valve

Valve Corporation, commonly known as Valve, is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington. It was founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, former Microsoft employees. Valve achieved early success with the first-person shooter Half-Life (1998) and its expansions, followed by Half-Life 2 (2004). The company also developed and published Portal (2007), Team Fortress 2 (2007), Left 4 Dead (2008), and the multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2 (2013). Valve built the Source engine, later transitioning to Source 2, which underpins several of its games and other developers’ projects.

In 2003 Valve launched Steam, a digital distribution platform designed to deliver patches and later evolved into the largest PC game storefront. Steam provides automatic updates, cloud saves, achievements, and a community ecosystem through Steam Workshop and other social features. It also encompasses SteamOS, Steam Machines, and initiatives to support independent developers, including publishing pathways that evolved from early Greenlight concepts to direct publishing.

Valve has pursued hardware initiatives in addition to software. It released the Steam Deck, a handheld PC, in 2022, and the Valve Index virtual reality headset and related peripherals, with SteamVR support, in 2019–2020. The company also maintains and develops associated platforms and software services to complement its games and storefront.

Typically described as having a flat organizational structure, Valve uses an open-allocation approach where engineers and designers self-select projects. The company remains privately held and has not pursued public listing.

Valve’s products and platforms have had a substantial influence on PC gaming, digital distribution, and hardware development, shaping industry practices and trends in both software and hardware domains.