He said that he is no longer a full- or part-time Valve employee and is no longer involved in the day-to-day decisions or operations of the company. He added that he is also no longer a spokesperson for the company and is no longer privy to most types of confidential information.
Laidlaw said that he is already old or oldish because when he started with Valve back in 1997, he was already being called as old man Laidlaw. After 19 years, he obviously has aged, adding that the little baby level designer who gave him that nickname when he started with Valve is now older than he was then.
He said that he had a good run with Valve and the “Half-Life” series but he felt the need for a break from all the collaborative chaos of game production and return to more self-directed writing projects.
Laidlaw plans to return to writing in media other than games but he is open to writing for Valve in a freelance capacity maybe in the future.
He said that his friends know that they can still consult him if questions come up that he can provide answers too. He also said that wherever Valve chooses to take the “Half-Life 3” is already beyond his hands.