In a bit of unsurprising but very disappointing news, Valve News Network’s Tyler McVicker has shared new information from his sources that suggest there is no Half-Life 3 or other sort of follow up to 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode Two being developed at Valve. According to McVicker, who’s made a name for himself by leaking various Valve projects over the years, Valve is more interested in focusing all of its efforts in the Steam Deck, its highly anticipated handheld gaming PC. McVicker suggests that even if there was a Half-life 3 project being discussed by a small group of developers at Valve, it would likely get shot down by executives.
“To get the big question out of the way, is there a true follow-up to Half-Life 2: Episode Two in development in any capacity at Valve Software?” McVicker asks in his new video, “What is Next for Gordon Freeman – The State of Half-Life.”
“The end of Half-Life Alyx, for those who haven’t played it heavily, hints towards the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s story.”
“The issue is that no, at the current time, there isn’t a major development team working on anything outside of the few pieces of software that are specifically tailored for hardware right now.”
“Valve is trying to get the Steam Deck out and, like many people have observed, the Steam Deck has been significantly more successful than originally anticipated, so Valve is throwing a lot at it.”
“Half-Life 3, Half-Life 2 Episode 3, any kind of traditional mouse and keyboard FPS at Valve is not taking place, [and] if it its, it’s a very small group of people and those individuals will not be seen as value generating by the higher-ups.”
That said, Valve is reportedly working on a related project for the Steam Deck dubbed Citadel. Citadel is described by McVicker as an FPS/RTS set in world of Half-Life.
“Valve is working on a piece of software to best showcase what the Steam Deck is capable of doing – Citadel,” McVicker said.
“This is a nostalgia fest, this is a Half-Life based FPS/RTS hybrid that is co-operatively based. Think about Left 4 Dead and Alien Swarm, and RTS and Half-Life all having a baby.”
The Half-Life franchise had been largely dormant until the release of Half-Life: Alyx, which debuted on March 23, 2020, exclusively for VR headsets. Despite its positive reception, Half-Life fans are still clamoring for a traditional title that stars Gordon Freeman.
Source: Tyler McVicker (via VGC)