Marc Laidlaw has left Valve
- Thread starter Fret
- Start date
shinobi602
Member
That's my only gripe. I've been over it for a while now, but why completely ignore the thing? Just fucking *SAY* something.
What happened? How was it supposed to end? At least talk about it, it's far better than complete silence. I can't come up with a reasonable explanation for the total silence.
Well when you need to squeeze apology for exposing personal data from them what do you expect for other things. I said on twitter and i will say here i am loosing respect for Valve really fast.
I feel like if nothing new comes out or is announced with Vive's launch then HL3 and probably some other franchises are just dead.
Vive is a perfect platform them to show off Source 2 and come up with some creative new ideas and if all we get are ports and things of that nature, then that doesn't bode particularly well.
Vive is a perfect platform them to show off Source 2 and come up with some creative new ideas and if all we get are ports and things of that nature, then that doesn't bode particularly well.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Its so annoying cuz its such a unique case. Every other franchise that didn't get a narratively suggested sequel was either because they couldn't get the funding(Shenmue) or the game didn't sell very well(Viewtiful Joe). Usually a combination of both.
But this is fuckin' Half-Life. One of most commercially successful video game franchises of all-time. Tens of millions of copies sold! And its not like the talent left(or they couldn't easily get them back), or they don't have the money; on the contrary they probably one of the richest developers in the world!
And yet it won't happen. It'll never happen. And they'll never say anything about it. Ever.
But this is fuckin' Half-Life. One of most commercially successful video game franchises of all-time. Tens of millions of copies sold! And its not like the talent left(or they couldn't easily get them back), or they don't have the money; on the contrary they probably one of the richest developers in the world!
And yet it won't happen. It'll never happen. And they'll never say anything about it. Ever.
Where's Jon Snow? We need him to come back and restore the honor of the Wall.
GlamFM
Banned
Steam happened.
Microtransactions happened.
I know the words "greedy" and "lazy" are thrown around a lot - and I usually hate that, but....
When he started writing those HL fan fiction it was obvious nothing is going to come out. I hope he does some more fan fiction again, wink wink.
edit: from that thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=559356
edit: from that thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=559356
What he said. Valve doesn't care about HL3 and honestly I don't care about it either anymore. There are like a hundred other games I'd like to see made before HL3.
Interfectum
Member
At some point they'll farm HL3 out to another studio just to appease the fanbase.
Maybe to Gearbox so they can make a 4 player co-op adventure with Freeman and Co.
Maybe to Gearbox so they can make a 4 player co-op adventure with Freeman and Co.
It'd be more satisfying at this point just to publicly kill it. Don't taint the franchise by making it cheaply. Just say "we have other goals in mind now, and it isn't prudent to pursue this course of action."
Boom, done, we can finally all go home.
chrominance
Member
I assume it's because no one at Valve wants to completely shut the door on future sequels, even if they aren't working on one now and have no plans to work on one in the future. What would they gain by telling us what Half-Life 3 was supposed to be? It's not like they can charge five bucks for The Secret To Half-Life 3 or anything.
diffusionx
Gold Member
This. I'm sure they have prototypes but evidently they didn't want to push it through. That's how the company works. If people don't want to work on a game it doesn't get made.
Shuggananas
Banned
It's not laziness lol, either they're waiting for the right time (VR) or it just doesn't seem like a good business decision
I'll miss him. Loved HL, but it would have to move to new hands eventually if they make more. Hope he has a great retirement
"Last isolated single player experience" is true - but that doesn't mean the end of narrative games, as was suggested in the Gabe Newell interview with Keighley.
I've made peace with the fact that Valve doesn't have an interest in making single player games any more. The sooner you all get to the same place the happier you will be.
Source: http://kotaku.com/5795355/valve-probably-done-with-single-player-games
"Last isolated single player experience" is true - but that doesn't mean the end of narrative games, as was suggested in the Gabe Newell interview with Keighley.
Yeah sure, Valves approach to microtransactions in games are "greedy", yeah sure...
Prophet Steve
Member
Probably because they haven't decided to not release it. There may well be some people working on it. If they say they have people working on it and then they decide this is just never going to work out or something like that people are going to turn crazy too.
Until they have a very clear plan of what to do, they are not releasing information.
That's why I tell people if you want HL3 don't give valve any of your money. They won't make it until people stop buying hats and using their steam platform.
I don't think this one is too confusing.
They don't want to write off the chance that they ever actually go an finish the game, and thus aren't just writing a blog post with all the plot details of the game.
At the same time the game is a total mismatch to what Valve actually does these days, so it doesn't seem very high in the priority queue.
Maybe in another 10-20 years they will sit down and decide "Yeah, everyone who is still here who worked on Half-Life agrees that another game isn't happening, so let's just wrap things up."
Backlogger
Member
There could also be internal disagreements about the direction of HL3. I'm not a fanatic or anything but I would be really surprised if we never saw a HL3 release, even if its 10 years from now.
ashecitism
Member
Just like Epic (and Crytek I guess). Oh well...
At that point the only old fogies left will be Gabe Newell and Doug Lombardi...
No and no.
1. Do you really think Valve has been waiting over a decade for VR technology to catch on so they could make HL3 VR?
2. How would releasing HL3 not be a good business decision? You know, one of their most successful franchises ever.
Valve is just not interested in HL3 or isolated SP experiences anymore.
Big Green Anus
Member
At this point, I'm fine with Tellstale making Half Life 3.
Shuggananas
Banned
Lol good luck making people who clocked 2000+ hours on dota/tf2/csgo boycott them just to hope seeing hl3 made
Get real
I mean I get that, but at this point wouldn't it be easier to just say they aren't working on it and don't plan to release it. If something turns up down the line, then hell, nobody would complain about a surprise new half life game.
The handling of this is all kinds of insane and frankly a bit disrespectful.
Fuck that. I hope this never happens.
ShogunDarius
Member
they announce it as 3 episodes and then episode 3 never comes out, again
diffusionx
Gold Member
There were disagreements over Portal 2's direction, it's one reason why Kim Swift left the company (that puzzle game she made after was kind of what she wanted to do with Portal 2). That in and of itself is not enough to stop the company in its tracks.
I just don't think people there want to make Half-Life games. They're over it. Maybe just the experience of HL2 and E1-2 wore them down, and now all the turnover and new hires and so forth have just naturally drifted them to the space they're at now.
Shuggananas
Banned
By bad business decision I mean it would have a lower return on investment than other efforts they could make on other games
My guess is that there won't be a very significant reaction. People got the message. Half Life is dead. Some reluctant to acknowledge the reality will react, but most of those will be more of a meme/internet thing than a real outrage.
This sounds like an good alternative, actually.
There is a small chance that a release of HL 3 in 201X meets the expectation.
I'd guess most of the hype surrounding HL 3 nowadays is based on story conclusion. Closure. Not an actual groundbreaking game.
I personally didn't love HL 2 gameplay and prefer HL 1 + OPFORCES.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutelly loved the immersion and scenaries, and actually liked the idea of a long trip. But the shooting felt kinda weak to me. Ravenholm and gravity gun will always be a treasured memory tho.
Not saying I would prefer HL to end on a webcomic. I'd prefer an OK shooter just to feel the immersion again. But it's a realistic alternative.
Oh well.
/rant.
It wasn't stated as an opinion, more like a known fact.
Multiple games fulfill that criteria, including at least 10 of the 38 that are above it in that top.
I have no problem with that opinion, it was just stated a bit bluntly (as a truth) so I had to ask.
I see, but what other games are they working on exactly?
Also, that assumes they can only work on one game at a time.
DeathoftheEndless
Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
Shocking spoilers: Half Life 3 ends with Gordon and Alyx saving the day.
Developing Half-Life 3, like developing any AAA single-player game in 2016, would be stupidly time-consuming and expensive. They'd have to basically stop development on all their other projects, hire external developers to port the game to consoles, and spend a non-insignificant amount of money on advertising it. There's a reason why Valve isn't the only company that moving away from making FPS campaigns (see: R6, Battlefront, Titanfall, etc).
Dota 2 and CS:GO (and TF2 to a much lesser extent). Also, VR stuff. At the very least, they've mde the Portal demo they've been parading around.
But regardless of money spent, which is really what it is all about, they would easily make it back. And there is a very very slim chance it would be hot garbage. At worst it would be meh.
Who knows it could even revitalize a single player fps genre that is in massive need of a comeback. Wolfenstein was great fun!
cartographer
Member
It might just be because they tried and stopped because what they came up with wasn't very good or particularly interesting.
And then they moved on.
Nappuccino
Member
And yet, Valve, unlike almost any other dev, is situated perfectly to make such a passion project.
Chance Hale
Member
BUT AT WHAT COST
kavanf1
Member
I could definitely see them linking a HL3 announcement to VR. Both HL and HL2, aside from having great gameplay and stories, heralded big industry changes as well. Half Life is second only to Doom in terms of its influence on FPS. And Source and Steam have had a huge impact on how we play games over the last 10 or so years.
With VR potentially being the next step change in how we play games, Valve may well be building to dominate VR by bundling HL3 with the Vive. For many people, the cost of the Vive will be irrelevant if it's announced that HL3 will be developed for it. It would be enough to make VR a standard thing in gaming, in the same way HL2 did with Steam.
Just imagine the reaction if it happened. All it would take is the lambda symbol with a 3 next to it during the Vive's marketing to make the world go nuts.
Yeah, but if they think that using those resources in other projects would make more profits making HL3 would be a bad decision.
shinobi602
Member
Valid points but they could still at least acknowledge it. I'm not even kidding, a simple "The team had varying viewpoints on how to continue the franchise, but we're continuing to brainstorm ideas." or "The game is currently on hiatus until we can establish a cohesive vision forward... etc" would fully suffice for me.
Complete silence is like a loved one that's gone missing, and your mind constantly races every day, "are they okay? are they alive? are they dead? where are they?!" and you never find out lol. It's maddening.
They're a public studio, at least have some dialogue with your fanbase.
Half-life is what brought me to gaming and PC gaming. I'm a huge fan of pretty much everything valve does besides Dota2.
However I would love to hear an official comment about the status of hl3. I know they don't owe us anything but even if the game is cancelled and never coming out, having an official statement to what happened to this game would be pretty damn nice tbh. Just being transparent about it. I'm sure they could create a pretty great documentary about it!
Being transparent to your fans/community would reconfirm that Valve is still one of the best game maker, designers whatever you want to call them now imo.
However I would love to hear an official comment about the status of hl3. I know they don't owe us anything but even if the game is cancelled and never coming out, having an official statement to what happened to this game would be pretty damn nice tbh. Just being transparent about it. I'm sure they could create a pretty great documentary about it!
Being transparent to your fans/community would reconfirm that Valve is still one of the best game maker, designers whatever you want to call them now imo.
It's not just valve that doesn't want make sp FPS anymore, only Wolfenstein and new Doom (eh) are left. For what was once the top genre it's so depressing. I really want to play some these days but there is really not much to choose from that actually has decent production values too.