Valve headhunting pays off with three top hires

Gabe Newell has finally secured the services of his musch wooed ex-id Software buddy, Michael Abrash, along with two more high-profile hires.

Develop reports Valve had been headhunting Michael Abrash, Scott Ludwig and Mike Sartain for years before announcing their recruitment last week.

Abrash was a key staffer on both Doom and Quake, while Sartain was one of Bungie's leading lights on the first Halo. Both have served time at RAD Game Tools and worked with Microsoft and Intel.

Newell described his third new employee, Ludwig, as "one of the strongest programmers I’ve ever met" and "one of those people like Abrash and [Doug] Church that makes everyone around them work better".

The Valve founder was also effusive in his praise for Abrash, whom he once described as vital to the initial success of the company.

"It’s not a case of anyone ever needing to catch up on Michael Abrash to make sure he’s not wandering into the weeds. You catch up on him to find out he’s working on something amazing and magical – which would usually be a side-affect of him solving a problem that was annoying him."

Valve currently employs about 260 developers and has one of the highest profit per employee ratios of any technology company.

Thanks, That VideoGame Blog.