Gabe Newell turns 62

3 November Gabe Newell, the creator of Steam and the company Valve, turned 62. About 3 fans joined in the congratulations, noting Newell's contribution to the development PC gaming. Many consider it to be the true savior of the PC platform, as Steam moved the market from physical copies to digital ones, and regional pricing made games accessible to a wider audience.

Valve, under Newell's leadership, also created such iconic franchises as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Dota 2, which have become firmly entrenched in gaming culture. While major publishers initially considered the PC a dud platform due to piracy, Steam and its success attracted the attention of not only Western developers, but also Japanese publishers such as Capcom, Konami, Square Enix and Sega, who are now actively releasing their games on PC.