Gabe “GabeN“ Newell is the head of Valve, the company that operates the gaming platform Steam. For many, he is also somewhat of a gaming messiah, a role he doesn’t always seem to be entirely comfortable with.
What does GabeN say? A screenshot is currently circulating on Reddit from an interview with Gabe Newell in which he discusses his status as “the face of Valve.” The Steam head apparently has mixed feelings:
Gabe Newell: I mean, I like gamers, I spend a lot of time with gamers. The community we belong to has its rough edges sometimes – like “Hey, pigf***er” emails, those kinds of things.
What feels a bit stranger to me… I have no problem when people come up to me and want to talk. But there’s this thing that happens when someone comes up to me and asks, “Can I take a picture with you?” and I say, “sure” – and then I put my arm around them, and they tremble, and that bothers me a lot more.
I like our community. I like our customers. I like the gaming world. So it’s fine to interact with them, but sometimes I’m less sure about the whole cult-like aspect of it.
The screenshot, according to a user, comes from an interview with Edge Magazine from 2020. The article is not freely available online, but that hasn’t stopped the community from discussing the excerpt.
In a trailer for DOTA 2, GabeN presents himself with self-irony:
Players are dissatisfied with the AAA industry, worship GabeN
What do the fans think? In the comments on Reddit, users show understanding for GabeN. For instance, biophazer242 explains: “No wonder the guy built himself a huge super yacht, just wanting to live there and explore the ocean with a bunch of science nerds.” This references the fact that the Steam head not only lives on a ship, but also invests in ocean research.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be someone who’s fantasized about just because you run a business that isn’t consumer-hostile…”, writes MegaRammy, “It’s one of the better problems to have in life, but I still feel sorry for him.”
What’s with the cult of personality? Another comment sheds light on this. User Good_Background_243 writes: “To be serious for a moment… how broken is the rest of the industry when Gabe is basically worshipped for being relatively less shitty compared to the rest of them!“
There has been growing discontent regarding business practices in the gaming industry in recent years.
- AAA games often feel unfinished or poorly optimized at release despite hefty price tags, which results in devastating user ratings, like what happened with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor.
- Moreover, there seems to be a disconnect between the needs of players and what is prioritized during development. Many gamers therefore feel misunderstood and there are painful flops like the shooter Concord.
- Furthermore, practices like removing games post-purchase are criticized, such as with Ubisoft’s The Crew.
In contrast, Gabe Newell is seen as a very approachable boss who even personally replies to emails. Despite some weaknesses, such as the fact that you merely acquire licenses, Steam has the reputation of being a customer-friendly platform with outstanding support:
Additionally, Steam is one of the most important platforms in gaming and dominates the PC market quite significantly. For many users, it seems as if the future of PC gaming hangs on one man: Gabe Newell.
The veneration of the Valve head goes so far that players regularly worry about what will happen to their hobby when Gabe Newell eventually retires, as seen in this Reddit post with over 10,000 upvotes. A screenshot from the platform 4chan also circulates, in which a user questions whether PC gaming is really maintained by an “old, fat guy.”
Just recently, a user benefited from the leniency of Steam customer service, even though he neither purchased his defective device directly from Valve nor could he claim a warranty:
Player buys Steam Deck on eBay, turns out to be a scam, help comes from an unexpected source: “The fraud takes it, Gabe gives it”
