In an interview with 1 NEWS, Gabe Newell talked about potentially moving Valve to New Zealand following interest from his employees. He also discussed the possibility of holding esports events in the country, talking about The International and Majors. Newell hasn’t fully confirmed it’s happening, however.
Newell was in New Zealand on holiday when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world, leading him to stay put in the country. According to him, there’s a lot of interest from his employees to actually move the company there. “There is a lot of interest at a grass roots level inside of the company (Valve) to have some people move.” Newell says. “There’s absolutely no reason why game development companies couldn’t be located here.”
Hearing that Gabe Newell and others working an Valve have a strong interest in moving everything to New Zealand as well as their major esports is fucking epic to hear!
— Bluesy (@ProBluesPlayer) January 20, 2021
When it comes to some of their biggest esports events, such as The International and the Dota and CS:GO Majors, Newell says moving them to New Zealand would be a realistic idea. “New Zealand is one of the only countries in the world where you can do CS:GO or Dota tournaments safely. As COVID keeps mutating it’s certainly increasing the likelihood that we’ll be having events here. […] It’s a realistic possibility and gets more realistic all the time.”
In the interview Newell goes on to talk about current games he’s playing, the CyberPunk 2077 situation and Half-Life. The entire interview can be found here.
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