Valve’s games are probably the most mysterious set of productions in the whole industry, as the company is known for being extremely secretive about what they’re working on. There are several titles rumored to be in active development behind the scenes, among them “Half-Life 3”, “Team Fortress 3”, and last but not least, “Left 4 Dead 3”. However, recent reports seemed to indicate that “Left 4 Dead 3” will not be happening anytime soon, and that Valve were rather using the game as a platform for testing some of their current technological developments.
And now, a developer from Turtle Rock, the original studio behind the game, has come forward to say that fans should not give up on the chance of getting “Left 4 Dead 3” just yet. According to his statement, the studio is open to the idea of working on a sequel to the game, but it’s not up to them entirely to decide that – Valve have to give the final word and approve of the project. In the end, Valve own the actual IP for “Left 4 Dead”, and nobody else can make that decision for them.
The last “official” news about the game came from a visitor to Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, who claimed to have seen something regarding “Left 4 Dead 3” in a bug tracker on one of the screens in an office. Since then, the company hasn’t made any statements regarding the game, and it’s possible that what was seen in the office was either part of the aforementioned internal testing project, or just a joke deliberately set up by Valve. Knowing Valve, this wouldn’t be out of the question.
What could the next game in the zombie series feature if it’s being developed though? It’s rumored to be one of the flagship titles for the new “Source Engine 2”, which is also supposedly powering “Half-Life 3”. Valve have previously shown a presentation in which they compared a level from “Left 4 Dead 2” to its counterpart redesigned with their new editing tools and rendered in the new engine.
“Source 2” has actually been the subject of a lot of hype itself, as the engine is expected to completely revise the way Valve are doing things. “Source” has been criticized for its outdated state for quite a while now, and while the engine used to be a relatively popular choice in the industry a few years ago, this is far from the case today. Valve seem to really want to change this situation though, judging by their approach to the development of “Source 2”, so it would be curious to see what they release in the end.