Gabe Newell net worth How much money does Valve's co-founder have?

What is Gabe Newell’s net worth?

Gabe Newell has a net worth of approximately $3.9 billion at the time of writing this article, according to Forbes. With his incredible amount of wealth, Newell was formerly ranked among the top 400 wealthiest people in the world — according to the renowned Forbes 400 list for the year 2021.

Newell attended Harvard University from 1980 to 1983 before dropping out to take a job at Microsoft. Despite going to one of the most prestigious universities in the world for several years, Newell described his first three months working at Microsoft as the “most intense and valuable educational experience” he’d ever had in a 2013 interview.

Gabe Newell professional history

In the 13 years he worked at Microsoft, Newell was a producer on the first three Windows releases and a massive proponent of porting Doom to Windows. After Newell pushed for the port for his game, id Software co-founder and Doom lead programmer John Carmack suggested to Newell and another Microsoft employee, Mike Harrington, that they should leave their jobs and start a games company. To help the Microsoft pair, Carmack even gave them the source code for Quake to kick-start their first project.

Valve Corporation’s first project was Half-Life, a game that would end up being one of Valve’s most popular games ever. Despite Harrington leaving the company in 2000, Newell and Valve continued to thrive. Half-Life 2 was released in 2004 and popular games Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2 would follow within the decade to further cement Valve’s legacy in the gaming industry.

Gabe Newell, Steam, and Valve today

However, one of the greatest successes of Newell and Valve as a company is the release and maintenance of Steam in 2003, the world’s leading platform for hosting and distribution of games, established through partnership deals with other developers. It effectively turned Valve from a game development company to a game distribution provider, that essentially maintained its own games on the side.

Following with the times, Valve has put substantial resources into developing virtual reality. Its VR headset, the HTC Vive, was released in 2016 and has found its place in the growing VR space. Despite a few flounders, such as Artefact (a short-lived failed DOTA card game) and e-sports controversies, Valve and Gabe Newell at its helm, remain one of the longest-standing and stable pillars in the gaming industry.

About the author

Miljan Truc

I have been into gaming since the days of Sega Mega Drive and Amiga. Over the years in gaming, I have raided at a high level, completed rare achievements, coached other players, and written about games since 2016. Whether it’s been clicking heads; developing cities, colonies, and empires; or commanding parties of adventurers; I’ve always prided myself on being able to understand the underlying mechanics of games. Outside of gaming, I enjoy a variety of activities and hobbies, including playing with my pup Astra, working out, as well as crafting, painting, and leatherwork.