Gabe Newell
Producer · Director · Studio Executive
Gabe Newell is the Valve co-founder.
Career
Before starting Valve, Newell worked for Microsoft for 13 years, ran program management for the first two Windows releases, started its multimedia division, and led its Information Highway PC effort.
In 1996, Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington formed Valve in Kirkland, Washington.
Valve acquired a Quake engine license and began Half-Life production in 1996; after an internal 1997 review found Half-Life not good enough to ship, the team essentially started over.
In early 2002, Newell let the Half-Life 2 team take the lead while he worked on Steam, which he unveiled at the March 2002 Game Developers Conference.
Newell received the 2013 BAFTA Fellowship for his contribution to gaming.
Interesting Facts
- Newell said his first real video game was the text-based Trek game on a university mainframe, using punch-card batch programming; he said a move took about 15 minutes.
- In a 2025 interview, Newell described working, scuba diving, working again, then either another dive or the gym, and said that he works seven days a week.
