Watch as Gabe Newell stuns the first Steam Deck recipients

If you’re lucky enough to be in the first wave of folks who pre-ordered the Steam Deck, and also happen to live near the Valve company headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, then you might have had your new handheld PC hand-delivered by the big guy himself, Gabe Newell.

If you’re unaware of who Newell is, chances are you’re not a gamer as this former Microsoft employee has helped to create some pretty big titles, such as Half-Life, Team Fortress, and Portal, alongside launching Steam back in 2003. It’s safe to say that this man is, uh, kind of a big deal.

This is likely why the video has a fair bit of awkward staring in disbelief, but we can hardly blame the customers who had their Steam Deck handheld handed to them by Newell rather than your typical courier. 

Newell is seen walking up to customers’ houses, confirming their names, and then greeting them with “Hi, I’m Gabe”. Judging by the look on most recipients’ faces though, they could probably tell who he was the moment they opened the door.

Not only that, he was generous enough to pop his signature on a few. The video captured Newell opening some of the boxes and scribbling his name onto the case with what appears to be a silver pen, laughingly stating “I hope people don’t get mad that i’m signing them”. 

He even apologetically points out “I signed it, I hope that’s okay” when one customer opens the box in front of him. Somehow, we doubt they mind in the slightest. Just a hunch.

He goes on to say “my email is gaben@valvesoftware.com, I’d love to know what you think after you’ve had a chance to play with it”. Newell’s email is publically available, and he does on occasion reply to emails if you have any questions or concerns regarding things like Steam, Valve, or the new Steam Deck handheld PC. 

In fact, he confirms at the end of the video that he gets anywhere from hundreds to several thousand emails a day, and makes a point of reading them all, claiming “It keeps you super grounded. You know what people are actually thinking and what’s actually important to them”.

We have our own review for the Steam Deck available to read right now, though ours sadly wasn’t hand-delivered by the PC gaming equivalent of Santa. The vibe is generally positive though, so if you’ve been tempted to add Valves handheld gaming PC for yourself then this might be the sign you needed to add one to your basket.

Via IGN