It was three months ago that Valve introduced a new virtual reality headset called Index, and that's a number that will feel agonizingly familiar to Valve fans: when it comes to threes, the company's intellectual properties seem to stall after the second game is released. Before the likes of Left For Dead and Portal was the Half-Life series, and fans have been clamoring for a third iteration to that franchise for just about 15 years now.
Last week, Valve hosted a launch party for its new virtual reality headset, and company co-founder Gabe Newell took to the stage to talk about the milestones of the company and what the future holds. While discussing these milestones, he also took the opportunity to tease a third entrant to the Half-Life series yet again:
Milestones aren’t really the end of anything. They’re really the beginning. So Half-Life led to Half-Life 2, Source led to Source 2, the experiments that we did with Team Fortress 2 were what enabled us to build Dota. Artifact is the reason we’re able to do Underlords. So, maybe someday the number 2 will lead us to that shiny integer glowing on a mountain someplace. We’ll just have to see.
The thinly-veiled line is yet another reference to Half-Life 3, which may just be one of the most oft-requested games on the planet. Valve has been known to make Half-Life 3 jokes in fairly regular occurrence, so Gabe's teasing line will come as a total non-surprise to many.
Persistent rumors indicating that an as-yet-unannounced Valve Index game takes place within the Half-Life universe have kept surfacing, and it's something that may have been in the works since at least three years ago. While the company has yet to make any concrete statements about such a venture, one thing is certain: VR or not, fans are hungry for a new Half-Life title. With the earlier games of the franchise being so well-received, however, the pressure to maintain such high consumer standards has put Valve in a tough spot when it comes doing the series justice and satisfying consumer expectations.
In any event, Gabe's latest one-liner regarding Half-Life 3 can be added to a pile of previous hints and teases. There's no official statement from Valve regarding the game, but even the lack of anything concrete won't prevent fans from always having hope.
Source: YouTube