Watch Gabe Newell deliver Steam Decks and recall his days as a telegram boy

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

A few days ago some folk on reddit claimed that they'd been hand-delivered signed Steam Decks by Gabe Newell. Accompanied by a slightly blurry photo of what looked like the gaming Santa, some were suspicious about whether Valve's head honcho was really out-and-about in Seattle delivering Decks: anyway, wasn't this guy supposed to be in New Zealand?

Valve has now posted video of Newell making the rounds to some lucky customers, and it's quite a wholesome watch. Ask yourself, how would you react to Gabe Newell turning up at your house? Well, nobody loses their shit or starts shouting about Half-Life 3—which is a real pity—but most do recognise who he is, and one guy manages to strike up a brief chat about Final Fantasy 14. 

User SeattleRainPidgeons, posting in r/Steam, claimed to have seen Newell and a camera crew making a delivery to their neighbour's house. They said hello, at which point he gave them signed Decks despite not having preorder reservations. Which just sounds like a nerd's wet dream: but no, that very moment happens right here.

The sweetest element by far of this video though, apart from getting to watch Gabe walk around and enjoy being IRL Santa Clause, is Newell's insistence on telling each customer his personal email address. He's been doing this for as long as I remember, and I still remember being so tickled when Valve started doing developer commentaries in their games and, without fail, Newell would always include his email. Imagine how many he gets a day.

Another nice moment comes when someone answers the door but doesn't recognise Newell and (understandably) thinks he's a deliveryman, to the extent she asks if he's waiting for her to sign for the parcel. "So the first job I ever had delivering newspapers, but then the next job I had was delivering telegrams for Western Union," laughs Newell. "Overall this is sort of bringing me back to my days as a Western Union delivery boy."

Sadly it's going to be tough to get your hands on a Steam Deck in the near future, with Valve struggling as best it can to keep up with demand. The hardware is the real deal, however, so I'll just keep praying for a visitation from the angel Gabriel.

TOPICS
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

Read more
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Valve Steam Deck with GeForce Now app overlaid on screen.
After a year in its company, I've done a complete 180 on my Steam Deck
The G-Man looking at the camera.
G-Man's voice actor rings in the new year by dropping a cryptic tweet grenade promising 'unexpected surprises' into the starving Half-Life 3 fanbase
A collection of handheld gaming PCs on a teal background
I can't think of a better last minute gift idea for a PC gamer than one of these handheld gaming PCs for under $500
Valve Steam Deck with GeForce Now app overlaid on screen.
Nvidia announces dedicated GeForce Now app for Steam Decks and more, streamlining cloud gaming for mixed-reality headset wearers too
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
We learned just how small Valve really is this year, but also how good it is at raking in the cash: It's making more money per employee than Apple
Latest in Handheld Gaming PCs
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Still from a CNET video highlighting the Samsung concept device from MWC 2025
Samsung's handheld prototype delivers folding phone screens to Switch-like gaming hardware, and I am absolutely here for it
Xbox handheld
Microsoft is reportedly prepping a handheld Xbox for later this year with new consoles coming in 2027
OneXPlayer 2 pro on a table
I never thought a handheld PC bloated with Windows could replace my Steam Deck, but after gaming on an old OneXPlayer 2 Pro I can see now I judged it too harshly
A Razer Handheld Dock Chroma with a Steam Deck OLED
Razer Handheld Dock Chroma review
The Logitech G305 Lightspeed gaming mouse floats in a teal, deal header image void. This is the black colourway with silver-y grey accents. A stylised 'G' is painted on to the lower portion of the palm rest.
Clicking fingers at the ready—you can snap up the best budget gaming mouse for $30
Latest in News
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close