Support NeoGAF

[IbizaPocholo]

Gabe Newell's daily routine is 'get up, work, go scuba diving,' says he's been 'retired for a long time' but works 7 days a week: 'The things I get to do every day are super-awesome'

"I'm working from my bedroom as you can tell."

www.pcgamer.com

The ocean-loving billionaire is asked, "What is the daily routine for Mr Gabe?" I'd hesitate to call Newell "Gaben" to his face so Mr Gabe is quite the framing.

"My daily routine," begins Newell, "I get up, I work, I go scuba-diving, work some more, [then] either go on a second scuba dive or I go to the gym and work out. I live on a boat so I just hang out with everybody on the boat. Then I work.

"I work seven days a week: I'm working from my bedroom as you can tell. I like working, it's fun, to me it doesn't feel like work. The kinds of things that I get to do every day are super-awesome."
"I've said it before but, when you retire, you want to like stop doing your horrible job and go do what is sort of most fun and entertaining," says Newell. "In that sense I've been retired for a long time."

 

[Dacvak]

He's living the life and working hard to stay healthy. It makes me happy knowing he's enjoying his retirement. Gabe's a legend.

 

[kikkis]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

 

[Instant_Classic]

Absolute legend

 

[March Climber]

Waiting for the day where Gaben randomly shows back up in public, looking buff like J.K. Simmons

 

[Crayon]

This old man kicks ass lol. Lives on a boat so he can scuba dive in his backyard.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Great for him. I mean that. Respect to a person that worked hard and profited heavily from it.

 

[Topher]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Valve's profit margin is 40% per December 2024 article but no one knows for sure. Virtue of not being publicly owned, which Gabe could easily do if greed was really driving him. Either way, I don't get how you determine greed by profit margin alone especially when you are comparing one of the richest corporations in the world to one a fraction its size.

 

[DaciaJC]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards

I would assume the one that forced its users to buy its proprietary charging cables out of pure greed, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Doesn't need to meddle in politics or seek power, just cruises around and plays Endless Ocean IRL … other billionaires should take note

 

[Thanati]

I would assume the one that forced its users to buy its proprietary charging cables out of pure greed, but maybe that's just me.

No. You're correct.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Very cool, guy has finished his race and enjoying diving. He does have a resemblance to auld Dave.

 

[SamuraiEdge]

Gabe is a legend and earned doing whatever. He is one of the core pillars why PC gaming is amazing thanks to having an excellent platform.

Enjoy your scuba diving, king.

 

[Roni]

Give us an underwater FPS; c'mon, you can do it!

 

[Mr Hyde]

Gabe is living the dream. Good for him. He's earned it. Easily one of the most important figure in video game history. Not many people in this industry have his pro consumer mindset and for that we're eternally grateful

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

Doesn't need to meddle in politics or seek power, just cruises around and plays Endless Ocean IRL … other billionaires should take note

He's made several donations to Democrats but I like his mostly libertarian way of thinking.

 

[Myths]

W Scuba Diving

 

[Denton]

The headline is inaccurate, Gabe does not say he has been retired for a long time. He compares his job to being retired because he works on what he enjoys, which is what retired people supposedly do when they retire (do what they enjoy).

And it is very cool that he is working now on other things besides gaming (marine exploration, brain computer interfaces).

Regarding Valve, I wonder who will get the controlling share after Gabe. His son Gray, or someone high up at Valve whom Gabe trusts? I am sure Gabe knows that selling it or going public would not be good.

 

[Solrac]

 

[CuteFaceJay]

nice

 

[Hudo]

Half-Life 3 to have an underwater section confirmed.

 

[Fabieter]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Dont make video games and just run a strorefront isnt greed its Principle of minimization. That means not alot of reinvestment and just let the dollar roll.

 

[Edgelord79]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

 

[cormack12]

Seems cool, but I think its time he disclosed his pronouns

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

He's living his Half life

 

[omegasc]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Just like taxes, it only depends on what you get back from that.

 

[Buggy Loop]

60% profit margin because it's one of the most efficient team in tech world with relatively "skeleton" crew raking in huge sums of money. Not because they are exaggerating prices of their hardware like Apple

Good on Gabe. What a life. The guy risked everything with Half Life 2 and Steam, was very risky, he could have lost everything.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Valve manages this by having headcount in the three digits. There are game studios that are many times larger than Valve. By keeping only 300+ people employed, more of the profits go to the workers.

Apple has 154,000 employees in 2024. Bloat is a thing.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Agree with this.

If I go PC gaming, will prioritise GOG and EGS.

Valve will have to make Half Life 3 and more games. Then they will be in the race.

Gaben alone for some reason, just by existing, makes Valve billions.

 

[Xbox 360 slim]

Agree with this.

If I go PC gaming, will prioritise GOG and EGS.

Valve will have to make Half Life 3 and more games. Then they will be in the race.

Gaben alone for some reason, just by existing, makes Valve billions.

Because steam isn't just a store, it's an entire platform, it has community forums, a marketplace, profile customization, friends lists, voice calls, text messaging, groups, etc etc.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

I'm going with this one

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Because steam isn't just a store, it's an entire platform, it has community forums, a marketplace, profile customization, friends lists, voice calls, text messaging, groups, etc etc.

Not saying wont use them.

But I don't see the point in monopoly in PC marketplace. Especially when they are not making games.

 

[Sorcerer]

Can't wait to pick up Aerosol Pathogen in a Steam sale!!! Who needs Half Life 3???

 

[Sinozen]

Gabe is my favorite person in gaming so I'm glad to hear this. He must never perish.

 

[Rush2112]

Wake up

Smoke weed

Play with cat

Play video games

My routine if i didn't have to go to work.

 

[DragonNCM]

My daily routine," begins Newell, "I get up, I work, I go scuba-diving, work some more, [then] either go on a second scuba dive or I go to the gym and work out.

 

[Topher]

My daily routine," begins Newell, "I get up, I work, I go scuba-diving, work some more, [then] either go on a second scuba dive or I go to the gym and work out.

Probably should check out more recent photos....

 

[Fabieter]

Valve manages this by having headcount in the three digits. There are game studios that are many times larger than Valve. By keeping only 300+ people employed, more of the profits go to the workers.

Apple has 154,000 employees in 2024. Bloat is a thing.

Well its easy when you barely make any new games to keep headcount low tbh.

They even have a do whatever you want policy for their workforce hence the meme "its valve time" no other company has that excuse.

 

[poppabk]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Other than the index and steam deck Valve arent really marking anything up they sell to the consumer though. They charge publishers the standard 30% it just costs them a lot less to do so because all they have to do is maintain a storefront. They are 'selling' a loyal customer base, so of course they are constantly making pro-consumer moves.

 

[Denton]

Well its easy when you barely make any new games to keep headcount low tbh.

Valve shipped 5 games in the last 5 years. They may not be the games you personally want, but they are games and successful ones.

But I don't see the point in monopoly in PC marketplace. Especially when they are not making games.

Valve have dominant position, not monopoly. And they gained that position by offering better service than literally everybody else. Valve innovate and bring more features in a year than other companies (like Epic) do in half a decade.

 

[Topher]

Valve shipped 5 games in the last 5 years. They may not be the games you personally want, but they are games and successful ones.


Valve have dominant position, not monopoly. And they gained that position by offering better service than literally everybody else. Valve innovate and bring more features in a year than other companies (like Epic) do in half a decade.

And they turn around and invest in Steam Deck, Proton and the Linux OS in general. Not exactly high return on any of that. Fact of the matter is Valve has made major strides for the Linux community even though Linux is still less than 3% of its customer base. Valve does a lot more than just run a store.

 

[Mister Wolf]

And they turn around and invest in Steam Deck, Proton and the Linux OS in general. Not exactly high return on any of that. Fact of the matter is Valve has made major strides for the Linux community even though Linux is still less than 3% of its customer base. Valve does a lot more than just run a store.

Gotta say I'm liking this Steam OS. They're ready to start making self contained home units using it.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Sir, you are richer than God, fit a daily orgy with the hottest bitches money can possibly buy in there!?

 

[TintoConCasera]

Gaben is based, bless him.

Funny to see people calling him greedy or referring to it's business as a monopoly when it's the most consumer friendly gaming-related business out there.

Does Apple let his users share their entire collections of digital products between them? Do other monopolies let their users buy their products in third-party stores? Don't know of any, yet you'll always have people trying to shit on it for the sake of platform warrying, instead of looking at their platform of choice and wondering why they aren't able to do the same.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

If more businesses were run like Valve, world would be a better place.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Probably should check out more recent photos....

Needs to be more recent!

 

[Bradamante3D]

Valves profit margin is around 60% and apples is 30%. Guess which is considered greedy bastards and which consumer loving saints.

Nah you can't really compare the two companies. One is a greedy conglomerate with shady business practices in China, and addicted die hard fans who will buy anything once they see the logo ... and the other one is Apple.

 

[analog_future]

 

[The Pleasure]

Very cool, guy has finished his race and enjoying diving. He does have a resemblance to auld Dave.

Gabe the Diver now with Ichiban dlc!