Gabe Newell, co-founder and head of Valve, celebrated his 64th birthday on November 3. Born on November 3, 1962, his career has had a lasting impact on PC gaming, digital distribution, and related player culture.
Before founding Valve, Newell worked at Microsoft for about 13 years, contributing to early versions of Windows and serving in the Systems, Applications, and Advanced Technology divisions. In 1996, he co-founded Valve with Mike Harrington.
Valve achieved its first major success in 1998 with Half-Life, and has since launched or continued to support titles and series such as Counter-Strike, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and DOTA 2. Steam, which launched in 2003, later grew into a major digital distribution platform for PC games.
Newell has long been known among players as "Gaben." Steam sales and the years-long wait for Half-Life sequels have spawned a wealth of internet culture and memes centered around him.
Newell continues to lead Valve today, recently engaging in technical and research projects such as neural interfaces and oceanography. This birthday retrospective is not an announcement of new products or business initiatives from Valve.