‘Half-Life 3’: Waiting for the Game That May Never Come
At the conclusion of the most recent chapter of Valve Corporation’s multi-million selling Half-Life series, the player and a companion character have managed to triumph in a lengthy, grueling battle against the alien invaders known as the Combine. Just as you’re about to board a helicopter and find answers to a years-in-the-making, X-Files-grade mystery, two silent and menacing creatures suddenly seize your companion’s father – another primary character – and kill him. The screen fades to black.
That was October, 2007.
This June, among thoughts about the promise of VR and a growing number of arguments with his 3.79 million followers, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson tweeted something of a plea: “hl3pls.”
This, of course, is the standard cry among the gaming community for what may very well be its white whale: The never-finished, never-released Half-Life 3 – the next chapter in one of the most iconic game franchises ever made. Promised in 2006, it has never materialized. In the ensuing years, it’s become what a dedicated Half-Life wiki site calls “gaming’s most infamous case of continuing vaporware.”
Desperate fans seized on Notch’s tweet: Did he have some inside information? Was Half-Life 3 finally on its way? He soon had to respond:
“I have zero information about hl3 other than to confirm that it’s coming out tomorrow. (for real, I know nothing)”.
That social-media kerfuffle is only the latest sign of just how badly gamers want the next Half-Life game. An entire subreddit is dedicated to the franchise, with 27,000 subscribers tracking every hint of a rumor.
They may be waiting for a game that will never come – and many of them know it. So why has one of gaming’s most passionate fanbases assembled around a famously nonexistent product? The sheer popularity of Half-Life 2 – over 12 million copies sold, including a Playstation 2 version – doesn’t hurt. But that’s just the beginning of fans’ intense connection to the game – which, paradoxically, is only further fueled by Valve’s stubborn silence on the subject.
The last time Gabe Newell, Valve’s CEO, mentioned the title was in March of 2015, and that was only in passing, while listing reasons for his studio’s newfound commitment to multiplayer gaming – the polar opposite of the tightly plotted, single-player Half-Life series. Before that, tantalizingly, a trademark was filed for Half-Life 3, and some concept art popped up. Since then, nothing.
More fans are coming around to the idea Half-Life has simply been abandoned, a theory supported by recent news that the franchise’s main writer, Marc Laidlaw, has resigned from Valve. “I have been a grateful co-creator, but my time working on the series is behind me,” Laidlaw wrote in an email to a fan, who posted it on Reddit. Laidlaw was the sole writer for Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and worked on prospective subsequent episodes, so the community was shaken. “Don’t know what to think about this anymore, honestly,” the poster commented.
But some fans simply won’t give up. Though Half-Life 3 has become a Great Pumpkin-style running joke for some gamers, other members of online Valve communities remain obsessed with the distant possibility of the game’s return. On YouTube, videos like those produced by Valve News Network – with 171,000 subscribers – delve into the scantest of details that could possibly hint at a new game. One video published in June, “A Comprehensive History of Half-Life 3” – essentially, a history of nothing – gained 134,000 views in two weeks.