- Newell controls more than half of Valve.
- Gabe Newell is a fan of the animated series My little pony: Friendship is Magic.
- Newell was included in the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes magazine, ranking 854th in the world and 303rd in the United States. Experts estimate his earnings to be $1.5 billion (as of March 2012).
Personal life
Married to Lisa Newell, has two sons. Newell's family lives near the beach in Long Beach.
