Gabe Newell co-foundedValvein 1996. Seven years later, Valve launched Steam, which has beenkind of a big dealever since. With a net worth of around $9.5 billion, Newell doesn’t exactly need to clock in for a 9-to-5 shift five days a week. But that hasn’t stopped this industry pioneer from working to his heart’s content - albeit on his own terms, and with a ton of relaxation in-between.
In a quick clip previewing a much larger interview video to come, YouTuber Zalkar Salievasked Newell about his daily routine. (Thanks for the heads-up,IGN.) The captivating response, delivered with a carefree tone, solidifies my belief that he’s living his best life:
I get up, I work, I go scuba diving, work some more. I either go on a second scuba dive or I go to the gym and work out. Then I work. I live on a boat, so I just hang out with everybody on the boat. - Gabe Newell
“The kinds of things that I get to do every day are super awesome,” Newell says. “I’ve said it before, but when you retire, you want to stop doing your horrible job and then go do what is most fun and entertaining. And so, in that sense, I’ve been retired for a long time.”
As for what precisely keeps him busy - besides all that lovely undersea exploration, of course - it’s partly a combination of Steam-centric endeavours and AI-related brainstorming. In the same interview, he casually tosses in that one of his companies is presently building a pathogen detection device.
Before he created Valve, Newell worked at Microsoft. From assisting with the earliest iterations of Windows, which is only the biggest OS on the planet, to spearheading Steam, which is only the biggest computer gaming platform on the planet, it’s safe to say that Gabe has had a guiding hand in so much of what we all tend to take for granted in the 21st century. Few would blame him for stepping away from professional responsibilities in full, but that’s clearly not how Gaben rolls.
I’ll still say what we’re all thinking, though, which is that while I have nothing but respect for the guy, I’d really just love to be playingHalf-Life 3by now.
