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that moment when the One Good Billionaire™ casually orders a boat that costs several times more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetimes 🙃
i get that there's worse out there but i'm tired of people acting like newell is a saint... he's just another billionaire.
People need to remember a lot of the pro-consumer things that Valve has ever done were things they were forced to by regulation.
Like being able to return games? That was to comply with an Australian law, and it was just easier to implement it for everyone than just do it for Australia specifically.
I like Valve more than most companies, but exactly, they are not Saints by any measure.
In general, I think being decent to customers is a business strategy, because the barrier to entry for a Steam competitor is nearly non-existent, and there's always piracy. Still, capitalism working the way it's "supposed to" is still capitalism.
It's quite true, for example, they were one of the first companies to make successful inroads in selling video games in Russia back in the day. Other companies avoided it due to rampant piracy of games in Russia, but Valve successfully (at the time) provided a service and price point that made it more attractive to many Russians than piracy. Being decent to customers is indeed a viable business strategy, and up until the 1970's was sort of the norm for business (not entirely, but far more than now). It wasn't until then that businesses became far more extractive from their customer base than trying to build better products for customers.
However, they were also pioneers in certain aspects of gaming that have become detrimental to consumers, such as loot boxes and digital marketplaces. They have done their best to manage and regulate those within their own walled garden, but they have taken a hands-off approach to gambling on Steam marketplace items that takes place on websites outside of Steam (which to an extent is fair since many of them exist in countries where Valve would have very little success in taking them down in any way).
Like being able to return games? That was to comply with an Australian law, and it was just easier to implement it for everyone than just do it for Australia specifically.
Well you say that but Sony also has an online game marketplace that operates in Australia.
I don’t know how it works in Australia, but in the U.S. their return policy is not nearly as generous as Steam’s. In fact it Sony’s return policy only really exists on paper. In reality they don’t really do returns at all.
I think we're just at a point where a company not constantly trying to find ways to squirm out of every single thing is a breath of fresh air.
"Hi! We're valve. We're mostly following the law without fuss, mostly make money by getting people to buy things they want, and our excessively wealthy owner acts like a preposterously rich person, not a comic book villain: Fantasizing about living his life isn't deeply concerning. The hardware we sell isn't deliberately worse for consumers to no benefit to ourselves" -- Hands down one of the best "big" companies out there.
A billionaire whose hobby is Marine conservation. That yacht is a floating lab.
Inkfish, founded by Gabe Newell, aims to advance marine science by providing tools and access for deep-ocean exploration, focusing on serving the scientific community rather than personal interests. The organization's mission is to integrate marine science, engineering, and technology to map uncharted seafloor, study biodiversity, discover new species, and protect ocean ecosystems, while also providing open-source data and technical support to scientists
While all that is indeed good, we shouldn't have to rely on the benevolence of the wealthy to be able to have a better world. No offense, but that kind of stuff should be paid for by taxation. He is doing some good here, but it's also his pet project, his choice where the money goes, no one else, no input from society at large. It's still overall not a real great thing, because it means that we have to just hope that billionaires have pet projects that help society and the earth at large. The majority of them don't. Hell, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk think the future is for digital-post-humans and the things they are trying to do "for the future" are revolving around a plan where humans as we know them effectively become an extinct species, which is inherently elitist and definitely not beneficial to overall society since it means they effectively don't care if any of us die to achieve it. Just because Newell has better values than the rest doesn't mean the situation doesn't still suck ass.
I don't think anyone is saying that billionaires existing is a good thing.
The situation sucks, but I guess we have to count our "wins" these days.
If this money he is using to advance marine science was taxed, I guarantee it would be given straight to the US Military for creating more weapons of mass destruction.
A lot of things need to change in this world.
This yacht is many things, one of them being a floating lab. It's not like it isn't a super-luxury yacht for $500 million, also. Or like he hasn't a couple more super-yachts.
I mean, good for the man, good that he's doing marine conservation on the side, or that he actually cares about his companies, employees, etc. But also, wow, what kind of amounts do billionaires spend on playthings, and what you could do with such money for the betterment of society.
This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole after skimming through the article...
I'm guilty of going on about the luxury side of this, but Leviathan has also been designed with scientific work in mind: Newell's interests now include Starfish Neuroscience, a company focused on neural interfaces (popularly known as "brain chips"), and Inkfish, a marine research operation
Neural interfaces? Uh oh, that reminds me of another billionaire and a heart-breaking story about animal testing.
https://www.gsmgotech.com/2025/05/gabe-newellbacked-starfish-bci-chip-to.html
Unlike bulky, invasive BCIs used in medical settings, the Starfish chip is designed to be minimally invasive, leveraging a proprietary array of microelectrodes that attach to the scalp.
The device’s compact design, roughly the size of a postage stamp, also addresses a common hurdle in consumer neurotech: wearability. Early prototypes suggest the chip could be discreetly integrated into headbands, VR headsets, or even augmented reality glasses.
Oh ok... well that doesn't sound as bad. Wait, didn't Valve just announce a new VR headset that has a port which can be used for 3rd party accessories?
BCIs inevitably raise questions about privacy, data security, and ethical AI use. Starfish claims its device anonymizes neural data and processes most information locally, rather than cloud servers. Still, skeptics argue that neural data’s intimate nature demands stricter regulatory frameworks.
Dr. Rachel Kim, a bioethicist at Stanford University, cautions, “The benefits are immense, but we need clear guidelines on who owns brain data and how it’s monetized. This isn’t just another app—it’s a window into the human mind.”
Hmmm...
If I recall correctly Newell himself has made comments on how scary brain interfaces become when the interfaces can start influencing the mind as well as reading it. Giving it positive signals in association with certain ideas or products, essentially a shortcut to what traditional advertising tried to exploit about human cognition, except now it could be forced directly, where you can essentially "force" people's brains to be happy with a certain situation, idea, or product. He is at least cognizant of the dangers, but who knows how cognizant or how he plans to address those dangers.
Refreshing to hear this take. Valve and Gabe get glazed so hard when at the end of the day it's about the bottom dollar for them too.
Honestly I think people love them so much because everyone else has been horrible by comparison.
People love them because they still offer good products and services, some of them completely for free. I think it's perfectly valid to recognize and appreciate the good, even when there's also bad.
There was an article about a year ago posted to Reddit about how Gabe owns 6 yachts worth $1B. I called him out in the comments and got flamed by every gamer on the platform. It's crazy the mental gymnastics these simps do to defend others living like Gods.
We are so used to billionaires being obnoxious assholes that one that isn't obnoxious about their billions feels like one of the good ones, I guess.
He made his money (like any other billionaire) by overcharging and underpaying. He wastes his money on useless bullshit like any other billionaire. But he's not obnoxious about it, which causes people to just ignore the part about billionaires that's actually bad (the way they became billionaires).
I agree mostly, but Valve employees are reportedly paid an incredible amount of money compared to the market average, so underpaying would probably only refer to the hefty (but industry standard) 30% cut of game sales they take from game publishers.
Why is everyone acting surprised, this has been Gabe's thing for a long time? He's super into boats and submarines and owns a submarine company or something like that. i think I'm burned out from the news cycle, getting outraged by this just feels like a waste of my emotional energy that I could spend somewhere it will matter.
Funny, I was just reading about this sort of thing in "How to blow up a pipeline". It's the sort of argument that seems obvious in retrospect.
When someone in the global south uses a coal stove to cook their food, they're doing it by necessity. When a billionaire sails out on a mega yacht, it's pure excess. Yeah, banning them won't make the difference between 1.5C and 2.0C of global warming, but it's low hanging fruit.
We can also ban private jets, and the only significant impact to the economy would be that some billionaires have to travel around in first class like some kind of lowly multimillionaire or upgraded plebian.
It does not matter if you think Valve makes good products or not.
Fucking disgusting. There's no way to be a billionaire while not being a total shitstain that just sucks the society dry.
Most comments ITT boil down to two things:
He should probably be taxed more
Gross.
Eat the Rich includes him
This is that research vessel he talked about a while back.
Leviathan has also been designed with scientific work in mind: Newell's interests now include Starfish Neuroscience, a company focused on neural interfaces (popularly known as "brain chips"), and Inkfish, a marine research operation. Part of this is a "convention-defying layout" that apparently brings teams together, which makes me think about all the times I've read about desks with wheels at Valve.
Unlike his other yachts, this one actually has a purpose.
It's still a luxury yacht decked out with nearly all the things you'd expect from a half a billion dollar superyacht. Only part of it is customised for research. If the main goal was to turn half a billion dollars into a research boat, this isn't the boat that would get made.
Alternatively, it's a luxury yacht for small teams of passionate scientists to keep them happy and comfortable for long periods, and also a floating town for Gabe to live in
Also, if you want to criticize it there's one implication that worries me... Part of the concept is that this yacht will be a floating lab that can pick up and move to avoid regulations
I suppose we can be reassured that the Obscene Yacht industry is still going strong despite the cost of living crisis.
Why not to spend this money on charity? Or a political party who oppose fascist? Or, heck, spend it for weapons for Ukraine! I don't understand.
The materials were also chosen with an eye on reducing maintenance and repetitive tasks for the yacht's staff, so traditional materials like teak decks and wooden handrails are out, and composite alternatives are in. The diesel-electric power plant works alongside a battery storage system that allows Leviathan to operate for long stretches with no emissions, and it also features an advanced wastewater treatment system.
On the one hand, it's nice that mr Newell seems to be reducing the footprint of their luxury yacht above and beyond most of what I have heard happens in the rest of the luxury yacht industry. On the other hand, I shudder to think of what the footprint for the manufacturing of this custom-designed, one-of-a-kind luxury yacht looked like. Not to mention 'composite' usually means some sort of plastic, so now there'll be one more thing spewing microplastics directly into the ocean...
What is it with millionaires and yachts?
I hate boats, even on a calm day in a lake which is only about 2 m deep I'm constantly convinced the damn thing is going to sink.
Do people actually like being on boats, it's basically like being in a cramped apartment that is really inconvenient to get to and from, that constantly experiences a never-ending earthquake, why is that anyone's idea of a good time?
Also I really hope somebody has tested that submarine extensively.
Privacy and Security. You're out there where no paparazzi can take bikini pictures of you. It's easy to secure so that nobody can kidnap you. And take a look at the interior of those Yachts, they are not cramped. Look at this thing:
It's bigger than your home. It has its own helipad. It is 111m long.
Fuck billionaires, him included. A personal submarine bay is just baller as fuck, though.
30% is too much! Clearly Steam doesn't need that much to operate (the percentage of each sale that go to Valve)
Would bet cash money this article was sponsored by Tim Sweeny, who is also a billionaire lol.
Not saying this excuses Gabe Newell in any way, but this was made purely to attack Valve's newly announced product.
They had no issue when a billionaire with an order of magnitude more wealth than both Tim or Gabe went around advertising his shitty Amazon MMO:
It's impossible to say where New World will be in a year, whether it will be on the road to obscurity or finally giving World of Warcraft something to sweat about, but right now it's a huge success that validates the commitment and patience Amazon has taken with it. Bezos may not have had a direct hand in its creation, but as the person who greenlighted Amazon's foray into gaming more than a half-decade ago, you can understand his pride in it.
I never understood the appeal of anything rich people like. A yacht? An HOA? A supercar? These don’t appeal to me at all. If given them I would hate them.
I mean it might be fun to buy a politician but otherwise it sounds boring.
When I first glanced at the title, I got excited because I saw Steam Machine and $500. 😔
This is how I find out that he has a yacht called "Rocinante".
I couldn't find the date where Gaben bought it, but the boat was originally built in 2008 and for someone else, so I guess I don't know if Gaben is a "The Expanse" fan or just a fan of "Don Quixote". I'd prefer the former.
Anywho.. #EatTheRich