In a July 31st YouTube video, Counter-Strike 2 data miner Gabe Follower reported on a major update that revealed some clues about Valve’s other projects, as they all utilize the same core engine.
“This new patch brought a ton of previously unknown info,” said Gabe Follower in their YouTube video. “HLX or Half Life 3 is at a stage of production where some parts of the project are already finished and being polished.”
Gabe Follower warned that sometimes these kinds of developments could also be indicative of a game being shelved or canceled, but expressed confidence that the new Half-Life game is in a good state.
“When developers finish their tasks and aren’t needed anymore, they usually hop into other teams…Sometimes this kind of rotation is a sign of upcoming cancellation, so literally people running away from a sinking ship,” said Gabe Follower. “But based on what we’ve seen in Source 2 files, the new Half-Life game seems to be in good shape and doesn’t look like it’s getting shelved.”
While information in game files hints at solid progress in development for Half-Life 3, it unfortunately does not reveal much about when an announcement for the game will occur or what the release timeline might be.
“Unless myself, Gabe Follower or like a legitimately respected games journalist like Jason Schrier comes out and says, ‘Uh-oh they shelved it,’ it’s still in development,” said Gaming YouTuber Tyler McVicker, who has been covering Valve projects for years. “Also, I don’t know a release timeline. 50% of the questions I get are some form of when it is getting announced.”
Back in April, McVicker was confident, based on insider information, that Half-Life 3 was in a playable state and that there was a strong case to be made for the game’s eventual release.
“This is the furthest [in development] it has ever been. Period,” said McVicker in an April Q&A livestream. ”The game is playable end-to-end. Period. Never been that far, and they’re optimizing, they’re polishing, they’re probably content locked, or if they’re not, they’re mechanic locked.”
Half Life 3 has long been a meme in the gaming space because of how long it has been since the last numbered series title. Despite hints over the years and it being a consistent source of rumors, Valve has not officially announced the game and has shied away from discussing it.
This somewhat changed last year, when Valve directly acknowledged the lack of follow-up in an official documentary for the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2.
“We could have shipped it. It wouldn’t have been that hard,” said Valve co-founder Gabe Newell in the documentary. “The failure was… My personal failure was being stumped. I couldn’t figure out why doing episode three was pushing anything forward.”
Hopefully, if rumors of the game’s completion prove true, we will hear an official announcement about the game’s progress from Valve in the near future.
