Video game news oriented community. No NanoUFO is not a bot :)
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that moment when the One Good Billionaireβ’ casually orders a boat that costs several times more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetimes π
i get that there's worse out there but i'm tired of people acting like newell is a saint... he's just another billionaire.
People need to remember a lot of the pro-consumer things that Valve has ever done were things they were forced to by regulation.
Like being able to return games? That was to comply with an Australian law, and it was just easier to implement it for everyone than just do it for Australia specifically.
I like Valve more than most companies, but exactly, they are not Saints by any measure.
In general, I think being decent to customers is a business strategy, because the barrier to entry for a Steam competitor is nearly non-existent, and there's always piracy. Still, capitalism working the way it's "supposed to" is still capitalism.
It's quite true, for example, they were one of the first companies to make successful inroads in selling video games in Russia back in the day. Other companies avoided it due to rampant piracy of games in Russia, but Valve successfully (at the time) provided a service and price point that made it more attractive to many Russians than piracy. Being decent to customers is indeed a viable business strategy, and up until the 1970's was sort of the norm for business (not entirely, but far more than now). It wasn't until then that businesses became far more extractive from their customer base than trying to build better products for customers.
However, they were also pioneers in certain aspects of gaming that have become detrimental to consumers, such as loot boxes and digital marketplaces. They have done their best to manage and regulate those within their own walled garden, but they have taken a hands-off approach to gambling on Steam marketplace items that takes place on websites outside of Steam (which to an extent is fair since many of them exist in countries where Valve would have very little success in taking them down in any way).
A billionaire whose hobby is Marine conservation. That yacht is a floating lab.
Inkfish, founded by Gabe Newell, aims to advance marine science by providing tools and access for deep-ocean exploration, focusing on serving the scientific community rather than personal interests. The organization's mission is to integrate marine science, engineering, and technology to map uncharted seafloor, study biodiversity, discover new species, and protect ocean ecosystems, while also providing open-source data and technical support to scientists
While all that is indeed good, we shouldn't have to rely on the benevolence of the wealthy to be able to have a better world. No offense, but that kind of stuff should be paid for by taxation. He is doing some good here, but it's also his pet project, his choice where the money goes, no one else, no input from society at large. It's still overall not a real great thing, because it means that we have to just hope that billionaires have pet projects that help society and the earth at large. The majority of them don't. Hell, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk think the future is for digital-post-humans and the things they are trying to do "for the future" are revolving around a plan where humans as we know them effectively become an extinct species, which is inherently elitist and definitely not beneficial to overall society since it means they effectively don't care if any of us die to achieve it. Just because Newell has better values than the rest doesn't mean the situation doesn't still suck ass.
This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole after skimming through the article...
I'm guilty of going on about the luxury side of this, but Leviathan has also been designed with scientific work in mind: Newell's interests now include Starfish Neuroscience, a company focused on neural interfaces (popularly known as "brain chips"), and Inkfish, a marine research operation
Neural interfaces? Uh oh, that reminds me of another billionaire and a heart-breaking story about animal testing.
https://www.gsmgotech.com/2025/05/gabe-newellbacked-starfish-bci-chip-to.html
Unlike bulky, invasive BCIs used in medical settings, the Starfish chip is designed to be minimally invasive, leveraging a proprietary array of microelectrodes that attach to the scalp.
The deviceβs compact design, roughly the size of a postage stamp, also addresses a common hurdle in consumer neurotech: wearability. Early prototypes suggest the chip could be discreetly integrated into headbands, VR headsets, or even augmented reality glasses.
Oh ok... well that doesn't sound as bad. Wait, didn't Valve just announce a new VR headset that has a port which can be used for 3rd party accessories?
BCIs inevitably raise questions about privacy, data security, and ethical AI use. Starfish claims its device anonymizes neural data and processes most information locally, rather than cloud servers. Still, skeptics argue that neural dataβs intimate nature demands stricter regulatory frameworks.
Dr. Rachel Kim, a bioethicist at Stanford University, cautions, βThe benefits are immense, but we need clear guidelines on who owns brain data and how itβs monetized. This isnβt just another appβitβs a window into the human mind.β
Hmmm...
Why is everyone acting surprised, this has been Gabe's thing for a long time? He's super into boats and submarines and owns a submarine company or something like that. i think I'm burned out from the news cycle, getting outraged by this just feels like a waste of my emotional energy that I could spend somewhere it will matter.
Would bet cash money this article was sponsored by Tim Sweeny, who is also a billionaire lol.
Not saying this excuses Gabe Newell in any way, but this was made purely to attack Valve's newly announced product.
They had no issue when a billionaire with an order of magnitude more wealth than both Tim or Gabe went around advertising his shitty Amazon MMO:
It's impossible to say where New World will be in a year, whether it will be on the road to obscurity or finally giving World of Warcraft something to sweat about, but right now it's a huge success that validates the commitment and patience Amazon has taken with it. Bezos may not have had a direct hand in its creation, but as the person who greenlighted Amazon's foray into gaming more than a half-decade ago, you can understand his pride in it.
He should probably be taxed more
There was an article about a year ago posted to Reddit about how Gabe owns 6 yachts worth $1B. I called him out in the comments and got flamed by every gamer on the platform. It's crazy the mental gymnastics these simps do to defend others living like Gods.
We are so used to billionaires being obnoxious assholes that one that isn't obnoxious about their billions feels like one of the good ones, I guess.
He made his money (like any other billionaire) by overcharging and underpaying. He wastes his money on useless bullshit like any other billionaire. But he's not obnoxious about it, which causes people to just ignore the part about billionaires that's actually bad (the way they became billionaires).
I agree mostly, but Valve employees are reportedly paid an incredible amount of money compared to the market average, so underpaying would probably only refer to the hefty (but industry standard) 30% cut of game sales they take from game publishers.
I suppose we can be reassured that the Obscene Yacht industry is still going strong despite the cost of living crisis.
Gross.
I never understood the appeal of anything rich people like. A yacht? An HOA? A supercar? These donβt appeal to me at all. If given them I would hate them.
I mean it might be fun to buy a politician but otherwise it sounds boring.
Most comments ITT boil down to two things:
The materials were also chosen with an eye on reducing maintenance and repetitive tasks for the yacht's staff, so traditional materials like teak decks and wooden handrails are out, and composite alternatives are in. The diesel-electric power plant works alongside a battery storage system that allows Leviathan to operate for long stretches with no emissions, and it also features an advanced wastewater treatment system.
On the one hand, it's nice that mr Newell seems to be reducing the footprint of their luxury yacht above and beyond most of what I have heard happens in the rest of the luxury yacht industry. On the other hand, I shudder to think of what the footprint for the manufacturing of this custom-designed, one-of-a-kind luxury yacht looked like. Not to mention 'composite' usually means some sort of plastic, so now there'll be one more thing spewing microplastics directly into the ocean...
Funny, I was just reading about this sort of thing in "How to blow up a pipeline". It's the sort of argument that seems obvious in retrospect.
When someone in the global south uses a coal stove to cook their food, they're doing it by necessity. When a billionaire sails out on a mega yacht, it's pure excess. Yeah, banning them won't make the difference between 1.5C and 2.0C of global warming, but it's low hanging fruit.
We can also ban private jets, and the only significant impact to the economy would be that some billionaires have to travel around in first class like some kind of lowly multimillionaire or upgraded plebian.
It does not matter if you think Valve makes good products or not.
Fucking disgusting. There's no way to be a billionaire while not being a total shitstain that just sucks the society dry.
When I first glanced at the title, I got excited because I saw Steam Machine and $500. π
Imagine having a dedicated yacht hospital for yourself when most can't afford decent healthcare. I hope people stop idolizing Gabe, he is just your run of the mill billionaire.
He does at least use his vessels for research via his company Inkfish. They map the ocean floor, discover new species, study different underwater environments etc. They actually hold world records for deepest manned dives of all 5 oceans.
Billionaires still shouldn't exist though of course (not /s)
Why not to spend this money on charity? Or a political party who oppose fascist? Or, heck, spend it for weapons for Ukraine! I don't understand.
What is it with millionaires and yachts?
I hate boats, even on a calm day in a lake which is only about 2 m deep I'm constantly convinced the damn thing is going to sink.
Do people actually like being on boats, it's basically like being in a cramped apartment that is really inconvenient to get to and from, that constantly experiences a never-ending earthquake, why is that anyone's idea of a good time?
Also I really hope somebody has tested that submarine extensively.
Privacy and Security. You're out there where no paparazzi can take bikini pictures of you. It's easy to secure so that nobody can kidnap you. And take a look at the interior of those Yachts, they are not cramped. Look at this thing:
It's bigger than your home. It has its own helipad. It is 111m long.
Dude, I thought you were cool.
Owning a yacht is like the lamest thing you could possibly do!
With the coolest things being feeding the hungry and housing the poor obviously.
This is that research vessel he talked about a while back.
Leviathan has also been designed with scientific work in mind: Newell's interests now include Starfish Neuroscience, a company focused on neural interfaces (popularly known as "brain chips"), and Inkfish, a marine research operation. Part of this is a "convention-defying layout" that apparently brings teams together, which makes me think about all the times I've read about desks with wheels at Valve.
Unlike his other yachts, this one actually has a purpose.
It's still a luxury yacht decked out with nearly all the things you'd expect from a half a billion dollar superyacht. Only part of it is customised for research. If the main goal was to turn half a billion dollars into a research boat, this isn't the boat that would get made.
Eat the Rich includes him
Everyone on here acts like Gabe is THEIR billionaire, and Steam is THEIR capitalist billionaire corporation.
Gabe is a dirtbag and a thief by the sole virtue of being a billionaire. Nobody earns a billion dollars, you get it by stealing wages and time from the workers below you.
Steam is a dirtbag corporation as well, no matter how many fanboys try to sweep Steamβs history of fuckery under the rug
you get it by stealing wages and time from the workers below you
That and turning kids into gambling addicts.
He bought that off the tears of teenagers not getting the knife they wanted over and over and over again. Scumbag.
Fuck billionaires, him included. A personal submarine bay is just baller as fuck, though.
