Minh Le, a former Valve employee who worked on the development of the original “Counter-Strike,” revealed a bizarre anecdote about Valve President Gabe Newell during a conversation with indie game influencer Indie Game Joe.
What was the president’s eccentric behavior that created a sense of stagnation at Valve for five months…!?
When asked point-blank about Gabe’s personality, Le began by saying, “He’s really eccentric,” and shared several anecdotes.He described Gabe as someone who becomes completely absorbed in anything stemming from a small curiosity—such as a period when he was obsessed with collecting medieval swords and axes, eventually becoming so engrossed in making his own knives that he even took lessons.
As an even more telling example of this side of Gabe, Mr. Le revealed that there was a period when Gabe became obsessed with the Mongolian singing technique known as “khoomei.”As soon as he became interested in it after watching a documentary and started practicing, he began walking up and down the office hallways singing—so loudly, in fact, that employees had to keep their office doors completely shut. Gabe’s “khoomei” craze reportedly lasted five months, during which time the office took on a somewhat closed-off atmosphere.
Foresight Shining Through the Eccentricity
While Le spoke of Gabe’s “eccentric behavior” with a touch of humor, he also explained that it was precisely a manifestation of Gabe’s attitude toward learning and exploration, and shared an anecdote about the birth of Steam.He said that before Steam, Valve had a strained relationship with publishers, and driven solely by the thought, “I never want to deal with publishers again,” Gabe completed Steam—the digital marketplace that boasts an overwhelming market share to this day.
Given the slow internet connections of the time, the Steam project was met with skepticism by employees, including Mr. Le. I take my hat off to Gabe’s foresight—his solid sense of direction shone through his eccentric behavior.
