Forbes magazine has published its list of the world’s richest people, and Valve big cheese Gabe Newell came in at number 854, making him one of 1,226 living billionaires on the planet.

Newel is estimated to be worth about $1.5 billion.

Valve keeps its finances private, so the Forbes estimate was drawn from discussions had with “video game industry insiders, equity analysts, investment bankers, and technology analysts”.

The recent commercial success of Portal 2 as well as the rampant growth that Steam continues to enjoy were also factors taken into account.

“Even the most conservative estimates put Valve’s enterprise value at more than $3 billion,” and since Newell owns more than half of Steam, it is projected that he is worth at least $1.5 billion.

Newel worked for Microsoft for 13 years, and described his role as “producer of the first three releases of Windows.” He became a “Microsoft Millionaire” before leaving the company to start Valve.

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