Valve co-founder Gabe Newell to be honored with BAFTA Fellowship

King of PC Gaming platform Steam and co-founder of Half-life studio Valve - Gabe Newell, is to be honored with the BAFTA Fellowship. Working with Microsoft for thirteen years, Newell became a “Microsoft Millionaire” and moved on to co-found Valve in 1996. Since, Valve has created two of the most important franchises in PC Gaming – Half-Life and Portal – and Steam, home to 50 million active PC gamers.  

Newell, who follows in the footsteps of other games Fellows, including Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright, had this to say: 

"It is an honour for myself and everyone at Valve to be presented such an award by one of the world's most respected and recognised organisations. Valve owes a tremendous thanks to many in the UK – to those who have played our games, to the great support of the UK press, and to UK-based creative contributors such as Garry Newman. I look forward to accepting this prestigious honor on behalf of everyone in our community." 

Harvey Elliott, Chair of BAFTA's Games Committee, added:

"Gabe's contribution to the industry is unique, and he is very different to many others that BAFTA could recognise. As well as enjoying great critical and commercial success with phenomenally popular franchises such as Portal and Half-Life,his work in giving back to the games industry through developing and showcasing other games makers has been outstanding. He is an inspirational developer and truly deserving of our Fellow recognition." 

It's great to see somebody so dedicated to furthering the PC gaming platform be recognised for his efforts. Despite being so outspoken, he seems to be making the right decisions as he was also honored at the just past 16 annual D.I.C.E Awards. 

The British Academy Games Awards will take place on Tuesday 5 March at the London Hilton, Park Lane, and will be hosted for the fifth consecutive year by comedian and gamer, Dara O'Brian.  The ceremony will be streamed live on Twitch, supported by Alienware, and an Awards highlight's show will be televised on Challenge (Sky: Ch 125, Freeview: Ch 46, Virgin: Ch 139) on Monday 11 March at 10pm.

About BAFTA:

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public.

press release.

Chris Rainey, Columnist