Gabe Newell teases the possibility of bringing Steam games to console

Valve co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell has hinted at plans to bring Steam games to console.

Newell, who has been living and working in New Zealand since early 2020, teased the possibility on Tuesday during a visit to Sancta Maria College, where he was a guest speaker for digital studies students.

“Will Steam be putting any games on consoles, or will it just stay on PC?” Newell was asked.

“You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year,” he replied, before adding, “and it won’t be the answer you expect.”

It’s unclear what Newell is teasing, but it could mean Valve is planning to bring some of its existing PC games to consoles (Half: Life Alyx to PlayStation VR would be a contender) or release some of its upcoming titles on Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo systems.

Newell recently confirmed that Valve has multiple games in development and that it is keen to make more single-player experiences following Alyx’s release last year.

Further reading

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Gabe Newell says Valve has multiple games in development and ‘wants to do more single-player’

Alyx “created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that”

Perhaps a more remote possibility is some version of the Steam storefront being made available on consoles.

A confidential Epic document included in its ongoing legal battle with Apple, which was reportedly briefly uploaded to the case’s public server (and shared on Resetera), claimed Xbox boss Phil Spencer was meeting Newell at Valve occasionally.