![]() He believed that upon its release in 1993, DOOM was the most used piece of software in the US with Windows trailing behind. “It was common wisdom that it wasn’t possible to write a good game in Windows because of, well, unnamed technical reasons.” – Gabe Newell He was initially incredibly disappointed that DOOM only ran on MS-DOS rather than on the Windows software (Anthony). It was a different game that utilized the PC's full functionality to generate large three-dimensional worlds with fast-paced combat and incredible graphics. By 1995, it was estimated that there were more copies of DOOM in circulation than copies of the Windows 95’ software (Anthony).Īround the time when the DOOM shareware was circulating around the PC world, Gabe Newell came across the game and was incredibly impressed with its capabilities. ![]() It was also pirated so intensely that it was estimated that the true number of copies in circulation was upwards of 10-20 million (Dunnigan). It sold over 6 million copies within its first two years of release, an almost unprecedented amount for a small games developer like Id software (McCandless). DOOM became a highly popular game cementing itself as one of the most iconic titles of its age. ![]() This marketing idea worked incredibly well for DOOM. Players interested in pursuing more episodes, would then directly access Id software’s website to purchase the rest of the episodes (Kushner). Anyone could share the first episode amongst their friends as they pleased as a guerilla marketing ploy to generate buzz for the game. Since the game was separated into different “episodes”, Id software would release the first episode as shareware. Believing that traditional media, large publishing studios, and retailers would be uninterested in producing and promoting DOOM, Jay Wilber focused Id software into self-publishing and self-distribution of the game (Kushner). Jay Wilber, the CEO of the tiny 12-man team of Id software that developed DOOM, concocted a unique marketing and distribution strategy for DOOM. This wasn’t commonplace back in the early ’90s. It fully utilized the processing power of the early IBM PCs in order to create a fun and immersive first-person shooter experience. It was a game designed initially for the MS-DOS (an early version of the Microsoft Operating system for IBM computers). High-quality games like this were noticeable absent from the Windows operating system.ĭOOM laid the foundation for the future of first-person shooters with its fast-paced gameplay and snazzy 3D graphics. He was an avid video game enthusiast and loved the iconic game DOOM - one of the earliest shooters about a space marine slaying demons flooding out of Hell and invading Mars. Windows was the ubiquitous platform for all things related to the personal desktop computer. ![]() At the time, Windows dominated 85.6% of the global desktop computer software market share with 5% going to Apple’s Mac OS and the rest going to an assortment of smaller developers (CNET). Newell would end up dedicating 13 years of his life to Microsoft acting as a producer for three major releases for the Windows platform (Barett). With his newfound job at Microsoft, he would follow in the same footsteps as its founder who too had dropped out of Harvard, becoming the 271st employee of the company (Barett). In his final year, Newell would later drop out of Harvard after being convinced by then CEO Steve Ballmer to join Microsoft. In 1980, he graduated and made his way to Harvard where he would continue his studies for the next three years. As a diligent worker, he enjoyed the time spent with his teachers more than he did with his classes. Gabe Newell spent his formative years at the Davis Senior High School with a love for physics, calculus, and English.
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