Gabe Newell

Newell was married to Lisa Mennet Newell, whom he married on the day he founded Valve with Mike Harrington in 1996. Their marriage ended in divorce around 2016, and they have two sons, including Gray Newell, who became a professional race car driver.

The birth of Gray in the late 1990s inspired the final boss of Half-Life. Newell and Lisa Mennet considered childbirth the most frightening experience they could imagine, which influenced the game's design.

Newell attended Harvard University in the early 1980s but left before graduating to join Microsoft. During 13 years at the company, he worked as a programmer and technical executive, helped produce the first three releases of Windows, and led development of a Windows 95 port of id Software's Doom.

In 1996, Newell and Microsoft colleague Mike Harrington left the company to establish Valve. They funded development of Half-Life, which Valve released in 1998 and which became a critical and commercial success. Harrington later sold his stake in Valve to Newell and left the company in 2000.

While Half-Life 2 was being developed, Newell spent months working on Steam, Valve's digital distribution service. Steam launched in 2003 and was required to play Half-Life 2, released in 2004. By 2011, it controlled between 50% and 70% of the downloaded PC game market and generated most of Valve's revenue.

Newell argued that piracy was best addressed by providing a better service rather than relying primarily on anti-piracy technology. He also supported open platforms, describing Linux and open-source development as the future of gaming, while criticizing the certification processes associated with proprietary systems.

His public comments included criticism of the PlayStation 3's development process, Xbox Live, and Windows 8. He later apologized for his PlayStation 3 remarks and announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Portal 2 would be the best console version.

Newell was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the BAFTA Fellowship that year for his contributions to the video game industry. He is also widely known by the nickname Gaben, derived from his Valve work email address, and recorded a self-referential voice pack for Dota 2 in 2018.

Beyond Valve, Newell co-founded the educational research organization Foundry10 and, with Philip Sabes, co-founded the neuroscience company Starfish Neuroscience. He also owns the marine research organization Inkfish. In 2018, he donated to OpenAI and acted as an informal adviser.

In 2020, Newell and Valve employee Yahn Bernier created the Heart of Racing team to raise funds for children's charities in Seattle and New Zealand. That year, Newell also worked with Weta Workshop and Rocket Lab on sending the Half-Life character Gnome Chompski into space, with donations directed to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland.