Education
Harvard University (1980 - 1983) (dropped out)
Harvard University (1980 - 1983) (dropped out)
In 1996, after a 13-year stint at Microsoft, Newell and fellow employee Mike Harrington left the company and used their profits to found a video-game studio, Valve Software. While Newell worked at Microsoft, he was running program management on the Windows OS, specifically, Newell held several positions in the Systems, Applications and Advanced Technology divisions that worked on the first two releases of Windows and was a driving force in the introduction of Windows NT and server edition. After a meeting with John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, they decided to license the Quake engine to create their first video game, Half-Life. Valve later acquired TF Software PTY Ltd, the makers of the Team Fortress mod for Quake, in May 1998 with the intent to create a standalone Team Fortress game.
Since the success of Half-Life, Newell and the Valve team have worked on numerous other video game series, such as Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead and Portal. Valve games are built on its Source engine, which owes much of its success to mods and sequels.
" I'm a handsome man with a charming personality " , say Gabe Newell.
Married to Lisa Newell (1996 - present), and has two sons.