Valve Corporation (formerly Valve Software, commonly referred to as Valve) is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States. Founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, Valve became famous for its critically acclaimed Half-Life (released in 1998) and Portal sub-series (released in 2007). Valve is also well known for its software distribution platform Steam (released in 2002), and the Source engine (released in 2004).
