The number of games that have managed to reach the iconic status of “Half-Life” can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. The last installment in the series, “Half-Life 3”, has become a sort of a joke around the Internet, with fans constantly commenting on the long development period of the game, speculating on when it might be released, and actively looking for hidden information about it in Valve’s other products.
Valve, the company developing the franchise, have been typically quiet on the issue. The studio rarely comments on the development on their products, unless it’s to make the final release announcement, so it’s normal that they are not saying anything. However, at this point, the game’s development has been all but officially confirmed.
Rumors have been flowing in from different channels, including some within the company itself. At one point, fans invited on a tour around the offices managed to take pictures of monitors showing Valve’s internal bug reporting database, where several peculiar product names could be seen. Among those was “Half-Life 3”, as well as “Source 2”, which most likely refers to a new version of Valve’s own “Source Engine”, the technology powering all of the company’s games. The engine was briefly talked about by Valve recently, including examples from a “Left 4 Dead 3” level, reworked from a level from one of the previous games.
Critics have been pointing out that Valve may be setting themselves up for the ultimate failure with their approach to the development of “Half-Life 3”. Had the game come out years ago, shortly after the last episode of “Half-Life 2”, it would have been just another “Half-Life” game. Now, its iconic status and cult following mean that the game will face extreme judgment once it’s finally out, and according to some, it’s impossible that Valve will deliver anything that can meet the expectations at this point. Something similar happened with another well-known name in the industry, “Duke Nukem”. Because of this, some have been speculating that the game will in fact never come out, although Valve have neither confirmed nor denied that.
Indeed, Valve seem to already have several other projects lined up, including “Left 4 Dead 3” and a potential sequel to “Team Fortress 2” being prepared for 2015. In that case, the company’s already small development team might find itself strained to work on another game, especially one that requires as much attention as “Half-Life 3” surely would. On the other hand, Valve are known for having a very flexible structure to their development team, allowing people to freely contribute work to other teams, so it’s not clear how exactly the development of those titles is affecting “Half-Life 3”.