It’s been a busy week for Valve’s fans keeping an eye out for “Half-Life 3” rumors, as there were actually several of those recently, and they all seemed somewhat promising. On one hand, we had an accidental revelation by a Swedish game store, and on the other, a suspicious new entry into Steam’s databases. Both seem to be very plausible, but of course, Valve haven’t made any comments on the situation, neither denying the rumors, nor obviously confirming them.
The game was listed in the website of a Swedish retail store, at the price of 499 KR (which would be a normal price for a PC title). There was also an ad for the game put up on the website, and while everything seemed pretty official, there has been a lot of skepticism about the listing. The most likely possibilities discussed by fans and critics are that the website has either put up a temporary placeholder in anticipation of the game’s eventual announcement by Valve, or they are just intentionally putting up a false listing in order to drive some traffic to their site.
Considering the store seems to have a good reputation, the latter doesn’t seem very likely – but then again, “Half-Life 3” is a huge title that can easily generate a lot of hype, and it wouldn’t be surprising if some sites were trying to use the game in such a manner.
On the other hand, Valve’s own databases for Steam were recently updated with a new entry, for App 323900, which had the “Half-Life 3” logo added to the database as well. For what it’s worth, Valve have since taken down the entry and it’s no longer available, and while the company remained quiet on the issue and didn’t say anything after the takedown, this seems to be the most prominent leak about “Half-Life 3” that we’ve seen coming out of Valve themselves so far.
And knowing Valve’s secretive nature, we likely won’t learn much about the game until it’s ready to be shown to the public. Which, at this point, may either happen tomorrow or in several years. Valve have a lot of eyes focused on them, and they know that – and they’re obviously not going to botch this release. Valve are known for always pulling through on their work, no matter how difficult it gets, and this might prove to be their biggest challenge yet, but as long as the company focuses on what the fans truly want to see, they should be able to make “Half-Life 3” a successful release, and possibly one of the biggest releases in the history of gaming – not just PC, but across all platforms.