According to YouTube gaming show The Know, Valve have pulled all but a fraction of the development force from Half-Life 3 (leaving around 10) and are happy to never release it through fear of backlash.
This news is going to come as a bitter pill to swallow for most, but breaking down the facts, it’s not all that unlikely.
Citing a trusted source within Valve, the guys at The Know are reporting that the company makes more than enough money from the likes of DotA 2, Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO in microtransactions, to make Half-Life 3 commercially unviable.
According to gaming industry gurus SuperData, Valve’s top 3 titles alone made it over $400 million in 2014, not to mention the 30% cut that Valve take on every game sold through Steam. SuperData puts the company’s overall revenue in 2014 at $730 million. Which begs the question – at least from a financial standpoint – why does it need to risk making Half-Life 3?
2009 seems to have been the golden year for the near mythical shooter, as it was in full swing with a completed storyline. But when Bioware fucked up Mass Effect 3 in 2012, the overwhelmingly negative reaction scared Valve into almost scrapping its most anticipated title, with the source counting it as a “critical factor” in the decision.
This is completely understandable when you take into account the feverish anticipation the internet has for the game, and the fact that crucifixion has fast become the norm for games that fall short of sky high expectations. In the following years staff were moved from project to project, working on Valve’s money making games, and not on Half-Life 3.
There are a lot of justifiable reasons why Half-Life 3 won’t get made, and the video is an interesting watch for a balanced look at things. We can only hope that Valve have something in the pipes for Half-Life 3, but we may need to lower our expectations if it’s ever going to happen.
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.