Valve's CEO Resigns

Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve Software, has reportedly resigned.

When I first heard the news I assumed, like I'm sure a lot of others did, that he would be either moving over to a competing company or starting a company of his own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mr. Newell is leaving Valve so he can go on tour with 3 piece folk/rock band, "Left of the Dealer". No that's not a misprint, Gabe is leaving the video game industry to go play in a band. It's not really that big of a shock if you think about it. Gabe is leaving Valve "on a high note". Half Life 2 is complete and out in the market and I'm sure his personal bank account didn't suffer with the stellar success Half Life 2 has seen.

When asked about his departure Gabe had this to say:

"it wasn't because of any conflicts at Valve - they're a great team. And don't get me wrong, I love making games. But there's a ton of creativity I'm just not able to express unless I'm with my guitar"

I located a copy of his band's mp3, "Chasing the Sun" that you can listen to here:

http://www.hlfallout.net/files/gabe_newell-chasing_the_sun.mp3

Gabe, thanks for your contributions to the gaming community and best of luck to you in your pursuit of your musical career.

Thanks to IGNIQ for the tip on this story.