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[SHA]

You know there's stuff we don't know about, not every information is on the internet but there's a reason for that and still believe Gabe is a good person, he's not pissed at us like other game makers who says a few words and change what they said, he isn't like that , if he's still patient so do I.

 

[Fbh]

They have no need to release it as their business is very profitable on its own and Steam continues to be the undisputed market leader in the PC store/launcher segment.

Also I think the expectations at this point must be astronomical and even Valve themselves would probably want HL3 to be another groundbreaking game that feels a step ahead of most other games. And not just a straightforward sequel that's more of the same with bigger maps and nicer graphics (like what most of the industry has been doing for the past 15 years). My guess would be if VR ever truly takes of HL3 will be in VR (IF they ever make it)

 

[Mozzarella]

Probably when there is something to push gaming forward.
You see when Valve made these games they have an idea, ideas actually, to innovate and push gaming forward, then they expand with 2 expansions for the story.
It seems like Valve as a developer doesnt like to make games for the heck of it, just to advance story or whatever, they make games to push technology, that is their schtick.
So when the right time comes they may release it, with the new technology, but i dont know if they will call it 3, going by what they called the VR game.
But as you can see Half Life franchise is not made to appease storyfans or gameplay fans or whatever, its made to push new technology into gaming, like Half Life 1 did in 1998 and Half Life 2 did in 2004 and Alyx did in 2020.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Valve is probably waiting for some tech/idea that pushes gaming forward as otherwise they do not need to release HL3.

I actually assumed they were waiting for VR to get widespread to make it but they only made Alyx. Guess they didn't make a full blown part 3 because VR actually isn't widespread enough.

 

[FunkMiller]

Could be the big ticket item for Deckard, when they eventually announce it. You never know.

 

[Kuranghi]

 

[ZehDon]

Well, I remember Newell saying something along the lines of "Half-Life games solve problems". I'd wager that they simply haven't created anything that's enough of a step up from what Half-Life 2 did to warrant a Half-Life 3. They clearly want the jumps between the numbered entries to be enormous.

 

[zcaa0g]

"Personally, I do not think if it ever is made, it'll live up to expectations but it will still be a decent game..."


HL Alyx tells me HL3 would live up to the hype. I just don't think they are going to do it.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I’m going to finish this sucker tonight hyped!!!

Managed to finish it?

 

[Emedan]

People who say HL was a mediocre series are fucking mental. Either you too young or too stupid to realize how groundbreaking those games were. I agree that it's probably hard to make something as profound today, the games market is at a very different point today and it's more competent. But my God when Half Life 1 came out, everyone played it, same with Half Life 2 - perhaps they weren't wholly innovative but Valve was the first to put it all together into a cohesive package.

 

[jm89]

Because

 

[Kenpachii]

Gaben uses half like to push there engine forwards specially with half life 2, after that steam took off, counterstrike took off but the engine never did. so they used counterstrike to push steam forwards, half life VR was basically to push there VR solution forwards.

Half life was always means to a greater end. As a new engine is probably useless right now because of UE5, i doubt we will be seeing anything like half life 3 unless gaben wants to push something else new again.

 

[OverHeat]

Managed to finish it?

No not yet, my kids where terrible last night so I did not have time to play at all

 

[SCB3]

Gaben uses half like to push there engine forwards specially with half life 2, after that steam took off, counterstrike took off but the engine never did. so they used counterstrike to push steam forwards, half life VR was basically to push there VR solution forwards.

Half life was always means to a greater end. As a new engine is probably useless right now because of UE5, i doubt we will be seeing anything like half life 3 unless gaben wants to push something else new again.

Well you say that, but Half Life 1 wasnt a groundbreaking game engine wise but had to start somewhere, it was Counter Strike that made that popular, then we have Left 4 Dead 2 where it was a straight up sequel that offered nothing new, so its not always true

 

[gimmmick]

The same reason we will never get another Wu Tang album.

Why does anyone even want another half life game anyway? It will never live up to expectations.

 

[Rickyiez]

Valve doesn't do trilogy

Half Life 2
Portal 2
Team Fortress 2
Dota 2

It's not even a conspiracy anymore

 

[Kuranghi]

No not yet, my kids where terrible last night so I did not have time to play at all

Terible in the sense that they claimed Daikatana was better than Half-Life?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Valve doesn't do trilogy

Half Life 2
Portal 2
Team Fortress 2
Dota 2

It's not even a conspiracy anymore

Deck 2 gonna be lit af and then peace out without a word

 

[Rickyiez]

Deck 2 gonna be lit af and then peace out without a word

Gabe has two sons . Go figure .

 

[peronmls]

They can't top their HL2. They stopped while they were ahead as well. Video games have changed. People are still picky like they were back in the early 2000s. I think they know what they are doing. It makes no sense having all of these fans asking for years and a meme to come out of it and them still not doing it. They know something we dont and I think they are not ready. Simple as that.

 

[Team Andromeda]

They can't top their HL2. They stopped while they were ahead as well. Video games have changed. People are still picky like they were back in the early 2000s. I think they know what they are doing. It makes no sense having all of these fans asking for years and a meme to come out of it and them still not doing it. They know something we dont and I think they are not ready. Simple as that.

Spot on

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Two threads today asking about the same already-existing game

Valve don't really make games anymore. Alyx was basically just a VR show piece. Valve are more of a services/hardware company now. They gotta run steam, they do hardware stuff like Steam Machine/Deck, they are forever working towards improving gaming on Linux, and they maintain the games they do have such as DOTA2/CS:GO.

Nonsense, I re-played Half Life 2 (...VR mod) a year after playing Alyx, and Alyx absolutely stands even with its predecessor in its scope. It's as new and complete of a gaming experience as any numbered Half Life.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Didn't Valve say there are multiple Half-Life games in the works?

 

[recma12]

Think it is similar to the legendary Dr Dre Detox Album that was rumoured to come out since the early 2000s.
Hype and expectations grow so big that you can't "win", no matter how good the product is.

So you hold off on releasing it as long as you have other streams of income.
Dre sold his headphone company for billions, Gabe swimming in Steam cash.

No matter how good Half Life 3 would end up releasing, it would never live up to the expectations.
I've made peace with the fact that I will never play it.

 

[Germuso]

Because you touch yourself.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Now that we have the Half Life successor in Alyx, I’m much more interested in seeing Portal 3 next.

 

[Dane]

Years ago one YT channel did a video (unrelated to one from January) over the topic and they talked to some former Valve employees, the company was shutting down attempts to revive the series because they feared a negative reception would be far bigger impact than a positive one, so most people were doing content for their MP games and that's it, some left the company because there was no challenge and ambition to be done there.

 

[ironmang]

Would a SP action shooter type game like HL2 even do well these days? Like is it even feasible to make a game like that which will get the universal acclaim they want to keep their reputation?

 

[rofif]

Would a SP action shooter type game like HL2 even do well these days? Like is it even feasible to make a game like that which will get the universal acclaim they want to keep their reputation?

There is nothing I want more than to just play a normal, single player game going from point A to B. Exactly like HL2...
Sure, maybe it's only 10 hours but I finished that game 10 times.

Sony is making games like this. Uncharted is kinda exactly that and I love it

 

[ironmang]

There is nothing I want more than to just play a normal, single player game going from point A to B. Exactly like HL2...
Sure, maybe it's only 10 hours but I finished that game 10 times.

Sony is making games like this. Uncharted is kinda exactly that and I love it

I don't really think they're worried about not selling enough copies. HL1 and HL2 were groundbreaking, universally acclaimed games. Going to be hard to replicate that and still keep the HL identity after 20+ years.

You have to look at it from their perspective. Is it worth it to make a one-off game that has sky high expectations when they already have Steam and the cash cow MP games?

 

[Ivan]

I just can't believe how cool people are with the situation... Of course Valve doesn't owe us anythhing, but this thread sounds like it is completely logical and totally cool that we're not seeing HL3 for 20 years. Of course there are reasons, but one would hope that a company with unlimited budget and no pressure from the outside could at least WANT to do something. Valve has power to make a new Crysis, PC exclusive for top of the line machines if they wanted. They are maybe the only company with the ability to take risks in AAA space.

Personally, I'm very disappointed. Valve is a different company to me since they shifted focus to different style of games. I actually hate everything they did lately.

 

[Adam_802]

New article on this.....

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/th...e-corridors-marc-laidlaw-on-writing-half-life

But of course, Laidlaw did ultimately put Episode 3 down on paper - and publicly. Shortly into his retirement, in August of 2017, the writer posted an epistolary short story on his website, in the voice of one Gertrude Fremont, PhD. “Dearest Playa,” it began. “I hope this letter finds you well. I can hear your complaint already, ‘Gertie Fremont, we have not heard from you in ages!’ Well, if you care to hear excuses, I have plenty, the greatest of them being I’ve been in other dimensions and whatnot, unable to reach you by the usual means.”


Aliases aside, what followed was very clearly recognisable as an outline for an unreleased Half-Life adventure which would wrap up the dangling story threads of Episode 2. The letter was widely interpreted as an admission that players would never get to see this conclusion in interactive form. Today, Laidlaw regrets ever publishing it.

It would have been best, he thinks, to have kept to himself and dealt with his isolation in ways that didn’t reflect on his former employer. “Eventually my mind would have calmed and I’d have come out the other side a lot less embarrassed,” he says. “I think it caused trouble for my friends, and made their lives harder. It also created the impression that if there had been an Episode 3, it would have been anything like my outline, whereas in fact all the real story development can only happen in the crucible of developing the game. So what people got wasn’t Episode 3 at all.” Instead, it was just a snapshot of where Laidlaw was at that time. “Deranged,” he repeats. “There’s really no other explanation.”


Laidlaw has otherwise kept his distance from Gordon, or Gertie. He didn’t consult on Half-Life: Alyx, despite reports to the contrary, but gave its writers his blessing. “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone second-guessing me, and I had total confidence in Jay Pinkerton and Erik Wolpaw to do good inventive work,” he says. “I intended to play it at some point but… I never got a PC, so I’m starting to think I probably never will play it. I don’t ever need to see another Combine soldier again, not even in VR.” The last place on Earth he’d ever want to go back to is City 17. “They nuked Black Mesa because of me,” he says. “Just so I wouldn’t have to see it again!”

 

[Upper_Management]

Valve doesn't need to make games any longer and there is absolutely no way that Half Life 3 would live up to the hype.

 

[Sophist]

Probably when there is something to push gaming forward.
You see when Valve made these games they have an idea, ideas actually, to innovate and push gaming forward, then they expand with 2 expansions for the story.
It seems like Valve as a developer doesnt like to make games for the heck of it, just to advance story or whatever, they make games to push technology, that is their schtick.
So when the right time comes they may release it, with the new technology, but i dont know if they will call it 3, going by what they called the VR game.
But as you can see Half Life franchise is not made to appease storyfans or gameplay fans or whatever, its made to push new technology into gaming, like Half Life 1 did in 1998 and Half Life 2 did in 2004 and Alyx did in 2020.

what new "technology" hl and hl2 did push? as far as i remember, i played these games with the same pc interface than the 80's (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

 

[FireFly]

Well you say that, but Half Life 1 wasnt a groundbreaking game engine wise but had to start somewhere, it was Counter Strike that made that popular, then we have Left 4 Dead 2 where it was a straight up sequel that offered nothing new, so its not always true

The AI, skeletal animation and scripted sequences were groundbreaking for the time.

Edit:

what new "technology" hl and hl2 did push? as far as i remember, i played these games with the same pc interface than the 80's (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

HL 2 pushed physics driven interactions, accurate facial animation, inverse kinematics and a material system.

 

[SCB3]

The AI, skeletal animation and scripted sequences were groundbreaking for the time.

Edit:


HL 2 pushed physics driven interactions, accurate facial animation, inverse kinematics and a material system.

I'll give you HL2 for that, it was amazing at the time in 2004, 1 however was a a great game for sure, but other games around that time were more Arena shooters and stuff with quick action like Quake, I suppose if we compare it to something out at a similar time, Goldeneye, then yea both games were doing great things with the available tech

 

[FireFly]

I'll give you HL2 for that, it was amazing at the time in 2004, 1 however was a a great game for sure, but other games around that time were more Arena shooters and stuff with quick action like Quake, I suppose if we compare it to something out at a similar time, Goldeneye, then yea both games were doing great things with the available tech

That's the point though. Valve were pushing for realistic environments filled with NPCs, which wasn't the focus of other games.

 

[Wvrs]

After Alyx I can't understand anyone who thinks HL3 isn't coming. They purposefully had a prequel retcon the last installment's ending and set up what will come next.

If it's not announced within the next couple of years I'll eat my hat.

 

[lifa-cobex]

 

[Corndog]

Because they don't need to push out some generic ass AAA FPS to make money. Peanuts compared to what Steam brings in.

Half-Life was always about pushing boundaries and unless they find the vision/motivation to do so, there will not be a HL3.

What a load of crap. How about finishing what you start? It’s like making the first 2 lord of the rings movies and not maki g “the return of the king”.

 

[Drew1440]

I'm just glad it's not been butchered into a TV show.. Yet.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Would a SP action shooter type game like HL2 even do well these days? Like is it even feasible to make a game like that which will get the universal acclaim they want to keep their reputation?

High budget singleplayer only games are still being made. I will admit they're mostly tpp titles, but an fpp game could work as well. It just needs talented people with a clear understanding what made the first two games so incredible. And not even that much marketing since Alyx reminded people that HL exists (and that it's great).

 

[mxbison]

What a load of crap. How about finishing what you start? It’s like making the first 2 lord of the rings movies and not maki g “the return of the king”.

You think they would've made "Return of the King" if it didn't make sense financially?