The co-founder and CEO of the video game studio known as Valve Software. Gabe serves as the unofficial face of Valve; the studio is widely
associated with him and he is widely associated with the studio.
Valve are infamous for their long development cycles, with games that can be in development for as long as 9 years. Combined with frequent delays, these long development times have created the Valve time phenomenon.
Many in-jokes about these delays and long development times were formed. These jokes often make fun of the studio and Gabe himself, calling him lazy and mocking his weight. He is also pictured as a rather greedy man who wants to "keep
Half Life 2 Episode 3 to himself" and commonly makes obscure excuses in order to delay it farther. One of the largest spin
offs of this small meme is the nickname "Gaben".
Most users of these jokes are found in large Valve communities, such as the
Team Fortress 2 community and the Half Life community.
Ex. 1:
A: "Why Valve aren't releasing
Episode 3 yet?"
B: "Because Gabe Newell ate the
Episode 3 game files."
Ex. 2:
A: "What happened to the new
Left 4 Dead update? I should have been out almost 3 days ago!"
B: "Gabe delayed it again."
