During an email exchange with an inquisitive Reddit user, lead writer of the Half-Life series Marc Laidlaw candidly revealed his retirement from Valve. After working with Valve for 18 years, Laidlaw cites “many reasons, most of them personal” for his departure from the company. Websites such as Gamasutra have followed up with Laidlaw to confirm the email’s validity, to which Laidlaw confirmed the authenticity and stated he left “very recently.”
For those curious as to what this means for the future of Half-Life 3, look elsewhere. In his response, Laidlaw states that he can “no longer speak for Valve” and that it would be “inappropriate” to “speculate openly on the fate of the franchise.” Assuming Valve hasn’t filed everything related to Half-Life 3 into a small cabinet in the dark corner of a musty storage closet, development will have to continue with a different writer, assuming that the game hasn’t been written already, or that it’s even being worked on at all.
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely (again, assuming the game is actively being developed) that Laidlaw’s departure would completely put the brakes on Half-Life 3. There are enough creative minds at Valve to keep the ball rolling until whenever, if ever, the game is finally released. It’s a little depressing for an earnest inquiry into the fate of this infamous game to just turn up more misfortune, but does it really matter? After all, the best Half-Life sequel was released years ago.
