Valve’s Gabe Newell wants to play Apex Legends for future game inspiration
Valve Twitch / Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends is in the backlog of Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, popularly known as Gaben, as the game industry legend thinks he can get a ton of inspiration from the unique battle royale.
Counter-Strike, Dota, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and many more. Gaben not only gave life to the most popular digital games marketplace, but also created some of the most beloved titles in their respective genres.
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Famer has had a major influence in the world of games, and he might have just identified where his next dose of game development inspiration will be coming from.
“The one game that I really want to start playing, I have no excuse, but I want to play Apex Legends,” Newell told New Zealand’s 1 NEWS. That’s one title in his games backlog that he’s really been itching to play, saying that a “bunch of people at Valve” have been grinding away in the Arena.
But always more than a gamer, Newell is keen to dive into Respawn’s battle royale since he thinks it’ll have plenty for him to learn about as he plays.
“I think I’ll enjoy playing [Apex Legends], which is always good, but I also think there’s things I’ll learn as a videogame developer from playing it,” he said. Newell mentioned that games from prolific designers like Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto are always fun, but they also seem to give insights in the craft.
The Valve boss said that he’s been trying to court more traveling companions onto Dota 2, but can’t wait to join the hordes at Valve who are entrenched in the Apex Games.
Overall, Newell’s comments are immense praise to the people at Respawn, who recently brought Apex to the Steam marketplace. A bunch of Respawn personnel also reacted to Newell’s comments with as much glee as you might expect.
“Dear Gaben if you’re out there, you bearded god: If you and your squad wanna play a few games with Respawn’s design leads and directors, hit us up! We’re big fans,” Director of Community and Communications Ryan K. Rigney said.
Even more interesting is to see what Newell could do with the inspiration he gets from Apex Legends. Valve has industry-leading titles across the FPS and MOBA genres, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he takes from Respawn’s battle royale.