Steam Users Are Making Portraits of Gabe Newell
As the CEO of one of the most powerful video game companies in the world, which helped kick-start the digital PC era with its Steam client and introduce the Steam Deck to the mobile market, Gabe Newell, often nicknamed «Gaben,» is a name that sticks out for many. Given Valve's early success, with games like Half-Life and Portal still having an impact to this day, the bearded Santa Claus of gaming is something of an icon. So much so in fact that some fans have been creating portraits of him.
A number of threads over on the Steam subreddit have really brought out the inner artist in some users, as there has been a bunch of artwork depicting the Valve executive. While some people have opted to portray how he used to look a few years back, others have chosen to do a more contemporary piece, depicting him with his trademark gray beard and long hair. In fact, one user, who goes by WorstSpawnPossible, has used the AI tool Midjourney to create a portrait that shows Newell as Santa Claus himself, complete with a Christmas hat.
Steam is Adding Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Support
User Gengar218 also opted for artificial intelligence, using DALL-E 2 to create a Leonardo da Vinci-style picture of Newell. Others, such as Stacheyp, decided to do a pencil drawing instead. Evidently, the business tycoon has had a significant impact on the community. Given the sheer popularity of the Steam PC client, millions of gamers around the world are all too familiar with the name Gabe Newell. While it's Steam itself that continues to be a money spinner for the company, some older fans will remember the early days of quality games.
See the discussion on Reddit
The Valve CEO also made waves at the start of the year when a user personally received a Steam Deck
Read more on gamerant.com
