Back in May, Gabe Newell had a talk with high school students in Auckland, New Zealand. Fast forward to December, a short clip from this meeting, in which he opened up about Valve’s plans in the AR/VR area, appeared online.
The video, featuring a part of the talk that has not been reported before, was shared by tech analyst Brad Lynch on December 1 and spotted by Road to VR.
Answering students’ questions, Gabe Newell called VR and AR “transition points towards brain-computer interfaces.” He noted that these technologies are not ultimate goals for Valve, but the company has been doing some work in this direction.
“I think brain-computer interfaces are going to be incredibly disruptive, one of the more disruptive technology transitions we’re going to go through,” Newell said. “So I think it’s super valuable. We’re making big investments in new headsets and games for those application categories, but also looking further down the road and saying, ‘What’s that evolve into?’”
— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) December 1, 2021
It is unclear what Valve might be working on exactly. However, Newell’s speech from May 2021 goes against the latest report from insider Tyler McVicker, who claimed that the company plans to give up on VR and focus entirely on Steam Deck.