Valve are known for several things, and one of them is their strong desire to keep their projects secret for as long as possible. Whatever is going on behind their doors is hard to figure out, and it’s usually not until they are absolutely ready to speak to the world that we find out what they have been doing all that time. It’s probably hard to keep those details secret for so long without suffering from any leaks or similar problems, and it’s admirable that they’re able to control their information so well, but even Valve aren’t completely protected from having their more important details leaking out from time to time.
Currently, there is some speculation that the company is working hard on “Left 4 Dead 3” and this will be their main focus for some time, as “Half-Life 3” and other games have been pushed to the back. We don’t know if that’s true or not, but there are definitely some reasons to believe that this could be their main goal right now.
For example, when Valve previously talked about their progress with their Source Engine 2, they used some materials from what seemed to be “Left 4 Dead 3” to preview how the engine has changed compared to its previous iterations. This led some people to believe that the game was indeed in production and it was coming soon, but afterwards it became clear that this was more of a one-time demonstration of the engine’s capabilities that Valve had prepared specifically for that presentation.
On the other hand, there was a leak in which somebody allegedly spotted information about “Left 4 Dead 3” in Valve’s bug tracking databases during a tour of their facilities, but once again it’s hard to figure out if there is actually anything concrete behind this leak. It could have been a fabrication by the original source, or even a trick by Valve to mislead people and point them in the wrong direction, and we won’t know for sure for some time.
It would make sense for them to be working on that game for several reasons though. It’s been a while since we saw “Left 4 Dead 2”, and back then there was a lot of feedback from the community about what the game could use in terms of improvements and how it can be evolved further.
Valve also got some criticism for releasing the game so soon after its predecessor, but now that it’s been several years since “Left 4 Dead 2” came out, the release of a new game could be much more appropriate and it could definitely work out in the company’s favor. After all, the moods have changed now and people are currently much more favorable to the possibility of seeing a new release in the “Left 4 Dead” franchise, especially if it’s a well-done game that pushes the series forward with new features and clever ideas.
If the game really does come out with the Source Engine 2 powering it, this could also have some interesting implications for both its gameplay as well as its overall quality. We’ve already seen what the engine can do and it looks like quite the impressive piece of technology, and on the other hand Valve are a studio that definitely knows how to use their own technology to its full potential and create amazing things with it. If Source 2 really does come with the great features that it’s being advertised with it, it can really help this franchise evolve.