The story of Valve founder Gabe Newell telling Erik Wolpaw, key writer on studio-defining hits like Half-Life 2 and the Portal duology, not to resign but instead to focus on recovering from serious health complications has been making the rounds online. Tens of thousands of likes, upvotes, shares, and comments have been hurled at what certainly appears to be a very successful Reddit karma farm today, in case we needed more evidence that the internet loves Newell and Valve (until it briefly doesn't). But in the process, a key part of this old story has gotten lost, not to mention citation.
Newell and Wolpaw's interaction stems from Portal 2 - The Final Hours (or The Final Hours of Portal 2), a digital book by The Game Awards host and former game journalist Geoff Keighley. No, really, after 15 years it's still on Steam for $2, and its developer and publisher are both listed as Keighley. It has also been widely archived online.
