Valve boss Gabe Newell spends his days scuba diving and hanging out on a boat as well as working, but is effectively retired at this point.
Newell was interviewed by YouTube channel Zalkar Saliev, which is dedicated to “powerful interviews and lifestyle stories with successful men across the US”, but with just a handful of videos so far – certainly an odd choice for Newell. Valve confirmed to PC Gamer the interview is real.
While the full interview is yet to be published, a couple of shorts have been released, including one where Newell discusses his daily routine.
“What is the daily routine for Mr Gabe?” he’s asked.
Newell replied: “My daily routine: I get up, I work, I go scuba-diving, then 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.”
He continued: “I work seven days a week: I’m working from my bedroom as you can tell.” Indeed, the interview alternates between a view of Saliev’s computer and the direct video call feed. Newell appears to be sat at the end of a bed.
Newell added: “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.”
He then admitted he’s effectively retired at this point. “I’ve said it before but, when you retire, you want to stop doing your horrible job and go do what is most fun and entertaining,” he said. “In that sense I’ve been retired for a long time.”
So what exactly is he up to? He’s working on “AI stuff” and “Steam stuff”, but with one company he’s working on an aerosol pathogen detection device. He added: “Brain-computer interfaces are incredibly cool and all of the associated neuroscience is incredibly cool.”
Newell concluded: “I just work all the time, but it’s not like ‘oh my god I’m up late at night slaving away on stuff.’ It’s more like ‘I can’t go to sleep because I’m having fun’, you know?” Lucky for some!
In another video, Newell discusses his thoughts on using AI as a tool. He predicted: “I think we’ll be in this funny situation where people who don’t know how to programme could use AI to scaffold their programming capabilities [and] will become more effective developers of value than people who have been programming for a decade.”
It’s unknown when the full interview will be published, but expect more to come.
Over at Steam, meanwhile, Valve has introduced new guidelines around adult-only game content.