| Gabe Newell | |
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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) |
| 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.
- Gabe Newell has led Valve Corp., which develops video games, since he cofounded it in 1998 with former Microsoft colleague Mike Harrington.
- The company found initial success with games like Half-Life and Portal.
- Valve Corp. plays a big role in PC game sales through its Steam digital store; some liken it to the iTunes of video games.
- Steam sells game licenses to 125 million users of its own and other developers’ titles and collects a percentage of the sales.
- Forbes estimates that Newell owns just over half the company, which operates out of Bellevue, Washington.
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