Gabe Newell

Gabe Logan Newell (November 3, 1962) is the co-founder and current managing director of the independent game development company Valve Software.

Biography
After dropping out of Harvard University (1980 - 1983 ), Newell spent thirteen years working for Microsoft Corporation, ultimately becoming a "Microsoft Millionaire." Newell has described himself as "producer on the first three releases of Windows". Inspired by Michael Abrash, who left Microsoft to work on the computer game Quake at id Software, Newell and another Microsoft employee, Mike Harrington, left Microsoft to found Valve in 1996. He and Harrington used their money to fund Valve through the development of Half-Life.

During production on Half-Life 2, he spent several months focusing on the Steam project.

In 2007 Gabe openly expressed his displeasure over developing his software for gaming consoles, (predominately) the PlayStation 3. In regards to the system, Newell was once quoted as claiming that developing processes for the console in general was "a waste of everybody's time" and "a disaster on many levels ... I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a do over. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it'."

He is married to Lisa Newell and has two sons.

On Valve's official website, Gabe Newell's function is stated as following: "Gabe held a number of positions in the Systems, Applications, and Advanced Technology divisions during his 13 years at Microsoft. His responsibilities included running program management for the first two releases of Windows, starting the company's multimedia division, and, most recently, leading the companys efforts on the Information Highway PC. His most significant contribution to Half-Life was his statement 'Cmon, people, you can't show the player a really big bomb and not let them blow it up.'"