All of my research and prep work would amount to nothing.
Again, I received nothing but rejection or silence. In the months that followed in early 2015, I reached out to another dozen-plus people. Were they bound contractually? I couldn’t even get an answer to that. As one developer so accurately put it, “You’re hunting for unicorns, Reiner.”Īll of the images are concept art believed to be from Half-Life 2: Episode 3įor whatever reason, no one wanted to say anything about Valve or Half-Life. Sorry!”Īll of my inquiries were either shot down or ignored. Out of respect to my friends and family at Valve, it wouldn’t be right for me to say anything. Minutes later I received an email that said, “Good luck with the story. The first response I received, from a person who worked on Half-Life’s episodic content, yet didn’t want to be named, said “No comment.” I had a good feeling about getting a lead. Roughly 70 percent were still employed by Valve, and the remainder had either left the company or worked with it on Half-Life-related titles. On my first day of actively working on my piece, I sent emails to 20 to 30 people. This guess is now made mostly in jest, but for years, people thought we would break that story. Fun fact: Whenever Game Informer teases a new cover announcement, Half-Life 3 is almost always one of the first guesses. I aimed to talk to as many Valve employees as I could, but I knew the story needed two pieces: an interview with Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve, and information on what the hell was going on with Half-Life 3. I began working on this article on November 18, 2014. A story like this could take months (perhaps even years) to develop, and if done correctly, should give readers a clear look into the development studio's day-to-day operations and lofty ambitions. These questions, along with Half-Life 2 ending on the mother of all cliffhangers, became the backbone of my investigation into Valve. I think most people would blindly throw cash at any new experience bearing the Left 4 Dead, Half-Life, or Portal names. Valve’s decision makers love to explore new ventures, but why give up on game development? Is Steam generating that much revenue that a successful game isn't even worth their time? Even if that were the case, why not have a Valve Games division? Again, it seems like easy money. As I jokingly tell my friends, Valve is either the smartest company in the world to know these games won't continue to sell or the dumbest for leaving easy money on the table. As evidenced by games like Dota and Team Fortress, which continue to be supported through downloadable content, the studio has clearly moved away from traditional game development and single-player experiences. Valve is sitting on a goldmine, yet, given the lack of movement for many of these games, appears to have little interest in making new entries any time soon.
They want to see what a Boomer’s bile would look like on new-gen machines. They want to know what happened to Gordon Freeman. Each one of these titles has a rabid fan base, and people screaming for sequels or more content. Not many studios reach this level of success. Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress, Portal, Dota most developers would kill for this catalog of sure-fire hits. Valve rarely falters with the games it creates. The move away from game development being a primary focus jumped out as the story that should be explored. If you look at the history of games, Valve has taken a different stance in each of the most recent generations from game developer to digital-delivery platform to the current incarnation of a studio dabbling in VR and hardware.
#HALF LIFE 2 EPISODE 3 STORY RELEASED SKIN#
This company isn't afraid to shed its skin and alter the heart of its business. We rarely see what goes on behind their doors, yet they both continue to be leaders in the video game industry, and for dramatically different reasons. Both studios are closed-off and mysterious, the video game equivalents of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. In my search for another dive into a company, Valve and Nintendo showed the most promise, but neither presented an easy entry point. While that article sadly chronicled the demise of LucasArts, my investigative work uncovered dozens of interesting side stories, many of which have never been told. In the months following the publication of my “ Fall of the Empire” feature, I wanted to write more stories about the inner workings of video game development studios.
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