A new report has surfaced, claiming that developer Valve is putting Half-Life 3 on hold in order to work on a new Left 4 Dead title, releasing in 2017.

After yesterday's news regarding Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw's departure from Valve, gamers have been worried that this may mean that the long-awaited Half-Life 3 may be held back even longer. However, this may not be entirely bad news as a new report has emerged, suggesting that the company has chosen to make Left 4 Dead 3, its top gaming priority.

With the previous game released back in 2009, Valve has had a long time to produce another installment in the Left 4 Dead franchise and now, according to rumors that have surfaced, the 3rd game will be released in 2017. The same rumors, which appear to have surfaced from Express, claim that the game will feature 4 main characters and will stick to the one female, three male format that we have seen in the series so far.

Express claims that the characters included in the game's story have also been revealed, with the sole female character being known as Katherine. The three male characters reportedly include gangster Irvin, comic book nerd Keenan, and famous Kenpo fighter Garret Jr.

Finally, the site concludes by claiming that there will be 6 separate campaigns upon the release of Left 4 Dead 3. These campaigns apparently consist of old-favorite No Mercy as well as Cliff-Hanger, Early Destination, Crashland, Impasse, and Inquisitor Land. Express also claims that the Valve's focusing on Left 4 Dead 3 does in fact mean that Half-Life 3 has been put on hold for the time being.

With Left 4 Dead making it into many people's top 10 horror games, rumors about another title coming so soon is sure to have many excited, but it's definitely worth pointing out that the source behind the rumors has not yet been revealed. It's also worth noting that the team that first made Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock Studios, left Valve to pursue other projects such as 2015's Evolve.

The original Left 4 Dead game was so popular that even today, other games such as Zombie Army Trilogy, Minecraft, and Payday are incorporating elements and characters as DLC content. The release of a new Valve game wouldn't be entirely unanticipated either, with the company making claims that PC gaming will soon be making a comeback.

The Left 4 Dead franchise making a comeback would generate a lot of excitement but none could claim that it would match that of a Half-Life 3 announcement. In recent months we've seen several pieces of evidence pointing to a new Half-Life being in the works, such as a hidden file inside of Dota 2. and one of Valve's top writers announcing that the game would not support Virtual Reality.

Would you be more excited for a new Left 4 Dead or Half-Life game? Leave us a comment and let us know.