4 ms·

Valve was started by two Microsoft Millionaires. Money wasn't an issue.

• nmfisher 6y ago
  Even still, the initial Cabal was three engineers, a writer, an animator and a designer, so you can assume that the broader team was at least that much again. That's 12 people full-time working for 2-3 years (and the actual credits go up to 30, so it's probably even more). At $75k per FTE (in 1996 salaries), that's at least $3 million, which is quite a lot, even for two people wealthy from MSFT stock options.
  • enneff 6y ago
    Gabe Newell was in a senior role at MS for 13 years before he left to start Valve. That’s a lot of money.
  • baud147258 6y ago
    Half-Life was published by Sierra, presumably Valve received some money from them.