Gabe Newell

Biography

Gabe Logan Newell (/ˈnjuː.əl/; born November 3, 1962), often nicknamed Gaben, is an American computer programmer and businessman who is best known as the co-founder and president of the video game development and digital distribution company Valve Corporation. Born in Seattle, Newell attended Harvard University in the early 1980s, but dropped out shortly before graduating and soon went to work for the American technology company Microsoft, where he spent the next decade working as a producer for some of their early Windows operating systems. During his time at the company, Newell, along with co-worker Mike Harrington, were impressed by computer games that were being released in the mid 1990s, such as id Software's Doom and Quake. Fully convinced that video games were the future of entertainment, and intrigued by the prospect of having his own game development studio, Newell, along with Harrington, left Microsoft to co-found Valve in 1996, where he remains its president. Newell attended Harvard University from 1980 until 1983, where he dropped out to work for the American technology company Microsoft.[4][5] Newell then spent the next thirteen years working at the company, serving as a producer of the Windows 1.01, 1.02, and 1.03 operating systems.[6] Newell later stated that he learned more during his first three months at Microsoft than he ever did at Harvard, explaining one of the reasons why he dropped out.[7] Inspired by Michael Abrash, who left Microsoft to work on the computer game Quake at id Software, Newell and another Microsoft employee, Mike Harrington, left Microsoft to found Valve L.L.C. in 1996.[6] Newell and Harrington used their money to fund Valve through the development of Half-Life and the GoldSrc game engine. During production on Half-Life 2, he spent several months focusing on the Steam project.[8] In 2007, Newell openly expressed his displeasure over developing his software for gaming consoles, particularly the PlayStation 3. In regard to the system, Newell was once quoted as claiming that developing processes for the console in general was "a waste of everybody's time"[9] and "a disaster on many levels ... I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a do over. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'."[10] Nevertheless, at Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2010, Newell appeared on stage at Sony's keynote; while acknowledging his past outspoken comments on console development, he discussed the open nature of Sony's PlayStation 3 platform, and announced Portal 2 for the console, remarking that with Steamworks support it would be the best version for any console.[11] Newell has also criticized the Xbox Live service, referring to it as "a train wreck".[12] He was also critical of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, calling it a "catastrophe" and "a threat" to the open nature of PC gaming.[13] In December 2010, Forbes named Newell as "A Name You Should Know", primarily for his work on Steam having partnerships with multiple major developers.[14] In March 2013, Newell received the BAFTA Fellowship award for his contributions to the video game industry.[15] In October 2017, Forbes listed him among the 100 richest people in the United States, with an estimated net worth of US$5.5 billion.

Research Interest

Business and management