Valve once again insists that it ‘has a lot of games in development,’ wants to continue exploring Half-Life
Longtime Valve employee Greg Coomer said that making games remains “very important” to Valve, but I feel like I’ve heard that before.
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Valve has made some very big, influential games over the past 25 years, but it hasn’t made alotof games. You can literally count them on the fingers of one hand—and that number is mainly made up of sequels (Dota 2), spinoffs (Dota Underlords), and tech demos for new hardware (Aperture Desk Job). It’s not really a problem on the business side of things because Steam is the proverbialmoney printer go brrr, but an awful lot of gamers sure would like it if Valve would get back to making the games they love, like it used to.
In what’s sure to come as good news for those long-suffering fans, Valve’s Greg Coomer toldFamitsu(viaTweaktown,Google translated), that Valve remains deeply committed to making games, and in fact has multiple projects on the go at this very moment.
“Valve has a lot of games in development. We will continue to release games,” Coomer said. “Game development is very important to Valve. I don’t know the exact numbers, but the percentage of employees involved in game development is high. A lot of people are involved.”
And yes, that commitment extends to Half-Life, although to be clear Coomer said nothing specific about a Half-Life game in development. He did, however, say that Valve loves the setting and wants “to continue exploring the Half-Life universe.”
“Half-Life: Alyx was a really fun game to make,” Coomer said. “Even for [those of] us who worked on that world, it’s still fun to go back there and tell more stories.
“Also, there are many challenges in virtual reality, and it was an interesting task to solve them. Half-Life works are always accompanied by technological innovation, so it was a big step in that sense as well … Half-Life: Alyx is a sign that Valve has more to say about that world.”
Of course, you’ll want to take Coomer’s statement with, well, whatever quantity of salt you feel appropriate, because this is not the first time that someone from Valve has made this sort of statement while standing amidst a barren wasteland ofno actual new games from Valve. Let us review:
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To be fair to Valve, it has a lot on the go. Steam is stillcrushing concurrent user records, and theSteam Decklooks to be the legitimate hardware hit that Valve has been chasing for years. Still, there’s no overlooking the fact that we’ve heard this sizzle without seeing the steak many times before, and I have no doubt that it’ll happen again, almost certainly before we get our hands on any new game from Valve.
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill.Lotsof Henry Cavill.
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