Gabe Newell: On Productivity, Economics, Political Institutions, and the Future of Corporations

[@Itskilo]

I love how perfectly still he stays for the first 30 seconds while being introduced

[@LexTheDweeb]

i think he do be was a still image doe

[@Itskilo]

@@LexTheDweeb Thanks Sherlock

[@bomaniigloo]

I thought it was a still. Lol

[@WiseOwl_1408]

ALPHA MALE

[@raumfahreturschutze]

@@LexTheDweeb Bro the cops should hire you with those detective skills.

[@Coldsteak]

I have never seen a single game studio who has gone public that DIDN'T go downhill in quality and customer approval after.

[@PaballoKobe-xh9ve]

Because the customer has chamged from consumer to shareholder

[@Pacemaker_fgc]

@@PaballoKobe-xh9veThe customer did that? How so?

[@PaballoKobe-xh9ve]

@@Pacemaker_fgc i mean to say they cater to sharehokder instead of customers

[@marshall3278]

Like the absolutely hideous industry trend of releasing unfinished games in time for quarter earnings

[@gazoinked3546]

@@marshall3278 Money talks.

[@EdeYOlorDSZs]

By his word choices and way of framing you can see this man is deeply rooted in computer science as well as business

[@Tyretes]

this will be the longest ever i've heard gaben talking. it hasn't even been 10 minutes yet.

[@fiddleriddlediddlediddle]

The only CEO to realize things work better when you give freedom to the people.

[@AKK5I]

Valve sells drm as a service so I'm not sure "freedom" is the right word. They have definitely given more choice to the consumer and since they are a privately owned company their interests also align with the consumer and not the shareholders.

[@AgrimarYT]

@@AKK5I Valve sells a digital distribution service on top of a platform beneath it, it is left up to the publishers to decide whether DRM is something they want (more often they do rather than not for AAA titles), but is allowed as long as it's stated as such on the store page for an app; it's a freedom they provide for developers alongside consumers, both being customers of the Steam platform in which they strive to provide such freedom for; I can name quite a few DRM-free titles.

[@theforgehermit9791]

Why do I feel like Old School Bungie and Old School Valve would make a great game together?

[@AgrimarYT]

@@AKK5I KZbin keeps deleting my comment, so I'm going to try splitting it up.

[@AgrimarYT]

@@AKK5I Valve sells a digital distribution service on top of a platform beneath it, it is left up to the publishers to decide whether DRM is something they want (more often they do rather than not for AAA titles), but is allowed as long as it's stated as such on the store page for an app.

[@nicholassilva-horvat617]

He drinks the water at 26:35

[@masterTigress96]

Dude no way! After all these years bro fuck! I have been looking for that clip for SOOOOO long :$ Anywayz, thx nicolas!

[@wilfordbrimleypranks]

Gaben is human, believe it or not

[@KingLich451]

​@@wilfordbrimleypranksWow, is that right?

[@noelsoong777]

As the prophecy foretold

[@AgressivePigeon]

thanks

[@Lotsner]

I watched this while Steam was down.

[@sudarshansingh5806]

i saw this comment literally EXACTLY when i was about to post the EXACT same comment :3

[@brettake2907]

ROLFMAO!

[@mtl-ss1538]

@@sudarshansingh5806 Found he is in New Zealand, - racing GT3 Aston Martin race car, & helping ETNZ to win the Americas Cup...with his mom & dad.??

[@NoorS__]

@@mtl-ss1538LOL

[@marcinoczko358]

10 years later, I watch this video and steam goes down again

[@Chreeeis]

Been a fan of Gabe for many years, but never got to sit and listen to him talk for an hour. I mean i expected him to be well put together but god damn is he monstrously intelligent. Id feel intimidated talking to him lmao Im so glad we have this man looking out for us

[@BuzzKirill3D]

Even Valve employees say they're intimidated by him, from some of their interviews

[@Chris-ki2dx]

Listening to Gabe is strangely relaxing and soothing to me

[@TheSmokinPotato]

Chill gabe beats to relax/study to

[@theobell2002]

Gaben ASMR

[@a_ndy2837]

Especially when he says the retarded and autism thing lol

[@MaZe741]

wow he really called the prediction markets that we have today almost 11 years ago at the segment before 49:00

[@Prisoner]

as a tf2 player, this is the first time I listen to a talk by Gabe, and it warms my heart to realise he obviously has such a deep understanding about tf2’s functioning.

[@ULTRAOutdoorsman]

Other than the part where he started his talk by claiming credit for creating "Team Fortress," a mod that came out the exact day Valve was founded.

[@Prisoner]

@@ULTRAOutdoorsman Surely he Meant TF2

[@Justagamerhere1]

"and my favorite class is the Spy"

[@fakeperson9929]

As a tf2 player I have aids

[@w花b]

​@@ULTRAOutdoorsman When you say "I play team fortress" obviously it means tf2. Like saying you play GTA, it's most likely 5

[@Falsechicken]

Great points that I have intuited over the years. Publicly traded companies are trash and always tend towards maximum profit and the consumer experience be damned due to the fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. They are literally forced by law to be as greedy as possible and cannot make principled decisions without being liable to be sued by the shareholders which always leads to the terrible experience of backwards rules and being nickle and dimed.

[@papaspooks8531]

large component of this is the real inflation rate of USD. 2-3% is commonly quoted for the CPI, but it's closer to 7-8% once you broaden the scope of measure outside of cheap manufacturable goods. cant park your company's wealth in currency, debt becomes far more appealing as a result. it's a terrible thing but it's fundamental to how money works. bitcoin helps fix this

[@christpierre]

@@papaspooks8531 Because the federal reserve is privately owned by the roths child and not the government although people think it's a government institution

[@papaspooks8531]

@@christpierre very true. another major factor in this element of our economic order is the sponsor of keynesian economics in academia thru various government + corporate institutions via grants, scholarships, and other financial support. keynes argued for moderate, but constant, inflation and going against this idea in academia is effectively career suicide. constant inflation benefits the entire financial sector (the rothschilds and their ilk) because it makes currency an untenable place to park your wealth, making all kinds of asset managers, financial advisors, and other fiduciaries a profitable service to hire. if not for inflation, nobody would have any incentive to pay their fees, and the entire financial sector would collapse overnight. a useless multibillion dollar industry ran by some of the most morally bankrupt people on the planet. vampiric. it's a sick world we live in

[@cj22268]

They aren't forced by law to be greedy. They do that by themselves.

[@npaprika1]

Yet valve themselves have become profit obsessed and no longer make video games or tf2 updates

[@TheBasslineFather]

29:30 I just burst out laughing because I wasn't expecting Gabe Newell to say that.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

“MY GOD MAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” “You tryin’ to get me into trouble Gordon?” “Get away from there Freeman! I’m expecting an important message.” “Stop that!” “Cut it out!”

[@man2meandyou]

this was filmed in 2013 to be fair lol, wasn't a big deal back then

[@lukkkasz323]

It was 10 years ago, he wouldn't be able to say that now.

[@barryromano0451]

Based Gaben

[@3lH4ck3rC0mf0r7]

As an autistic myself... I lol'd. I can't deny it, that description just fits the way people behave in singleplayer games too well.

[@IsolationStreams]

29:27 literally me

[@w花b]

"You look lonely, I can fix that"

[@batherrofmoistureaposto1785]

other gaming companies should take notes from this guy . He is the king of running an industry and realized that it’s not money first. And that is when the big bucks come in with no issues.

[@sparta117corza]

This video is 11 years old I didnt even realise I thought he was talking about present day. Hes an amazing man.

[@resolute2834]

There needs to be a Gaben podcast.

[@sargaa8471]

gabe rogan

[@w花b]

​@@sargaa8471 ew

[@dada78641]

This is over 10 years old at this point and I'm still mad at whoever did the audio setup for this recording because of how much rumble and boom you can hear each time he touches the table.

[@SolDizZo]

The discussion around 39 minutes encapsulates everything I love about Valve's philosophy and everything I hate about Epic Games'. They destroyed Rocket League from the ground up.

[@arturvegis2571]

@@djchristian82 In short, epic wants money, valve wants to provide a good service, which just makes money byproduct.

[@xzeraCS]

​@@arturvegis2571yup and makes more money in the long run higher quality always brings more people

[@rohanofgondor]

Indeed and they ruined another game that I loved, Fall Guys. How unlucky I had to be that both of the games that interested me and I found them to be enjoyable had to be bought out by one of the worst companies out there.

[@EEEEEE1337]

I could listen to this man for hours, really interesting topics and GabeN's nice wording

[@yep8058]

Gabe went from Basement Nerd to Gaming Pope in 20 years

[@HappyLittleBoozer]

Genuinely inspirational. Gaben will forever be the God of gaming precisely because of his brilliant mindset.

[@Coldsteak]

his le epic sigma grindset

[@michaleandmore5111]

This is the longest I've heard Gabe N, daddy talk

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

This is one of the best interviews I've seen with Gabe.

[@Fumbuzi]

And it's not an interview.

[@w花b]

​@@Fumbuzi They're asking him questions, it's good enough

[@roygaya]

Great lecture! He started his presentation in Hard difficulty, then realised that his audience are still in 'Easy + Auto-aim' phase 😅

[@BusinessWolf1]

The last 5th of this interview I will need to rewatch countless times to understand fully, but god damn it it will have been worth it.

[@BigEyeGuy]

36:30 he shoves 2 fingers in his mouth, never 3 fingers.

[@kumaskd]

Half-life 3 confirmed

[@reemazaljahdali3141]

I like listening to Gabe

[@soju69jinro]

if i saw Lord GabeN in real life, i'd be bowing 24/7 for not selling out Valve to Microsoft...

[@LINUXLINUXLINUXLINUXLINUXLINUX]

Thank you Gabe for what you have done for Desktop Linux 🙏

[@beefyseamus]

Gabe's a market monetarist. My face just melted when he talked about NGDP level targeting.

[@kristiandy2386]

what now?

[@PavltheRobot]

@@kristiandy2386 Yeah, I didn't understand this comment as well

[@alainportant6412]

@@PavltheRobot he is probably dead, nobody will ever know

[@aidonger42069]

@@alainportant6412 I want to know

[@aidonger42069]

@@PavltheRobot Market monetarism is a school of macroeconomic thought that advocates that central banks target the level of nominal income instead of inflation, unemployment, or other measures of economic activity, including in times of shocks such as the bursting of the real estate bubble in 2006, and in the financial crisis that followed.[1] In contrast to traditional monetarists, market monetarists do not believe monetary aggregates or commodity prices such as gold are the optimal guide to intervention. Market monetarists also reject the New Keynesian focus on interest rates as the primary instrument of monetary policy.[1] Market monetarists prefer a nominal income target due to their twin beliefs that rational expectations are crucial to policy, and that markets react instantly to changes in their expectations about future policy, without the "long and variable lags" postulated by Milton Friedman

[@tropicaljupiter]

4000 lines of code a day? Is this man a never nester? Does he put all arguments on a new line? I really want to see this code. I do that in a WEEK and I'm always the first or second top contributor on my team. 4000 lines/day is insanely impressive to me.

[@xaIlGG]

I initially heard 4000 lines of coke a day. After reading your comment, I am now relieved to know that is not what he said.

[@inertia_dagger]

probably when you're not bogged down by the processes, it's possible to output that amount of code

[@HuehuehueEsBest]

Depends entirely on the project you're working on, the team you're working with, and so on.

[@0ldar]

He probably is only a journeyman vim-user with numbers like those.

[@Mattdotnfo]

Definitely depends on language but I feel like 4 kloc in the 90s was much different than now days.

[@Ayyydrianne]

This is the man that keeps PC gaming on top

[@7oki479]

steam is a amazing product. valve is the best gaming company of all time

[@xzeraCS]

in valve we trust

[@AUBCodeII]

0:00 Gabe enabled statue mode!

[@Fonky_Fesh]

The decision to not pigeonhole employees by assigning explicit roles in Valves company structure was probably the best decision they ever made when it comes to the creative longevity of their products.

[@HomicidalVocals]

This is bloody interesting. Thanks for uploading this.

[@alienc]

buy a csgo key every time gaben hits the desk and the mic pics it up

[@lukabostick4245]

Thank you for this talk

[@BanterClausGaming]

He says "Peopleware" by Tom DeMarco.

[@recore67onload]

this needs to be reconducted to get his modern reflection relative to where the is industry is now

[@TheSameNameasYou]

33:52 Hilarious moment and realization of creating a new revenue stream that wasn't easy to categorize.

[@TheHeroineaddict]

One does not simply stop a Gaben...

[@poljakov13]

unstoppable

[@ButtonMasherReal]

You can in theory, but you'd have to take control and press the Gaben, so in practice it's impossible.

[@DoubleclickEB]

Holy shit. This comment is a time capsule.

[@Exampleyoutube21]

obesity will stop him..

[@TimTamChips01]

27:30 interesting to see that this philosophy has been around since the beginning, something he mentioned in the half-life 1 documentary

[@shenshaw5345]

the way he talks is extremely info dense

[@MrPodushka]

Legendary interview

[@mmcc2852]

very interesting,why dont we have the recoeding for the repeat performance too?

[@humanharddrive1]

this was actually enlightening

[@billionsmustseed]

very interesting watching this 11 years later given the current state of the world and valve/steam vs back then

[@CasuallyGaming909]

God of game has spoken.

[@Obbliteration]

First time im hearing gabe talk

[@jessekrynen]

All hail lord Gaben

[@seva809]

12:36 this guy in the background looks like Gabe's version from the past.

[@cezariusus7595]

56:50 that used to be the case in 2013, not anymore

[@Freezorgium]

Reddit is a dead husk of its former self and you can thank their power tripping, self-righteous and ideologically motivated moderators for that.

[@thebandofbastards4934]

​@@FreezorgiumAnd money hungry.

[@500iq6foot8]

55:18 worst interruption in all of history

[@platinumsun4632]

Indeed.

[@armin6427]

He got really stressed too from that point onward. Prolly had another 30 minutes on his notes.

[@aboldone3991]

This is so fucking sad

[@humanharddrive1]

for real I wanted to know what he was about to say so bad

[@snusinanus]

video length: 1:02:03

[@mozzzzzz1993]

thank you

[@Trome1200]

Half life 1 Half Life 02 Half Life 03 CONFIRMED!

[@DreadNawght]

12:29 "Talent is a word I hate, I just mean the ability to be productive" Couldn't agree more. Talent is a fake value. The will to provide a service is where it's at.

[@stt.9433]

being productive and having the will to provide a service are two vastly different things. Being productive is how much value are you able to create for yourself or others that can be within a company or not, having the will to provide a service speaks on the motivation which is sort of meaningless in a pure business perspective as much as the word talent in fact.

[@DreadNawght]

​@@stt.9433 I meant being able to develop usable product material for other colleagues in the chain is more valuable than looking to satisfy the inner introvert with arbitrary selected cognition material, an attitude I associate with talent. To me, his quote dissociates two archetypes of workers, the former valuing their image more than the product, the latter doing what needs to be done for the product to be complete.

[@asgoritolinasgoritolino7708]

Talent is just being ineherntly good at what you are doing, your definition is completely made up. I think the word you are searching for in your original comment is productivity or efficiency.

[@HazardousAnimal]

@@asgoritolinasgoritolino7708 I completely agree with you, this dreadnawght guy is just a dumbass.

[@TheSameNameasYou]

Talent I think has a slippery definition. Gaben cuts away at the possible illusions of it with this sentence.

[@AintPopular]

He counted 3

[@iBoujin]

Interesting to talk about the hat economy, given that this was just a few months before CS:GO skin introduction

[@arcadealchemist]

valve is how a buisness runs without corperate greed and turning the people in to pay piggies all you need to do is offer a service PEOPLE LIKE and improve it to make it a universal product. if you treat your clients more like friends and just ask them what they want they will thank you gladly for it.

[@AlexVoxel]

Gabe is amazing

[@petormaculan5424]

41:00 Isnt this model just sports betting lol

[@herpiegerbstick6808]

Our lord and savior GabeN, all praise be

[@Number12interdan]

Valve are so far ahead of their competition it's not even funny. Blizzard still have to go offline for 8-12hrs every WEEK for "maintenance" on hearthstone, and just released the game when it has more bugs than ever.

[@Zimmerh90]

The maintenance are for Blizzards whole server park. I dont think thats something they do because they find it fun, but a necessary evil.

[@zytolen5356]

hi

[@jooplin]

Blizzard.. hehe

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

Valve also don't drive their employees to suicide because their nudes are being shared around. Definitely way ahead of crappy Blizzard.

[@hamelconsultancyllc]

Oh boy… 9 years ago… blizzard only got worse

[@PinchySkree]

Boom, boom boom. Boom. Boom boom. Boom boom, boom.

[@platinumsun4632]

?

[@masterTigress96]

@@platinumsun4632 He is referencing the microphone that is very unfortunately positioned on the table where GabeN is slamming his gamer arms on. I suspect no one was monitoring the live audio feed for this recording or doing a test beforehand. A shotgun mic on a stand or arm would have prevented this. Heck even if the shotgun mic would have been mounted on the camera that is recording this, it would have been better then what we ended up with here.

[@poligrafsferych8193]

well, youtube algoritms want me to watch this, so...

[@neptronix]

Mind blowing dude!!

[@odeball22]

Why steam is the best company in the world.

[@parashkevdraganov2395]

FLAT BUSINESS MODEL

[@alexpenna]

And yet you have structured your words vertically

[@ELTABULLO]

Lmao 😂 I thought they had FINALLY caught Gabe!!

[@sidekickstreams]

Gabe's brilliant

[@mi12no]

This man is very intelligent

[@GiantBUThead]

lenght 1:02:03 uploaded on 1.02.2013 => 123 lets try this 123 - 3x33+3x(3+3+1) {where 1 is the number of disslikes on the video} = 123 - 99 + 3x7 = 123 - 99 + 21 = 123 - 120 = 3 => this video mathematicly confirms Half Life 3

[@jaredwilliams2357]

You called it good job

[@jeff_express]

@@jaredwilliams2357 You're not seeing the big picture. his comment was made 10 years ago and your comment was made 6 months ago. 10 + 6 is 16, a number that is not divisible by 3, which means that it IS multipliable by 3 therefore mathematically confirming Half Life 3

[@jaredwilliams2357]

@@jeff_express Two home runs in a row nice

[@Entropy67]

This is my one and only work model and I force my employers to accept it by being aggressively productive lmfao

[@vaimast]

oh boy this CNC softwares with IA its gonna be the future of the world, not surprised elon is scard asf

[@Ddarkan]

33:15 "The customer is always right" Guess they weren't lying

[@wudimusic]

A room full of tech-guy and nerds, and still, the audio-guy can´t even mount a mic with proper dampening.

[@kerryannboyko4175]

Heh - I was literally *not allowed in the room*! Basically I came to film the event as a freelance journalist, the LBJ school of public affairs said that I wasn't allowed to be there. However, they DID allow the UT radio station to be there and they also had a camera. I said: "I acknowledge that as a freelance journalist, I'm not allowed to be here. However, UT Radio, would you like to use a second camera and my sound recording equipment?" "Yes I would!" said the journalist. I shook his hand and said "Thank you, I'll be on my way!" Halfway through the talk they realised they REALLY should have had a recording of it themselves, AND set up a second talk in the auditorium to handle the overflow. They said that I could record the second talk if I gave them my footage. The reason I wasn't able to dampen the mic was because I literally wasn't legally allowed to stay in the room to dampen it!

[@wudimusic]

​@@kerryannboyko4175 Now THIS, is what you call bureaucracy. As an Audiophile, i´m sorry for you. You tried!

[@weekal5515]

​@@kerryannboyko4175New gabe lore.

[@andrewstephens8790]

⁠@@kerryannboyko4175well thank you for your service

[@mrtwiggy321]

Praise be to the PC master race and the one and only savior, Lord GabeN

[@Aivottaja]

January 30, 2013. HL3 confirmed.

[@effyourstyle]

Valve took John Titor seriously. They have a time machine.

[@OnionSauceGo]

Game speaks to us all at 31:00

[@Toiarc]

I love Gabe Newell. =)

[@reboooot]

That really fucked me up when he started moving lmao

[@alexxx4434]

5:50 And that's when Gabe decided to make a digital platform for distributing Video Games and Porn Video Games.

[@Justagamerhere1]

Or in the case of HL Alyx's ending, video games that arouse you (holding a certain item in your hand)

[@Student4Life89]

Truly, the internet is for p0rn.

[@Jeffrey-p5t]

Has anybody saved and downloaded this video

[@dboysomething5564]

really wish he had more time at the end of the

[@bankruptWoodenSandals]

valve is the world's most sacred company reason is because it sells games and dont care about any political ideology, any company specially listed in stock market went down hill cause they politically got involved but valve got the cleanest valves of all. valve being private company is the best ever decesion.

[@Marlboro_Cone.3883]

He sat so still at the start I thought it was a picture LOL

[@CatfishBradley]

It was lmao, it transitions to video after the intro

[@gddjcat1165]

video length: 1:02:03 so = Hl1,Hl2,HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED video length: 1:02:03 so = Portal1,Portal2,PORTAL 3 CONFIRMED

[@robertprobst3836]

Gabe is not able to count to 3

[@Nostalgia---7777]

man does this aged well

[@mistermista2927]

Autism.

[@vaimast]

every game that his reduced company does its brilliance

[@DoubleRealitian]

31:29 HE SAID IT!!!!

[@Lemonator32]

Has science gone too far?

[@VITAS874]

So hl 3 confirm 😂

[@qazmko22]

Vales Flat Cooperative Structure is proof that Anarchism can create unique and creative ideas.

[@Toiarc]

How I think it works is that people are not being suppressed by those above them in, creating free creative environment for work place, where ideas can be easily shared and brainstormed with others.

[@CatfishBradley]

The funny part is, nothing came out of valve under this ideal "unique and creative" environment. They had to tighten the reigns to start work on HL:A

[@geraldsmithers9270]

@@CatfishBradley I'm not an anarchist, but i think that the highly relaxed creative environment should be the default, but people can willfully have the reigns tightened over when they want to work on a big project.

[@tropicaljupiter]

Flat structure with caveats. Gabe is still on top. It's like marxism but your dictator is a pretty cool guy. The whole context is important.

[@alexxx4434]

Flat structure has an inerent issue with scaling.

[@normalguycap]

When was the last time they made anything?

[@shdwza]

Half-Life Alyx 2020, Artifact 2021, Steam deck 2022, Counter-Strike 2023, Deadlock currently in closed beta. Any more stupid questions or will you try to google first next time?

[@normalguycap]

@shdwza lol none of those actually count you blind bootlicking fanboy. No one cares about vr stuff or remakes. The only one of those I've heard of is alyx. You're a dope.

[@normalguycap]

@@shdwza lol none of those actually count you blind bootlicking fanboy. No one cares about vr stuff or remakes. The only one of those I've heard of is alyx. You're very stupid.

[@normalguycap]

@@shdwza lol none of those actually count you blind bootsucking fanboy. No one cares about vr stuff or remakes. The only one of those I've heard of is alyx and nobody cares since half life 2 was in 2004. you don't get points for making something on a platform nobody likes nor wants 16 years later.

[@spencerweiss6337]

@@normalguycap deadlock doesn’t count?

[@cjmproduction]

PC master race. Praise be to lord Gaben. /r/

[@Lotrfan1991]

Oh youtube you know me so well

[@BrennanMurphy]

34:00 "no they're making hats"

[@Smart269]

i think he meant battle furies?

[@fortris]

No he meant 5 actives that turn you into juggernaut noob

[@Treviath]

Public companies are bad. I'm glad Gabe agrees.

[@vatogomareli]

21:49. here he mentioned something, does anybody wnow what he’s meant?

[@KillzoneAgency]

He's referencing a book called Peopleware

[@vatogomareli]

@@KillzoneAgency Thanks a lot!

[@yankokutin7187]

Silence! God is speaking!