Plus, right now it’s questionable if the conclusion to the story would even be what it was originally intended. After all, with Marc Laidlaw no longer working for the company, this means that someone else will have to handle the main writing of “Half-Life 3”, and this could change things a lot.
Even though Valve most likely have some ideas about how the franchise should continue and they make those decisions together as a company, the specific style of a certain writer is not something that can be imitated or replaced easily, so hopefully the change is not going to have any lasting repercussions.
For all we know though, this could be a good change for the series. If we see it continued through a new set of eyes, this could show some characters in a different light and possibly even make fans more interested in certain components of the storyline.
But that’s all in the far future for now, as currently the game looks like it’s a long time away in the future, and will remain like that for quite a while. In fact, some fans are already questioning if the series will ever be completed at all, and it’s becoming a real possibility that we are not going to see any other entries in the iconic “Half-Life” franchise.