Gamers have long been asking for Valve to release "Half Life 3." There are rumors that the game might be in virtual reality (VR) and release sometime in 2018.
Since game creator Marc Laidlaw left Valve, the release of "Half Life 3" seemed unlikely. Furthermore, when VR arrived, there have been reports that Valve and Steam are focusing on the technology and may release games in the new mode, including "Half Life 3." Steam formed a partnership with HTC Vive, and it appears that they prefer creating the third game in VR but not anytime soon.
The Independent reveals that Valve may prefer to have a movie instead of "Half Life 3." Director J.J. Abrams stated that he is preparing a team of writers and production managers to possibly create a film about the hit game.
With all the ongoing rumors and possible projects, it is very unlikely that a "Half Life 3" game will launch in 2016. Fans were previously hoping that Valve would make an announcement at E3 or Gamescon 2016. However, it seems that there will be no official announcement until 2018.
Considering the potential of "Half Life 3" to be in full VR, it will take a long time to make, which explains the 2018 release. Previously, Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, stated that the game is a classic, which is why they would like to invest a lot of time and effort in making the next installment, if any, to avoid damaging its good reputation. It has been 12 years since "Half Life 2" was released.
In a report by Polygon, Newell said that the only reason that they would return and do a super classic type of product like "Half Life 3" is if a huge group of people at Valve actually stated their interest and have reasonable explanations why.
"But you know if you want to do another Half-Life game (like 'Half Life 3') and you want to ignore everything we've learned in shipping 'Portal 2' and in shipping all the updates on the multiplayer side, that seems like a bad choice. So we'll keep moving forward. But that doesn't necessarily always mean what people are worried that it might mean," Newell continued.
Newell also described how Valve wanted to be strategic on how it develops technologies together with its game properties like "Half Life 3." He said that each franchise represents a tool, and they want to use the right tool at the right time.
