Gabe Newell
| Gabe Newell | |
|---|---|
Newell at the 2010 Game Developers Conference
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| Born |
Gabe Logan Newell November 3, 1962 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Gaben |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (drop out) |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Known for | Co-founding Valve Corporation |
| Net worth | US$4.1 billion (January 2017[update]) |
| Title | President of Valve Corporation |
| Spouse(s) | Lisa Mennet Newell (m. 1996) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards |
BAFTA Fellowship (2013) AIAS Hall of Fame Award (2013) |
Gabe Logan Newell (/ˈnjuːəl/; 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 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 games were the future of entertainment, and intrigued by the prospect of having his own 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. 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. 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. 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. Newell and Harrington used their money to fund Valve L.L.C. through the development of Half-Life and the GoldSrc game engine.
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