Newell: If not for id's support, "Valve wouldn't have gotten its start"

Gabe Newell has said id Software's John Carmack and Michael Abrash among others can be thanked for Valve getting started in the game space.

Speaking in the latest Steamcast, Newell chatted about getting a Quake engine license through his id pal Michael Abrash in order to develop Half-Life 1 around it.

"One thing that everyone should remember is that Valve got its start through the support and community mindedness of id," said Newell, "so if it hadn't been for John Carmack, Jay Wilbur, Michael Abrash supporting us and encouraging us in what we did, Valve wouldn't have gotten its start.

"When someone like John Carmack says, 'Yeah, I'm actually really interested to see what you guys do with the Quake engine,' you know, that gets your attention. When Michael Abrash says, 'Yeah, I know you Gabe, we worked together, and you have skills that will be valuable in this space', you can come into this not thinking you aren't bringing anything to the table. You actually have stuff that you've learned and can do that will be valuable in game development.

"Those are the things that made it easy to jump off a cliff and start a video game company when people who you respect very highly, who have in fact been very successful in this space, encourage you to give it a go; that makes it pretty easy."

Newell went on to say such confidence in his team has inspired him to do the same with new developers.

"We really are all in this together, and the more effective we are as a community in gathering and supporting talented and smart people to build the kinds of entertainment we love the better of we're all going to be. So we really mean that, and view our activities in this area as being of long-term benefit to all of us," he said.

You can listen to the Steamcast through this QuickTime link.

Thanks CVG.