Gabe Newell Wife, Kids, Family, Weight Loss, Height, Biography

For a man who is one of the world’s billionaires, Gabe Newell seems pretty modest, but so do a lot of people in his funding bracket. Gabe is not a name that can ever be forgotten when talking about the evolution and growing popularity of esports in today’s world. Originally an employee of Bill Gates, a multi-year billionaire, Newell eventually started his own company.

Today, the programmer is the closest thing the online gaming world has to a deity. His company, Valve Corporation, is a major video game development and digital distribution company that has firmly etched the president’s name in the annals of electronic game history.

Gabe Newell Biography

Gabe Logan Newell was born in Seattle, Washington on November 3, 1962. Nothing is known of Newell’s education prior to grad school.

In 1980, Gabe was admitted to the prestigious Harvard University. Maybe he was feeling depressed in school or trying to channel his role model, Bill Gates, but in 1983 Newell left Harvard and got a job at American technology company Microsoft. Newell worked extensively for the company in developing their early software and operating systems. He has notably been involved as a producer of Windows 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03 operating systems.

Apparently, this time at Microsoft is one that Gabe remembers fondly. He has often said that his first term at Microsoft taught him a lot more than anything he learned in his three years at Harvard. The computer programmer sees this as one of the main reasons he has moved away from the formal education scene.

While working at Microsoft, Newell met Mike Harrington, a fellow Microsoft employee. The duo left Microsoft around the same time in 1996 to start their own company Valve LLC. Their move was inspired by another former Microsoft colleague, Michael Abrash. Abrash left the software company for id Software LLC to work on their computer game Quake, which turned out to be a success.

Newell and Harrington started the company’s project operations while working on their first game and its game engine. The company eventually released the GoldSrc game engine – a heavily modified version of id Software’s Quake engine – and the first-person shooter, Half Life in 1998. The game was published by Serria Studios for the Microsoft Windows platform. Gabe and his first game received tons of positive reviews. It was advertised as a game ahead of its time with its immersive gameplay, smooth and realistic gameplay, graphics, and narrative. The game has received more than fifty “Game of the Year” awards.

Gabe Newell capitalized on the game’s success and in November 2004, Valve released the game’s sequel Half Life 2. It was a whopping $40 million over a five-year project. Again, this received a myriad of positive reviews that praised every aspect of its development. It also won 39 “Game of the Year” awards, including the Game of the Decade award at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. As of December 2008, Half Life and Half Life 2 sold 9.3 million copies and 6 .5 million copies respectively.

During the development of Half Life, Gabe Newell took some time off to work on developing his digital distribution platform, Steam. Steam was developed for two main reasons: to provide faster and automatic updates to their online games, to strengthen anti-piracy and anti-cheat measures, and also to be able to sell games much faster than retail sales. In 2013, Steam was reported to be the largest digital distribution platform for PC games and in 2017, it reported game title purchases worth approximately $4.3 billion. By early 2018, Steam had accumulated over 150 million registered accounts.

Gabe Newell has never been a fan of game consoles. He has often spoken publicly about his aversion to the idea of ​​adapting his games for game consoles (especially the 2007 PlayStation 3), which he calls a disaster and a waste of everyone’s time. However, in 2001, before his public outbursts, he had adapted the hugely successful Half Life for other operating systems and, interestingly, for the PlayStation 2 console. In 2010, he revealed at the Electronic Entertainment Show that one of the games of his company Portal 2would be adapted for PlayStation 3 while praising the open nature of the console’s development. He took aim at Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system for the same reason, calling it a threat to the open nature of PC gaming.

In 2010, Gabe was recognized by Forbes in particular for his extensive work with Steam and the significant partnerships he had with various major developers. He also received a BAFTA Fellowship award in 2013 for his contributions to the development of the video game industry. The co-founder of Valve Corporation was already a juggernaut in the early 2010s. However, in October 2017, he took a big step to date. he was listed by Forbes on the list of the 100 richest people in the United States. He ranked 97th on the list with a whopping net worth of $5.5 billion.

Newell’s Valve Corporation has also produced several other successful games played and streamed by millions of people around the world. Some other games from Valve include Dota, Dota 2, Portal 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress.

Gabe Newell’s family: wife and children

Gabe Newell managed to save his marriage from any scandalous reports or events. He married Lisa Mennet Newell in 1996 and the couple have been together ever since.

The union of Gabe and Lisa had two children. However, Gabe, his wife and children have chosen to keep their identities and everything about their family secret.

Gabe Newell’s Net Worth: His Height and Weight Loss Struggles

Gabe Newell stands at a height of 1.7m (5ft 5in), a respectable height for anyone.

However, the biggest problem with Newell is his weight. Over the years there have been several discussions on fan pages and forums about Gabe’s weight. Many of his devoted fans have expressed their fears as to how this could lead to health risks for their idol. Gabe has always been on the heavy side since his time at Microsoft and hasn’t lost any weight since then.

Its weight is not public information but it has inspired some really insensitive memes and video parodies. According to a high school yearbook photo of the Valve founder that surfaced some time ago, he was skinny.

Quick Facts about Gabe Newell

1. Gabe is not a hugger

As Gabe says, people always want to give him a hug whenever they meet him, alone or with his family. He says it makes him uncomfortable as he is not a hugging person. However, with the help of his children, he learns to accept whatever comes with a public image.

2. He suffered from Fuch’s dystrophy

It is an eye defect that affects the cornea. For someone in his industry, it was a career-threatening illness. Gabe had to undergo two corneal transplants in 2006 and 2007. Both operations were successful.

3. Gabe Newell’s Favorite Valve Game Isn’t ‘Half-Life’

For all the success Half-Life has brought to the company, Gabe doesn’t list the game as his favorite game from Valve. The programmer names Portal 2 as his favorite single-player game, and Dota 2 as his favorite multiplayer game, both under the Valve label.