Does this mean that HL3 haven't been in development and that it probably won't be in the near future?

Yeah I agree, sounds like its not in development and there's no plans for it to be either.

Not that I'm bothered, I don't think any game could live up to the hype that it would produce

Wow, what a kick in the teeth for the people who care about Half-Life. Sorry, guys.

It might be a good thing, though. I very much doubt HL3 would resemble 1 and 2 in terms of gameplay in this day and age.

What I wantto gather from that quote is saying that, if HL3 is in production or going to be in production, its gonna be a flag ship for a business feature or major gaming innovation. Like how Half life 2 help push steam onto peoples computers or how half life 1 was just a mind blowing game.

I know it's pretty much the cool thing to not care about Half Life 3 at this point, but I have to admit this makes me sad. It's not like I expect anything mindblowing or revolutionary out of a Half Life 3, but I really liked the story, the characters, and the world. I would really love a conclusion.

I'm fine with not shackling Valve to its old IPs so long as it means they're coming up with some fun stuff. Hats and ponies for a MOBA? Not so exciting.

Episode 2 was 7 1/2 years ago and Half-life 2 was over 10 years ago. I'm pretty over it now, whatever.

Summed it pretty good.
I second this.

I'm over Half-Life at this point, but do you know who I feel really bad for? Marc Laidlaw.

That dude doesn't have a hope in hell of getting the rest of his story out there.

Which almost makes me wonder why modders haven't come up their own conclusion in that time. Maybe nobody thinks they can do it justice?

I'd settle for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 just to wrap things up.

I just Valve to create a bit more of a competitive environment for TF2 like what they've done with Dota 2 and CS. I know they see it mainly as a cash cow because of the dumb cosmetics, but is it really so much to ask?

Possibly, I mean what better game to launch their VR hardware with? But would it still be a FPS at that point, wouldn't it need to be something completely different to sell VR as something you must have?

This is from the GameSlice podcast. The way it sounded to me is that they are moving away from shipping "traditional" games and instead want to focus on creating new experiences. I would be surprised if Valve doesn't release a game alongside the Vive and a new VR Half-Life game makes a lot of sense.

Valve has so many talented game developers on staff but they don't seem to have any projects in development...what are they doing with all of those people?1?!

Hats.

They probably realize the amazing potential this series has. Hell, half life 2 kind of breathed life into steam. I feel confident in saying if it wasn't for half life 2, steam wouldn't be where it is today. Another half life could help launch any platform they are working on. Maybe the vive, for instance. There's just no way they'll abandon the half life series and the amount of potential it still has

They came out and said they wouldn't do just single-player games before right? I remember feeling a bit worried by that, but just now I remembered that I played a TON of Half-Life 1 multiplayer. HL2 MP didn't even ship with the game at launch, and when it did come out wasn't nearly as much fun as the first game's MP.

Anyways, this doesn't sound like a yes or a no, just another way of saying "we'll continue to do what we want". Whether that means they already have some groundwork on HL3/Episode 3 or would ever even want to make it, who could say. I'd expect them to put out a game or two alongside their new engine though.

That's pretty sad to hear. I dont think they themselves even know what happens after Episode 2. The only way I see Half Life 3 being made and coming out is if there is a big push for VR and they need essentially a big seller to package with it.

I think I am at the point where I would really love it if Half-Life 3 happened, but won't be that sad if it doesn't.

The most shocking thing to come out of this for me was learning that Max Scoville works for IGN now. That's weird to me in a lot of ways.

Half-Life 3 is sort of like that ex who you wish would come back, but they never do. Only finally, years later, when you have truly forgotten about them and couldn't care less, then there is a knock at the door.

@mb: Except the people that answer the door are going to be your children, instead. Ensue confusion.

A NEW COMEDY FROM THE MAKERS OF NEW GIRL

Who Cares?

Starring Rob Schneider in Da Derp Dee Derp Da Valve Derp Aderp Dee-life!

A game designed like Half-Life 2 would never fly today, and if was made any other way the fans of Half-Life would go insane. There's no winning with Half-Life 3, so it's best just not to play.

It's not like they even need to make it anyway, they already have enough games making money hand over fist.

I am beginning to really dislike Valve. It sucks that they won't continue their flagship series only because they see money signs in Steam and Dota 2.

They are very close to a monopoly in digital PC distribution, and only put effort into a game that started out a a mod for heavens sake. Like someone said earlier, let some of these talented writers they have on staff work on something that is worthwhile instead of making hats to line Newells fat pockets with gold.

@dtat said:

Yup. I don't much care that it utterly revolutionizes story-telling or physics systems, personally. I'd just like to see the story of that world carried forward to some sort of conclusion.

Ah well, I'll live.

I think it's kind of lame to end a game on a cliff hanger then just kind of ignore the fans asking about when the story will be concluded. These are video games, not life threatening issues. Why not just say yes or no as to whether or not it's in development, and flat out give the blizzard line of "it's done when it's done" if it is being made.

That's crazy. It does not seem that long, at least for Ep2.

Isn't it crazy that in a world full of too many sequels, the one sequel the industry would actually "accept" as not being offensive may not even get made? As many have stated here, seeing an actual conclusion to that story is a big reason why so many want another Half Life. People let "expectations" build too much in their own minds. It isn't really an issue honestly. The game doesn't have to redefine everything to be released and give the crowd that is interested in it what they want.

I have to say this is a strange play for Valve as well, if true. My love/hate relationship with them continues. Steam is amazing, but it also is garbage in so many ways. Garbage that they clean up in spots. As a publisher/developer they fall into the same pattern. Dota 2 is great for people who play Dota. But a big following of people actually think Valve has talented devs who could do much more than a Moba, store items, or "secret VR projects" that may not see release for 8 years.

I really think Valve needs to step up. Screw the money. At a certain point you have a loyalty to your consumer base. You are in the position you are in Valve because of the good will you built with consumers with steam, and your loyal fan base who thought you had tons of talented developers. Not really releasing a major game since Portal 2 nearly 4 years ago, I think it's time you put something out. Even if it isn't Half Life 3. Something. A new IP, anything. Take your stab at another game in the industry and put some of that money to good use.

The more they sit there on their money and try to pound out new ideas, new systems in Steam, VR and the "future" the more I feel they are a bunch of pretentious game people who probably didn't "deserve" the money in the first place. As much as the future is all great and well the biggest thing that I and most care about in this industry is great games giving us great moments. You can't have that if you don't release games.

Its too bad that Half Life has been saddled with all these weird expectations for being this sea-change transformational thing, and ignoring the reality that it is in the end just a fun shooter series with a penchant for trying out new stuff. Some of it has worked well and is part of what defines video gaming these days, some of it is a misstep (Episode 1...) but on a whole they are still fun to play.

Ending the series with Episode 2 (which I love) is a huge kick in the dick to the fans of that franchise. Forget Halo 2's stupid ending, Episode 2 has a cliffhanger ending thats been getting more and more lame as time dulls it. The series is a joke, a stupid meme at this point. What a colossal fuckup. What a shame and a waste.

I guess the likely thing is that it will be a VR thing at some point. Great. Honestly more people will probably buy it so they get a mod and bang virtual Source3 Alex Vance, but that is the future of all media I suppose.

@devise22: Basically, Valve is Nintendo? Riding on the goodwill and nostalgia of a lot of gamers while chasing after the mainstream with weird "side projects" that ultimately are nothing like their old properties?

Valve makes games?

You know, the more I think about it, the more I agree with this.

When you look at all the small, scrappy companies out there today who are willing to risk everything with experimental projects that may or may not work out, motivated by sheer creative willpower, and then you see Valve sitting on their asses bathing in the infinite money hose that is Steam, and using that unprecedented position to apparently try to make as few games as possible, it makes you wonder why any creative person would actually want to work there. Games are apparently beneath them. They're stock brokers at this point.

For them making an old school single player focused game makes not much sense, UNLESS they do it as a showpiece for a piece of technology. While they might not be developing half life 3 now, I can see them showing off the true potential of VR and virtual immersion with a killer app like Half Life.

Right now you have a lot of oculus demo's that focus on relative simple ideas that are made special by the movements of your head. I wouldn't put it past Valve to start development on Half Life 3 as soon as the Vive's is in stores. It might not be a quick one two punch like they did with steam and hl2, but if they manage to make the first 'traditional ' FPS in virtual reality, that could be very interesting. Even if it comes a year or two later.

"If you want to ignore everything we've learned in shipping Portal 2..."

What, like, that people desperately want and are willing to pay for games that harken back to 1997-1999 in their quality?

I really liked the Half-Life games, but my main problem with Valve's attitude toward Half-Life 3 is that they've forgotten that art also belongs to the viewer. We invest ourselves in it, it becomes a part of our experience, and at that point the creator owes a debt of resolution. Sometimes resolution looks like the end of "Picnic at Hanging Rock," and that's totally acceptable; it's the question that is intended to be absorbed. But when closure is intended by both the creator and the viewer, and it's withheld because "I don't feel like it anymore," that's kind of pathetic on the artist's part.

EDIT: I'm much more excited at this point to see Gabe 2.0 leave the slow ponderous machine that is Valve, start a new studio, and make Half-Life 2.0.

First Kojima leaving Konami, and now this? This industry is mad, I say.

@mlarrabee: What? I'd rather take a cliffhanger then a forced, soulless sequel that the artist has absolutely no interest in making. It's why the third movie in a franchise usually stinks, the creators exhaust themselves on the first two and have nothing left in the tank for the contractually obligated third movie.

Technically, didn't almost all Valve's games start out as mods? Half-life started off as a Quake 1 mod, and so did Team Fortress. Counter-Strike obviously was a popular Half-life mod before Valve hired the people behind it and gave it a retail release and commercial sequels.

Portal and Left 4 Dead are the only exceptions I can think of, though Portal started off as a student project.

You guys should buy the witcher 3 on GOG when it comes out and support the PC focused developper with a digital store front who cares about its fans. Valve is way too into making shinier Skinner boxes and working on high minded hardware projects to care about what you think.

Or maybe a large majority of the PC copies will sell on steam and 10 times as much copies will get pirated like last time. Because that's how you show a company your love for expertly crafted single player content. You buy their product on their competitor's platform or downright steal it. And people wonder why Valve is focusing on online free to play trash...

After all this time I kind of expected this to happen, but God damn is it frustrating to think of the way Episode 2 ended and the fact that there may be no conclusion to that.

No creator owes their audience fucking anything.

Get off of your high horses. You don't get a say in a creative product just because you thought it was a cool thing. If someone doesn't want to create anymore, that's on them. You can be disappointed, you can be angry, you can not give them money anymore, but the second you even so much as suggest that you deserve more of a creation just because you really liked it, you're wrong.

Valve is or isn't or has been developing and then scrapped Half Life 3 and started over and then it ended up as a courier in Dota, and you know what? That's their choice. Not ours.

i dunno- i don't take that quote to move the needle in one direction or the other- seems pretty status quo to me.

i'm confident the half-life universe will be revisited within my lifetime. and that's enough- wishing for it harder won't make it come any faster.

also-

@angrighandi said:

except that whole VR thing. that has the potential to push interactive entertainment into territory without precedent. not exactly what i would call "sitting on their asses."

@slang_n_bang said:

Valve is exhausting itself on aesthetic micro transactions in DOTA, JPEG backgrounds for your Steam profile, and an unnecessary fork of Debian called SteamOS. But maybe you're right: maybe Valve is creatively exhausted. But four years of creative stagnation, decline even, is stinging. It's not fatal, but springing back requires a headline return.

@mellotronrules They're streamlining a Debian fork and working on VR goggles. Considering Damn Small Linux, Oculus Rift, and Project Morpheus all exist, Valve isn't really doing anything novel.

EDIT: I like Valve. I like them a lot less than I did five years ago, but I like them. But they depress me, because they had so much potential and they effectuated it for a long time, but they've done little more impressive than EA for a few years now.

Yeah. There's a lot of super talented people at Valve and it feels like they're being wasted.

@the_nubster:

Of course Valve doesn't HAVE TO make Half Life 3, but that doesn't mean we can't criticize them for not doing so or feel at least somewhat entitled to some kind of closure. Leaving people with that cliffhanger then just deciding to drop the whole thing is just a smack in the face to anyone who really loved the story. Not that I personally care that much, but it's not hard to understand how people can feel shit on by them.

I wish they'd finish the story for the fans since they used to tease that they would. If Valve doesn't feel like doing it I don't know why they can't contract someone to do it for them so I don't buy the "we have better things to do excuse". Either way I honestly never much cared for Half-Life so it doesn't me much.

Because no one would want it. Sorry but fan's don't know what they want or how to wrap up a good story. That's why fan fiction is a joke. It's all unimaginative pandering bullshit that has no clue what made the original material good.