Gabe Newell: Valve is betting big on headsets and VR gaming

Gabe Newell Valve

Gabe Newell, the co-founder and president of Valve, has shared information about the company’s future in a public talk at Auckland’s Sancta Maria College.

Newell, one of the most well-known people in the video gaming industry, has been compelled to take a holiday in Auckland, New Zealand, owing to COVID limitations. As a result, he did not waste time and gave a public speech at Auckland’s Sancta Maria College, a local Catholic high school.

Newell wants to discuss his vision for the future of the video game business and new technology with the students. The game executive plans to prepare his firm for a near-future dominated by brain-computer interfaces, or BCI.

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Games, VR, and headsets

With the Steam Deck on the horizon and rumors of a putative successor to the Valve Index circulating on social media, Gabe Newell used his words to clarify that the business is working on titles for its devices. Clearly, with the advent of the Steam Deck, the company wants to guarantee games are available right now rather than months later.

Aside from future releases, Valve’s primary bet is to spend extensively on new VR gear and games. It’s worth noting that Valve has already created a high-end PC VR headset, the Valve Index, as well as the award-winning Half-Life: Alyx, which was released in 2020.

Brain-computer interfaces

After fielding a slew of questions from students focusing on various topics, Newell concluded that AR and VR are not end goals in and of themselves. Rather, they are milestones toward a future of pervasive BCI.

“There are interesting questions, like: are things sort of stable end goals or are they transition points? My view, which is not in the accepted middle realm, is that VR and AR are transition points towards brain-computer interfaces,” Newell said. “Everything you have to do in terms of controls in games, in terms of understanding visual processing, in terms of competent design are leading you towards brain-computer interfaces and what they do.”

“I think brain-computer interfaces are going to be incredibly disruptive, one of the more disruptive technology transitions we’re going to go through. So I think it’s super valuable. We’re making big investments in new headsets and games for those application categories, but also looking further down the road and saying, ‘what’s that evolve into?'” he added.

The direction Valve is taking continues to confirm that virtual reality is the future, but it needs a great deal of research to make it a good fit – not just for the gaming public but for the general public as well.

Check out Gabe Newell’s speech down below!

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