The long-awaited Steam Deck finally arrived last month, and Valve obviously wants to make its continued launch as successful as possible. Effective PR moves are one way to greatly increase a products chance of success, and it seems that Valve already got the memo. According to a Reddit post from a few days ago, Valve CEO Gabe Newell personally showed up at the Redditor’s front door and hand delivered the Steam Deck he ordered to his wife.
He posted a screenshot of Newell approaching his front door as proof and showed images of his new Steam Deck, complete with Newell’s signature. Just yesterday, Valve essentially confirmed the Reddit post by uploading a video of Newell delivering the first Steam Decks to several houses in Seattle.
A series of surprise visits
Newell received quite a few different reactions when approaching houses with his camera crew. Some recognized him immediately and were shocked to see him, while others simply received the package and thanked him as they normally would. One of the people Newell came up to seemed to be the wife of the aforementioned Redditor, as the conversation they had more or less lined up with what he described in his post. Newell maintains a laidback, casual vibe throughout, and he even sparks a brief conversation about Final Fantasy XIV with one of the neighbors.
The video of Gabe Newell hand-delivering Steam Deck products emphasizes his distinct approach to consumer relations compared to other company CEOs. Many CEOs seem relatively distant from the consumers they cater to, but Newell appears to value consumers’ input as well as the rapport he builds with them, if this video is anything to go by. PR moves like this will only help Valve as it attempts to make the Steam Deck a sought after product that players will enjoy for years to come.
