Gabe Newell is the co-founder and president of Valve, the company in Bellevue, Washington, that makes Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Dota 2 and runs the Steam store for PC games. He started Valve in 1996 after 13 years at Microsoft.
Valve stays private and small, yet its decisions shape how PC games are sold and played. In 2026 the company added a new living-room gaming PC, the Steam Machine, to a hardware line that already includes the Steam Deck handheld.
Education
Newell attended Harvard University but did not complete a degree there. Forbes, in a 2011 profile, described him as a Harvard dropout who went on to build one of the most profitable companies in games.
Career
Newell spent 13 years at Microsoft before starting his own company. Valve’s own site says he held posts in the Systems, Applications and Advanced Technology divisions.
His work there included running program management for the first two releases of Windows, starting the company’s multimedia division and leading the effort behind the “Information Highway PC,” according to Valve and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
In August 1996 he left with fellow Microsoft veteran Mike Harrington to found Valve. Forbes reported that the two paid for the start with their own Microsoft stock options and that the company never took venture capital.
Valve’s first game, Half-Life, came out in 1998. It sold 2.5 million copies in its first year, Forbes reported, and Valve says it won more than 50 game of the year awards. Newell bought out Harrington after Harrington left in 2000.
In 2003 Valve created Steam as a way to deliver its own games over the internet, before app stores existed. Steam later opened to other publishers and grew into the main digital shop for PC games.
Steam kept adding services. Forbes reported in 2011 that Steam Cloud, launched in 2008, let players store games and data on any PC with Steam installed, and that a virtual goods store opened in October 2010 so players could trade items such as weapons and accessories.
The same Forbes profile said Newell credited player-made mods as a talent pipeline, with around half of Valve’s staff having started their careers by making them. At the time Valve had about 250 people and released no financial figures.
Across the 2000s and 2010s Valve released Half-Life 2, Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2, and built its own engine technology, Source. The company also moved into hardware, with the Valve Index virtual reality kit and the Steam Deck handheld.
In November 2025 Valve announced a new Steam Machine and a new Steam Controller, Ars Technica reported. Memory price rises delayed the launch, and Valve set the Steam Machine on sale from 29 June 2026, starting at 1,049 dollars, with the same Linux-based SteamOS used on the Steam Deck.
The Steam Machine is a black cube about 160 mm on each side. Valve rates it at more than six times the power of the Steam Deck, with a six-core AMD Zen 4 processor and an AMD RDNA3 graphics chip, according to Ars Technica.
Demand was managed through a randomised reservation queue. The 512 GB model costs 1,049 dollars and the 2 TB model 1,349 dollars, and a Steam Controller can be added for 79 dollars.
Current Roles
- Co-founder and President, Valve Corporation (since 1996)
- Lead figure of Valve, which describes itself as “boss-free since 1996”
Key Achievements
Half-Life and Valve’s games
Valve’s first title set the tone for the company. PC Gamer named Half-Life “Best PC Game Ever” in several issues, as Valve notes, and the studio’s later games, from Counter-Strike to Portal, built long-running player communities.
- Half-Life: more than 50 game of the year awards (Valve)
- Valve portfolio: more than 70 million retail units sold, by the Academy’s count at Newell’s induction
Steam
Steam began in 2003 as a delivery channel for Valve’s own games. By 2011 Forbes reported that publishers earned a gross margin of around 70 percent selling through Steam, compared with about 30 percent through retail stores.
- About 34 million users online at once on 28 October 2026, per Valve’s live counter
- Support for 28 languages and more than 100 payment methods (Steam)
- Workshop support for player-made content in nearly 1,000 games (Steam)
Esports
Valve’s games anchor some of the largest esports events. Dota 2 is one of the titles at the Esports World Cup, and our report on Dota 2 viewership and winners at the Esports World Cup 2026 covered the latest edition.
Valve also runs its own Dota 2 championship, The International. Valve notes that the 2018 edition, held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, drew millions of concurrent viewers online.
Hardware
Under Newell, Valve became a maker of consumer devices as well as software. Its hardware now includes the Steam Deck, the Valve Index, the Steam Controller and the 2026 Steam Machine, and Valve says it invented the VR technologies behind the HTC Vive. Like its software, the hardware is tested through repeated prototypes shared with partners and players, Valve says. The company adds that it builds all of this in Bellevue, pairing the resources of a large firm with the habits of a small startup.
The Company in Numbers
- Founded: August 1996, based in Bellevue, Washington (Valve)
- Steam launched: 2003 (Valve)
- Staff: 336 employees in 2021, according to company data in a court filing reported by The Verge (2024)
- Steam users online at one moment: about 34 million (28 October 2026)
- Steam Machine price: from 1,049 dollars (June 2026)
Awards and Honours
- Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (2013)
In Their Own Words
Explaining why Valve did not chase every trend, Newell told Forbes in February 2011: “If we tried to blaze new trails of our own and ride all the latest trends, we’d likely be bankrupt by now.”
Valve’s own staff page credits him with one line of advice during the making of Half-Life: “C’mon, people, you can’t show the player a really big bomb and not let them blow it up.”
Read also: Bill Gates: Biography, Companies, and Career Journey
