Today, August 24, 2026, marks the 30th anniversary of the renowned game company Valve. On August 24, 1996, two former Microsoft employees officially founded their own software company. They could never have imagined that thirty years later, their company's gaming platform and titles would become favorites among players worldwide.
In 1998, the FPS Half-Life burst onto the scene, a game that revolutionized the entire first-person shooter genre. Valve then continued with other projects, including recruiting the creators of Counter-Strike and turning this mod into an FPS phenomenon that swept the world.
Following this, the masterpiece Half-Life 2 was released, pushing the FPS genre even further with its integration of a powerful physics system. More importantly, Half-Life 2 laid the foundation for Steam to become the dominant PC game store. Although Steam had existed since 2003, it was Half-Life 2's exceptional quality and immense popularity that propelled Steam into the mainstream. However, at the time, the mandatory requirement to log in to Steam to play Half-Life 2 drew criticism from many players, who viewed the game as a "Trojan horse" designed to promote Valve's own platform.
In the following years, Steam gradually expanded, and Valve began acting as a publisher, leveraging its platform to release games from other developers while also creating titles that would leave a significant mark on history, such as Portal, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead.
Afterward, Valve began exploring other directions, such as porting Everythinggj to Linux and making its first attempt to bring Steam into the living room in 2015 with Steam Machine and Steam Link. Another project they were involved in was SteamVR in collaboration with HTC Vive, which later led to the release of Half-Life: Alyx, a VR title that practically defined the future of gaming and became another milestone in the industry. Today, Valve continues to move forward with the handheld Steam Deck, the home console Steam Machine, and the upcoming next-generation VR device, Steam Frame.
It's hard to imagine what the current gaming landscape would look like without Valve, whether better or worse. And perhaps Half-Life 3 is not far off.