Gabe Newell: No One At Valve Met with Tim Cook Last Week

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

But don't worry, even the folks at Valve believed the rumor when they heard it.

Last week the video game industry was buzzing about a rumored meeting between Valve boss Gabe Newell and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Speculation was rife as to what the two men could have been talking about but many thought it was something to do with Apple iTV.

"Valve and Apple are seemingly a good pair if they get all their ducks lined up in a row correctly which is why an Apple iTV packed with Valve's gaming hardware doesn't seem all that far-fetched," our own Kevin Parrish wrote earlier week. "That's what Apple Tim Cook reportedly went to go see: progress on the console aspect that will rely on motion and touch-based controls."

However, as exciting as that prospect may seem, it looks like this meeting might never have taken place. Kotaku reports that Gabe Newell quashed the rumor in an interview with Seven Day Cooldown. Gabe said that when they heard the news, even they thought it was true, and it kicked off a flurry of emails asking who the CEO was coming to see.

"We actually, we all sent mail to each other, going, 'Who's Tim Cook meeting with? Is he meeting with you? I'm not meeting with Tim Cook.' So we're... it's one of those rumors that was stated so factually that we were actually confused," he told Seven Day Cooldown.

All is not lost, though. While Gabe confirmed that the meeting never took place, he also expressed a certain desire for such a meeting in the future.

"No one here was meeting with Tim Cook or with anybody at Apple that day. I wish we were! We have a long list of things we'd love to see Apple do to support games and gaming better. But no, we didn't meet with Tim Cook. He seems like a smart guy, but I've never actually met him."

No word on whether or not Newell discussed the rumors regarding a Valve console. Things came to a head late last week when a job posting for an Electronics Engineer popped up on Valve's website and many people thought that it could be connected to the Apple meeting. However, if Gabe is telling the truth, and Valve and Apple haven't met, that means this console has nothing to do with Cupertino. Interesting, eh?

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Jane McEntegart
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sterimar
    Where is Half-Life 3? That's the only thing I want to hear about Valve.
    Reply
  • sp0nger
    Yeah seriously where is half life 3

    I love valve, and im glad to see that they havent turned to the dark side (apple) but come on now, we all know your waiting for the next get to do half-life 3 but can we just get a screen shot of a gordon/alex combo so that i can ease these blue balls?
    Reply
  • vision33r
    The iPad is the cheapest Mac, it may not be a full desktop or laptop. It has iOS and it cost about as much as a PC.

    The iPad gaming scene is generating revenue faster than the PC gaming scene. Even Epic Megagames admits that iPad > PC Gaming for $$
    Reply
  • ojas
    However, as troubling as that prospect may seem, it looks like this meeting might never have taken place. Ed. Thank god]
    Fixed! :)

    vision33rThe iPad is the cheapest Mac, it may not be a full desktop or laptop. It has iOS and it cost about as much as a PC.Well in that case the iPod Nano would be the "cheapest mac". Macs are desktop/laptop systems, and as much as i dislike working with mac os, it is still a full OS. not mobile crap.

    and steam sells GAMES, not games. Steam-Apple would likely sell igames. Angry Bird is considered a AAA+ title in Apple's world, didn't you know...
    Reply
  • Parsian
    "my classmate's step-aunt use to make $75/hour on the internet until she took an "arrow" to her vagina. ..."

    Let me guess you are now doing her job?
    Reply
  • AsTheDeath
    Now you're just confusing me. Hasn't it been clear for the past couple of weeks that Valve ISN"T working on a console, but instead on some kind of wearable computing device... whatever that may be? Have I missed something or has Tom's still not caught on to the facts (as stated by mr. Valve Employee over at http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-like-and-what-im-doing-2/)
    Reply
  • demonhorde665
    sp0ngerYeah seriously where is half life 3I love valve, and im glad to see that they havent turned to the dark side (apple) but come on now, we all know your waiting for the next get to do half-life 3 but can we just get a screen shot of a gordon/alex combo so that i can ease these blue balls?

    here doctors prescribed medication for blue balls

    a pack of condoms , about 300 bucks, ,then enter one of those cheap seedy massage parlors in the down town areas of your local city ... blue balls will be relieved in roughly 1 minute to 1 hour depending on the patient!
    Reply
  • alidan
    sterimarWhere is Half-Life 3? That's the only thing I want to hear about Valve.
    its the launch title for what ever system they put out or whoever they are tied to.
    Reply
  • tomc100
    Half-life 3 is an obvious launch title for the next gen systems, ie. xbox720 or PS4. There's no way in hell that Valve is going to end the series with an engine that is a decade old. And that will also give them the excuse of no longer supporting dx9 and winxp.
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Well they can deny it all they want, I'm sure Apple would like to expand their meager selection of games as Macs get popular.
    Reply