Valve Founder’s Neural Interface Company Set to Launch First Brain Chip This Year

Man, so Gabe Newell’s up to something wild again, huh? Valve’s big guy, yeah, the one who’s got his fingers in a bunch of pies (and chips, apparently), has this company called Starfish Neuroscience. They’re working on some neural chip that’s like—totally next-gen brain stuff, minimal fuss, you know? Maybe it’s gonna drop sooner than you’d think. Or maybe not. Who can really say with these tech timelines?

Okay, picture this: a tiny, ultra-low power chip. Think of it like a micro-sized wizard, crafted in the mysterious labs of some R&D leader called imec. Sounds impressive, right? Starfish is all geeked out about it. Their chip is destined for these wireless brain thingamajigs. Battery-free! Like, seriously? No idea how that works without some sort of magical shenanigans. But the chip’s supposed to read and tickle brain cells in different spots at once. Right where it gets funky—treatment for all those whacky neurological disco parties in our noggin.

I mean, take a look at current tech. Musk’s Neuralink is all about poking around in a single brain area. But Starfish? They’re eyeing a broader horizon, less chopping open of our heads. Smaller chip, less fuss. Makes sense, right? Their hope is these little things can be sprinkled all over without too many scalpels on the scene.

The thing’s only 2 by 4 millimeters. Tiny, like, really tiny. You’d never suspect a part of your personal sci-fi daydream from some dude who made video games! But here we are, right? It’s promising a low-energy vibe — gen-z chip? Just 1.1 mW. Don’t ask me what that means exactly; it just sounds cool. It’s got the specs like a techie rap sheet: 32 electrode sites, recordings, stimulations, all that jazz. And it can chat wirelessly! Go figure. Should’ve brought sunglasses for this much future.

But hold up. We’re still in early days here. What’s amusing is now they’re asking around for buddies to tinker with this stuff. Like, “Hey, you into neural devices? Let’s hang out.” Late 2025 is their party date, so mark the calendars—unless, of course, things get re-jigged. Wouldn’t be the first tech project to do so.

And, oh, Gabe. In ‘23 he was all “we’re way closer to ‘The Matrix’ than you think.” I can’t decide if that’s thrilling or terrifying. Interesting tidbit: he thinks your brain’s ability to read/write stuff is way more doable than, like, making you feel cold. Who knew temperature perception was such a rebel in brain-land?

Some other cool cat, Mike Ambinder, was into this before leaving Valve. He gave us this ‘brain-computer interface in gaming’ spiel back in 2019. About player responses and tech tricks, though I’ll bet it’s still a bit of a mixed bag. They’re ‘starting’ to get a handle on it? I imagine the research lab looks like a video game itself sometimes.

Anyway, a shoutout to Brad ‘SadlyItsBradley’ Lynch for spilling the beans. Keeps nerds like me entertained.

End of ramble.