Gabe Newell took his Microsoft earnings (he helped develop Windows in the early days of the company) and co-founded Valve Software in 1996. Since then, he's been there every step of the way as the studio has literally helped shaped the industry – from creating highly influential, Hall of Fame-worthy games like Half-Life 1 and 2, Portal 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2 to building the backbone of PC gaming with Steam.

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While visiting Valve for our March IGN First coverage of Half-Life: Alyx, the studio's first return to the Half-Life universe in over a dozen years, I had the rare chance to sit down with Newell, who doesn't do a lot of interviews, in his 17th-floor Kirkland, Washington office. In the half-hour conversation you can watch above, Newell talks about the studio's past with Half-Life, the surprising answer to what his favorite Half-Life game is, mistakes that Valve has made, what keeps a man worth billions of dollars coming to work every day, how he spends his days, what the next decade looks like for Valve (hint: it involves a brain-AI interface), and more!For more on Half-Life: Alyx, check out all of our IGN First coverage thus far , including nine minutes of new gameplay, Half-Life 2 developers reacting to a Half-Life 2 speedrun, and more! And stay tuned for our full review of Half-Life: Alyx, coming soon.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , catch him on Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.