As the CEO of one of the most powerful video game companies in the world, which helped kick-start the digital PC era with its Steam client and introduce the Steam Deck to the mobile market, Gabe Newell, often nicknamed "Gaben," is a name that sticks out for many. Given Valve's early success, with games like Half-Life and Portal still having an impact to this day, the bearded Santa Claus of gaming is something of an icon. So much so in fact that some fans have been creating portraits of him.

A number of threads over on the Steam subreddit have really brought out the inner artist in some users, as there has been a bunch of artwork depicting the Valve executive. While some people have opted to portray how he used to look a few years back, others have chosen to do a more contemporary piece, depicting him with his trademark gray beard and long hair. In fact, one user, who goes by WorstSpawnPossible, has used the AI tool Midjourney to create a portrait that shows Newell as Santa Claus himself, complete with a Christmas hat.

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User Gengar218 also opted for artificial intelligence, using DALL-E 2 to create a Leonardo da Vinci-style picture of Newell. Others, such as Stacheyp, decided to do a pencil drawing instead. Evidently, the business tycoon has had a significant impact on the community. Given the sheer popularity of the Steam PC client, millions of gamers around the world are all too familiar with the name Gabe Newell. While it's Steam itself that continues to be a money spinner for the company, some older fans will remember the early days of quality games.

An AI drawing of Vale CEO Gabe Newell wearing a red Santa hat.

See the discussion on Reddit

The Valve CEO also made waves at the start of the year when a user personally received a Steam Deck from Gabe Newell himself. With a film crew in tow, Gaben can be seen going door to door in the neighborhood close to Valve's head office, handing the Deck to residents who pre-ordered the mobile device. He even asked them to contact him personally to give some feedback on it.

An abstract drawing og Gabe Newell before he had the beard and long hair.

See the discussion on Reddit

As one of the most influential people in the video games industry, Gabe Newell sits up there with the likes of Hideo Kojima, Sam and Dan Houser, and Shigeru Miyamoto. With the Steam Deck proving to be popular and more than just a simple handheld games console, Valve has shown that it can do more than create games or influential PC storefronts. The company can actually make an impact on the hardware market as well.

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Source: Reddit (Gengar218), Reddit (Stacheyp)