After complete silence on the “Half-Life 3” front, finally we’ve received some fresh information – but we’re not sure what to make of all this. It was previously rumored that the game is being developed as a special virtual reality title and would focus heavily on this aspect of its gameplay, but some players questioned the validity of those rumors back then. And since then, we haven’t heard anything about the situation – until recently, as Valve have reportedly confirmed that the game is definitely not going to be a VR one.
Of course, Valve’s confirmation was very brief and was basically a one-word answer by Chet Faliszek when he was asked by the public about those rumors. And that might not even mean anything – Valve are known for twisting their words and outright misleading their fans when it comes to an upcoming release, so anything is possible with that studio. It’s definitely possible that the statement was a lie meant to conceal the work on the game, but of course we have no way of knowing for sure.
It’s worth noting that the question was actually repeated to him a bit later and he reiterated his answer, but the joking demeanor he had when responding led some fans to believe that the developer might be hiding something from fans. That would be completely in Valve’s style too, so not many people have been questioning whether or not the studio is actually hiding something right now.
The development of “Half-Life 3” is surrounded by a lot of mystery in general, and pretty much nothing is known about the game with certainty right now. Valve are traditionally very silent about their important releases, and considering that this one is probably the most important one they will make, it makes sense that they would want to be more secretive about it.
And yet, it’s been many years without any news for Valve’s fans, and the future is becoming a bit uncertain. Some have apparently given up hope completely, accepting the fact that the game will likely never become a reality, while others are still holding on to their expectations and want to see the game become a reality one day.
A more unusual recent rumor claims that Naughty Dog will actually be handling the development of this game, not Valve themselves – and whether or not that’s true is hard to tell, but it definitely sounds somewhat implausible. After all, this is Valve’s most important title and their own first franchise, so it makes little sense for them to outsource its development to someone else.
Sure, Naughty Dog are one of the best studios on the market right now and they’ve proven that they know how to handle complicated projects, but at the same time “Half-Life” is Valve’s own franchise, the one that brought them in the spotlight in the first place. If anyone is making “Half-Life 3” it should be Valve themselves and nobody else.
It might even be disappointing to some fans of the franchise to learn that they’re playing a game not made by Valve, and this could directly impact the popularity of “Half-Life 3” before it’s even released if the rumor turns out to be true. No matter how much both studios may try to reassure fans that the game will be developed responsibly and with appropriate attention to details, pretty much nobody is going to take an announcement like this seriously.