Who is Gaben? Valve's beloved founder is gaming’s richest icon

William Davis Published 20/07/2021

Even when the communities around popular games Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are furious with developer Valve, fans can’t help but love the company’s president, Gabe Newell.

Gabe Newell is a co-founder and president of software development studio Valve. His common nickname, Gaben, is derived from his public email, [email protected]. In addition to piloting Valve’s direction on the cutting edge of technology, Gaben serves as a figurehead for the company. He frequently attends or comments on Dota 2 and CSGO esports events, and is known for being a particularly big proponent of Dota 2.

Gaben studied at Harvard in the early 1980s but dropped out to work at Microsoft. Newell claims to have learned more in his first three months on the job at Microsoft than he did in three years at Harvard. He helped to develop early versions of Windows and led work on the port for the original DOOM on Windows 95.

Gaben left Microsoft to form Valve with former co-worker Mike Harrington. He was particularly inspired by the success of first-person shooter Quake. The pair financed the three-year production of Half-Life as the studio’s debut video game. Half-Life was wildly successful, which allowed Gaben to pursue other projects. Valve would eventually produce multiple sequels to Half-Life, massive esports titles, and one of the first full-room virtual reality systems. Valve also owns and operates Steam, the largest online platform for purchasing and downloading video games. Valve receives a substantial cut of every game sold through its popular service.

Gaben has become an almost mythical figure in the PC gaming world. Fans kneel before him and offer their wallets as tokens of piety. His quiet yet confident voice has declared the opening of every edition of The International, the richest event in all of esports. A Gabe Newell announcer pack was even released for Dota 2 to go along with The International 2018 battle pass.

Gaben is known for giving cryptic hints about future Valve projects. He famously joked about a Valve gaming console in May just two months before Valve formally announced the Steam Deck.

The secrecy of Valve is part of what makes Gaben so recognizable. Valve is notoriously quiet when it comes to its games, something that irks CSGO and Dota 2 fans. Gaben acts as a real personality attached to the gaming monolith that is Valve. Fans love to take photos with him, something Gaben accepts and encourages. 

As for Gabe Newell’s current life, he is currently living in New Zealand after being trapped there due to travel restrictions in 2020. He’s grown to love the country, even hosting a free music festival called We Love Aotearoa for New Zealand locals to enjoy. Gaben plans to live in New Zealand indefinitely, but does not intend to move Valve’s company offices out of the current location in Bellevue, Washington.

Read Also

Twitch

After a Self-Nomination, Could iShowSpeed Be a Surprise Grammy Winner? Khizar Mundia Darren “iShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. has nominated himself in several Grammy categories, and fans are speculating whether the wildcard entrant has a chance of winning against more established artists. 2026 is a major year for iShowSpeed, as the YouTuber ended 2025 with his Africa IRL tour ongoing, then toured the Caribbean, and ultimately did FIFA World Cup livestreams. He partnered with FIFA, YouTube, and Fox, and performed at the World Cup. ...

Kick

Eddie Craven Discusses Kick Viewer Rewards Khizar Mundia Kick has established itself as one of the leading livestreaming platforms, and co-founder Eddie Craven has revealed why they don’t pay viewers, whilst also discussing viewer rewards for watching streams. Adin Ross had publicly claimed that the platform may start rewarding its viewers with cash incentives for watching livestreams. This seemed to be a good way to attract viewers at the time, but Eddie Craven has revealed why this could ...

News

Can We Expect Another GTA 6 Trailer This Month? Hannan Mundia Rockstar Games is currently on everyone’s mind with GTA 6’s release date being so close. However, the studio has been somewhat lax when it comes to trailers this year, having released only one proper extended look for fans. Still, that single trailer was enough to break records and build up insane hype on social media. Since GTA 6 is slated to come out on November 19, the looming question is ...

News

Breaking: Esports and Crypto Prediction Market Forkast.gg to Shut Down Ben Boland Forkast.gg, an innovative prediction market platform focused on esports and crypto, has announced it will shut down on November 9. The website will remain accessible until then, but all predictions scheduled to resolve after that date will be cancelled. Forkast.gg has put a banner up on their website to indicate that the site will shut down in four weeks. The prediction market website will remain in use until then. However, ...

Movies & TV

Will The Batman Part II Be Delayed Again? Zachary Roberts The Batman: Part II has already been delayed three times. It was supposed to come out this month, actually. Three delays later, though, and it's on the slate for February 2028, which would be almost six years to the month after the first movie. Is it going to be delayed again? Movie fans live in fear of that very thing in these uncertain times. Any piece of art, including video ...

Kick

Nigerian Musician Davido Joins Kick: Here’s What We Know Khizar Mundia Afrobeats star David “Davido” Adedeji Adeleke has joined livestreaming platform Kick and expressed his intention to begin a new part of his career. Kick has previously revealed that the platform has stepped back from signing streamers with large deals and also stopped encouraging gambling content. Both announcements were met with widely positive reactions, as there was much criticism regarding casino streaming and many people believed huge deals led to streamers ...

Dota 2

BLAST SLAM VIII Finals predictions and preview Michael Hassall It’s been a long road, but after a strangely-formatted group stage, and a decidedly anticlimactic playoffs, we’re down to the final three teams in BLAST SLAM VIII. The finals are today (Oct. 11) and we’ll see the premier teams in Dota 2 clash. Perhaps disappointingly, we’re not seeing a new wave of top-teams at the pinnacle of Dota 2 competition, with the three final teams being the same trio we’ve ...