American game developer Valve Corporation is planning to make the necessary tweaks and updates on the gameplay of the survival first-person shooter video game “Half-Life 3” if the latest rumors are true that it shall come out in 2018 already with virtual reality (VR) support.
The excitement and anticipation of fans and gamers on the “Half-Life 3” have more than doubled following reports that the game would come out already compatible with VR headsets.
In fact, the VR support of “Half-Life 3” is now being pointed out as the reason why the game is still in development at this time, according to speculations.
That is in addition to reports that Valve is also working on some huge changes on the game because it wanted to make it really way better than “Half-Life 2” released back in 2004, reports the Ecumenical News.
However, Valve Corporation actually has yet to confirm whether the game is indeed in development or not so everything about “Half-Life 3” remains as speculation at this time.
One-third of the workforce
Meanwhile, Valve hardware engineer Alan Yates recently talked about how the AR/VR research team has grown though it may take more than that bunch to really make the game an actual reality.
According to reports, about a third of the Valve workforce have been assigned to the development of “Half-Life 3,” notes Game & Guide.
However, Valve CEO Gabe Newell has yet to confirm those reports and he would rather focus on what is at hand than talk about something that is still too far ahead in the horizon.
If Valve really wants it, it could also open the development of “Half-Life 3” to other gaming enthusiasts who are high on writing and creative. If the company is even willing, someone with a great script in mind may want to take the lead.
Assuming Newell wants things to happen, he can consider opening the doors of game development to creative storytellers or even game developers too. But it shall all depend on the level of interest that he and Valve top honchos have on the development of the video game.
One of the big titles
According to rumors, Valve Corporation is preparing “Half-Life 3” to be one of the big titles for the new gaming consoles, which shall be providing VR support already. In fact, the game is rumored to make a grand entrance as a VR-compatible title in 2018.
The rumors emanated from the fact that Valve recently collaborated with Taiwanese tech company HTC in developing the HTC Vive or the virtual reality headset.
Since VR gaming has not become the mainstream gaming mode yet, it is possible that “Half-Life 3” will only become a full VR-compatible title by 2018 at the earliest.
However, all these remain as speculations pending the confirmation from Valve Corporation, which has yet to confirm whether “Half-Life 3” is already in development or not at all.
Critics believe that a 2018 release date for “Half-Life 3” is a very realistic timeline because the creation of a good VR game will take at least two years to complete.
There are in fact rumors saying that Valve has already a good number of its workforce on the “Half-Life 3” full VR game now just to be able to meet the intended release date.
While the company has not said anything official about the development of “Half-Life 3,” Alan Yates recently said on Reddit that he was very fortunate to start at Valve around the time when Michael Abrash had begun the AR/VR research team.
Yates explained that it was a much smaller team compared to what they have now where they make up about a third of the company. He said that the key individuals who solved most of the really hard technological problems and facilitate the generation of consumer headsets are still working on the next generation.
Despite the fact that Valve has yet to make any confirmation about the development of the game, there have been ceaseless reports about “Half-Life 3” online, indicative of how popular and widely anticipated it is.