Half-Life writer and Valve veteran Marc Laidlaw has left the company
In a piece of news that could dash hopes of ever getting a Half-Life sequel even further, Marc Laidlaw, famed for penning the game's apocalyptic plot appears to have left Valve.
For those who might not know, Half-Life is a wildly popular first-person shooter developed by Valve — purveyors of the PC gaming platform Steam. Most recent figures state that Half-Life 2 sold over 12 million copies. Eventually, the game received two episodes of DLC that left the game in a cliffhanger state. Fans have been waiting for almost ten years to find out if Half Life's story will be continued.
The news of Laidlaw's retirement emerged from reddit, where a fan sent a frank request for Valve to lay Half-Life 3 speculation to rest. Laidlaw replied with a pre-written list of statements regarding the nature of his retirement, and the reasons why he cannot respond to requests for information on the possibility of a long-rumored Half-Life 3.
Some of the statements read as follows (via imgur):
Marc Laidlaw goes on to thank fans for their enthusiasm and interest in the Half-Life series, reiterating that he can no longer be considered a source of information on the franchise.
While the news may come as a blow to long-time fans, there's no real reason Half-Life 3 couldn't manifest with a different writer on board. Still, most of Valve's more recent games focus on multiplayer and community driven content, seen in titles like Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike, DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2.
Whether or not we'll see another Half-Life game after all these years will likely remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.
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Source: Reddit, thanks Zom-B for the tip!
Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!