Gabe Newell Built the Store Gamers Once HATED

NARRATION: He had thirteen years at Microsoft and a fortune coming. Then he quit to make games.

A Harvard dropout from Colorado, he joined Microsoft when Windows was still fragile.

He produced the earliest versions of Windows. But what thrilled him was not the empire. It was games.

In 1996 he and Mike Harrington walked out and bet their savings on Half-Life.

The bet nearly broke them. It was scrapped and rebuilt as the money ran out.

When it shipped in 1998, critics called it the future of gaming.

But patching games over dial-up was a nightmare. So he built a fix: Steam.

In 2003 he forced Steam on players, and they revolted, saying he was killing gaming.

He absorbed the rage and kept building. The store they cursed became one they couldn't quit.

Today Steam rules gaming, and its most hated name is among its richest.

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