Valve Boss Gabe Newell Says He's Been Retired in a Sense for a 'Long Time,' but in Reality Works 7 Days a Week From His Bedroom on His Boat Because He's Having So Much Fun

Valve co-founder and brag Gabe Newell has offered a uncommon penetration into his life, talking astir his days living, working, and enjoying beingness connected a "boat."

In speech with a YouTuber called Zalkar Saliev, who had conscionable 19 subscribers astatine the clip the interrogation clips went unrecorded (they've since acquired respective 100 more), the 62-year-old Newell said helium worked 7 days a week from his chamber connected his superyacht, due to the fact that it's "fun" and helium inactive "likes working."

Gabe Newell works 7 days a week adjacent those he's benignant of retired. Photo by Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Asked to picture his regular daily successful an interrogation Valve has confirmed to PC Gamer is real, Newell said: "I get up, I work, I spell scuba diving, enactment immoderate more. I either spell connected a 2nd scuba dive oregon I spell to the gym and enactment out. Then I work. I unrecorded connected a boat, truthful I conscionable bent retired with everybody connected the boat."

"I enactment 7 days a week," helium added. "I'm moving from my bedroom, arsenic you tin tell. I similar working. It's fun. To me, it doesn't consciousness similar work. The kinds of things that I get to bash each time are ace awesome. I've said it before, but erstwhile you retire, you privation to halt doing your horrible occupation and past spell bash what is astir amusive and entertaining. And truthful successful that sense, I've been retired for a agelong time."

Expanding connected the types of enactment that support him engaged these days, Newell said: "Getting to enactment with Drew and Jeremy connected AI worldly oregon Chris connected Steam stuff... In 1 of the companies, we're moving connected an aerosol pathogen detection instrumentality truthful you tin spot each the pathogens that are successful the air. Brain machine interfaces are incredibly cool, and each of the associated neuroscience is incredibly cool. So, I conscionable enactment each the time.

"But it's not like, 'Oh my God, I'm up precocious astatine nighttime slaving distant connected stuff.' It's much similar I can't spell to slumber due to the fact that I'm having fun, you know?"

Valve, the workplace down seminal hits similar Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike, is besides the institution down the industry-leading Steam online crippled platform, positive the acclaimed Steam Deck handheld system. As of 2021, it employed 336 radical crossed its hardware, Steam, and improvement divisions.

Newell antecedently worked astatine Microsoft, wherever helium helped make the archetypal versions of the Windows operating system, but near successful 1996 to recovered Valve with Mike Harrington and make the studio's archetypal game, Half-Life.

Photo by Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.