Gabe Newell's hobbies can get pretty weird, but this one reportedly drove Valve employees crazy.
Valve co-founder Gabe Newell reportedly spent months practicing Mongolian throat singing around the company's offices, according to Minh "Gooseman" Le.
Le, a former developer at Valve and co-creator of Counter-Strike, recalled the incident during a recent interview with game marketing consultant Indie Game Joe.
Mongolian throat singing is a traditional vocal technique that allows singers to produce multiple pitches at the same time. The technique can produce distinctive, resonant sounds by manipulating the singer's vocal tract and overtones.
Gabe Newell Became Obsessed With Throat Singing
According to Le, Newell became interested in Mongolian throat singing after watching a documentary about the traditional vocal technique.
At one point, he got into Mongolian throat singing. [...] So Gabe watched this documentary on them, and he really got fascinated with this concept.
Le believes Newell's interest in this unique style of singing was down to his "eccentric" and "curious" nature. It was allegedly quite common for the game developer to "venture into really interesting hobbies."
Newell reportedly began practicing it around Valve's headquarters, including while walking through office hallways.
You would hear him try to sing with his throat. [...] He would just walk along the halls doing this throat singing thing. And he would do it daily.
Valve Employees Were Not Impressed
Le recalled that many Valve employees weren't exactly pleased with Newell's new Mongolian throat singing hobby.
I remember a lot of people in the office; they were kind of annoyed with this because, you know, it's kind of loud.
Some employees would reportedly close their doors whenever Gabe sang, resulting in what Le described as "quite a closed office."
Thankfully, the unusual hobby didn't last for long. Newell dropped his interest in Mongolian throat singing after five months.
Le also revealed that Newell once developed an interesting fascination with knives, which led to him dedicating an entire room to his collection. This included knives, axes, blades, and swords. Ultimately, it led to Newell taking classes in knife-making.