TheRetroArcade
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Counter-Strike co-creator says Valve employees once endured daily psychic damage from the founder's fixation.
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As a college student, Minh "Gooseman" Le had a substantial hand in shaping PC gaming history: He co-created Counter-Strike. When Le and his development partner later sold the IP to Valve, the purchase agreement stipulated that the studio would also hire the pair as employees once they completed their degrees. Hired in 2000, Le ultimately spent six years with the company, witnessing impactful moments of Valve history—moments like Gabe Newell's Mongolian throat singing phase.
In a YouTube interview with games marketing consultant Joe Henson, Le called the mythologized Valve founder a "very eccentric" person with a tendency to "venture off into interesting hobbies." According to Le, one of those ventures involved a hyperfixation with Mongolian-Tuvan throat singing, a distinctive singing style in which a vocalist harmonizes multiple pitches simultaneously through precise muscle control.
It's sick. But by the end of Newell's fascination with the technique—initially sparked after the CEO watched a documentary about its Mongolian practitioners—some Valve employees might not have thought so.
"He started to practice that. He started to do Mongolian throat singing, and he was doing it throughout the office. You would hear him try to sing with his throat as he's walking down the halls," Le said. "I remember a lot of people in the office were kind of annoyed, because, you know, it's kind of loud. And he would just walk along the halls just doing this throat singing. And he would do it daily."
Thankfully, Le said, the phase only "lasted for about five months."
From the creators of Edge: A free weekly videogame industry newsletter, featuring in-depth news, expert analysis and exclusive interviews
Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.
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When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
As a college student, Minh "Gooseman" Le had a substantial hand in shaping PC gaming history: He co-created Counter-Strike. When Le and his development partner later sold the IP to Valve, the purchase agreement stipulated that the studio would also hire the pair as employees once they completed their degrees. Hired in 2000, Le ultimately spent six years with the company, witnessing impactful moments of Valve history—moments like Gabe Newell's Mongolian throat singing phase.
In a YouTube interview with games marketing consultant Joe Henson, Le called the mythologized Valve founder a "very eccentric" person with a tendency to "venture off into interesting hobbies." According to Le, one of those ventures involved a hyperfixation with Mongolian-Tuvan throat singing, a distinctive singing style in which a vocalist harmonizes multiple pitches simultaneously through precise muscle control.
It's sick. But by the end of Newell's fascination with the technique—initially sparked after the CEO watched a documentary about its Mongolian practitioners—some Valve employees might not have thought so.
"He started to practice that. He started to do Mongolian throat singing, and he was doing it throughout the office. You would hear him try to sing with his throat as he's walking down the halls," Le said. "I remember a lot of people in the office were kind of annoyed, because, you know, it's kind of loud. And he would just walk along the halls just doing this throat singing. And he would do it daily."
Thankfully, Le said, the phase only "lasted for about five months."
From the creators of Edge: A free weekly videogame industry newsletter, featuring in-depth news, expert analysis and exclusive interviews
Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?