There is a relatively high chance that Valve co-founder Gabe Newell and Hollywood director James Cameron are at least friendly. Both men share a niche, expensive hobby: investing in submarines. Newell, best known as a central figure behind Half-Life and Steam, has quietly become a significant player in ocean exploration through Inkfish, his research firm dedicated to studying the ocean depths.
The RV6000 and the Shift to Oceanco
Newell is currently footing the bill for a 100-meter vessel known as the RV6000. Construction on the project recently began at a shipyard in Romania. Once the outer hull is finished, the vessel will be transported to a shipyard in Norway for completion. The project is managed by Vard, a Norwegian company that describes the vessel as "one of the most modern research vessels the world has seen."
The project is being handled by Oceanco, a manufacturer of high-end boats that Newell acquired last year. With a price tag of €200 million (roughly $228 million), the RV6000 is an ambitious undertaking, but it represents only the first phase of Newell’s deep-sea ambitions.
The RV11000 and Future Operations
Newell has now greenlit a second, significantly larger wave of investment: €700 million, or just shy of $800 million, for the development of the RV11000. This vessel will reach a total size of 162 meters and is specifically engineered to venture further than most existing deep-sea vessels.
The RV11000 is designed to accommodate a crew of 130 people and is expected to follow the same construction pipeline as its predecessor. While the RV6000 is slated for completion in 2028, the massive RV11000 is currently projected to be operational by 2030. Newell’s transition into this field follows a path similar to that of James Cameron, who developed a professional expertise in oceanic research following his work on the 1997 film Titanic.
It is a stark contrast to the world of PC gaming, where users might currently be debating the value of a $1 Half-Life bundle on Steam. Meanwhile, for those still utilizing older hardware, it is worth noting that the Steam Machine is currently experiencing its own version of the Xbox 360's "Red Ring of Death," with lightbar codes indicating potential GPU failure.