Valve managing director (superstar) Gabe Newell has hired three very talented developers that Gabe handpicked himself.

The three new developers are Michael Abrash, Scott Ludwig and Mike Sartain. Abrash was a colleague with Newell back in the days when they were working at Microsoft. He was also known for as one of the key developers in Quake.

Newell say “About once a quarter we go for dinner and I say ‘are you ready to work here yet?’”

Mike Sartain on the otherhand is known for his work on Halo and RAD Games. As for Scott Ludwig, he was also a colleague at Microsoft as a software engineer and Newell had this to say about Scott, “He’s one of those people… that makes everyone around them work better”.