it has been said a million times before, but the objective truth is that there is almost nothing valve could put out with the half life brand on it that wouldn't be lit up. Too much hype...it is literally a meme. The ill will of not making ep 3 or full on 3 is a sunk cost. No need to add to the fire.HL3 would have to be ( in recent memory) received as well or better than a TLoU. lightning in a bottle.
So if you feel any kind of way toward Valve about HL..ask yourself the question:
If I had all the monies, no evidence that was ever going to stop flowing my way and a practical monopoly on Sales/Distribution -would you take any action that would potentially hurt that profit in any single way?
Before you say something to the effect of "hell yeah because I am a good guy", pretend you are a business, not a gamer. Remeber how much "everyone" wanted the Last Guardian? HL is way bigger in appeal and love, but scale it up. Look at how many TLG threads there are or how many people praise it today as a revelation? Are you ready for the backlash on the modern square FF7 remake? The juice isn't worth the squeeze.
From a business standpoint, the company doesn't need to take on the risk of game development. It would be a passion project and that isn't how business works. If Blizzard doesn't make a new game(at some point) they have to cease operation. If Valve never makes another game, they will still be loaded.
