The co-founder of Valve, the company behind Steam, has responded to an email from a fan and explained that he is currently playing a survival shooter for the fourth time. Some fans are disappointed because he seemingly completely ignores their favorite game and the biggest game on Steam.
Who is Gabe Newell?
- Gabe Newell, often simply referred to as “Gaben” on the internet, co-founded Valve, the company behind Steam. He is something like the head of Valve, even though Valve has no real boss.
- Among gamers, Newell is both a sort of hero and a living meme. He is seen as the “good man” in gaming, who remains super down-to-earth despite his success.
- One reason for his popularity among gamers is his closeness to the people. Gabe Newell knows what people want and even occasionally responds to fan emails himself. At the end of 2024, he gifted a fan dozens of autographs for their birthday, and now he is responding to a simple question.
What Gabe Newell is currently playing: A player simply asked Newell in an email what the Steam boss is currently playing. The answer: “I’ve been playing a lot of Stalker 2 lately. I should have the fourth ending tomorrow, and then I’ll see what I play next.”
Stalker 2 is a survival shooter set in the nuclear-contaminated Chernobyl. The game was released in November 2024 in a technically rather poor state, although the developers explained why the shooter had to be released broken.
The shared post with Newell’s answer on Reddit has received over 36,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments within a few days. Users are celebrating the Valve founder for his response – but at least some fans are a bit disheartened about the choice of games.
“We need to learn from Gabe”
However, the original post on Reddit shows a small jab: Gabe Newell has skipped every major tournament of the biggest game on Steam, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and has never attended.
In contrast, he personally gives the opening speech at every event of Valve’s second-largest game and another one of the biggest on Steam, Dota 2:
I’m not sure if he still does it, but he played a lot of Dota. That’s the whole reason why he’s so involved in The International and gives his opening speech every year while he has never been to a Counter-Strike Major. He just isn’t really into that.
yet-again-temporary on Reddit
In the comments, people are mostly amused that Newell even responds. Many imagine Gabe Newell casually playing games after his huge success and when he gets bored, he checks a few fan emails and randomly responds to some.
However, one can certainly learn from Newell: While many seem to be constantly stuck in the same game, the Valve boss at least finishes his games. But then again, one does not know what lies on Newell’s Pile of Shame…
Others focus on the success of Steam. Newell is waiting for the competition to finally do something that he needs to react to while he just plays until then. Only the competition keeps shooting itself in the foot. But Valve wasn’t always this successful.
Newell’s email address is publicly available and one user notes that in his announcer pack for Dota 2, he even invites people to inform him about their rampages. Apparently, the Valve head has nothing against fan emails – and was even more open with his data: Gabe Newell revealed the login information for his account on Steam to prove how secure his platform is.
