Valve Time Has Canceled Half-Life 2: Episode Four

Today I learned that there was originally supposed to be multiple follow-ups to Half-Life 2: Episode Two. I wasn't really into Valve games at that point. At some point after Valve released Episode Three, which obviously never happened, two spin-offs were planned by two different studios. One unnamed title was supposed to be spearhead by Warren Spector and Junction Point Studios. The deal collapsed when Disney committed to Epic Mickey and the studio dropped Valve.





Source:
http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/Valve-Time-Has-Canceled-Half-Life-2-Episode-Four-Images

http://www.valvetime.net/threads/ne...evealed-valvetime-spotlight-exclusive.246580/

 

Three years ago I may have cared but Valve has postponed, delayed, denied and muddied everything about Half-Life 2 Episodes and Half-Life 3 for so long that rumors or leaks just make me go meh. The only Half-Life information that will make me give a damn again is an official announcement of Half-Life 3 and trailer from Valve. All other information regarding what could've been or might be feels like beating a dead horse!

 

Interesting!

But I think Gabe realizes that they got lucky with HL2 and Steam and that they'll never top that.

 

Valve doesn't make games anymore.

 

why bother making games? they just get cash from steam or buy small modding studios projects and sell it...

They don't need to make games anymore doubt they have the real Devs left to even do it anymore

 

Woooah there boy someone has to come up with those unlock cases and skins for CS GO.

Valve not making anymore Half Life games is not really a lose to be honest, the fact that they may never make another Portal or another Left 4 Dead on the other hand is a lose.

 

I'm thinking they are probably waiting to see how VR develops over the next few years before they consider making Half Life 3 and I don't blame them for holding off with the current state of games today, seems like every new release is either broken or delayed I blame this on the current crop of consoles being so underpowered

but yeah it's not an easy time to be in game development, not too mention the investment that goes into making a game, if Half Life 3 is a flop imagine what that would do to the franchise. I think they are wise to hold off for now.

 

Does this mean there will be an episode 3

 

I think game development...as an art form...is for the most part...dead. The indie games will keep something alive but the mainstream studios have all jumped on the same ship and sailed off into the sunset. Of course I'm just speculating here. But clearly something has gone sideways in a big way lately and I don't think anyone really knows what they're doing in terms of the big picture. The only thing they all seem to be able to manage is spawning clones of clones. I haven't bought a new game in so long I forgot what it feels like.

Maybe it's unforeseen effects of the Internet age. The Internet has killed so many things we all took for granted (buying from stores, magazines, newspapers, cable TV, movies...you name it). Smartphones and digital recording have killed the camera industry. Film is no longer the main medium. Polaroid and Kodak are either dead or dying. Musicians have become homogenized crap. The movie industry is behaving the same as the gaming industry. Jeez, even our trusty dictatorships are having a hard time keeping the masses uninformed of late. Oh what to do?

I'm now past 60 and have given up trying to keep on top of everything. Change is occurring so fast it's no longer worth the effort to invest myself in anything because it will be obsolete before it ever becomes mainstream. I think Alvin Toffler was correct in writing his book, "Future Shock" back in the 60's. Read the Wikipedia page on the book and see how much of it describes a lot of the phenomena we see happening right now.

Sorry if I'm pushing anyone out of their comfort zone.

 

I just read it as per your suggestion. Thats...insanely on point to todays issues/experiences. Unbelievable.

 

uuh.... i'm pretty sure if there was ever going to be an Episode 3.... it probably would have been released at LEAST 5 years ago... if not 6. Sooooooooooo..... i'm going to have to say there's probably a better chance of every single member of this forum hitting the lottery twice over than there is of there ever being an Episode 3.... let alone a Half-Life 3.

 

Valve (Gabe) have little to no interest in continuing the Half-Life series.
And at this point, it's more morbid curiosity then actual anticipation or excitement.

Valve could officially announce a new Half-Life title tomorrow, and I think my interest would be... "Hmph." and I'd go back to waiting for Shadow Warrior 2 or Doom.
Too little too late honestly.

It's interesting seeing the "could've" been projects that never came to be.
But, if anything, it only shows that the episodic plan Valve originally thought was such a great idea... was actually a pretty terrible one.
Between this, and SiN: Episodes... just no.

And really... I'm more upset about the lack of SiN's future installments then Episode Three.

 

Another Half-Life forever which reminds me of the Duke Nukem Forever!

It would be fantastic seeing a reboot, however it's unlikely to happen since it's been so long. How unfortunate as it would of been nice seeing a final end to the Half-Life series.

One last quality Half-Life wouldn't hurt?

 

After their work on Black Mesa, I'd rather see Crowbar Collective get the HL series and they take it on.

Let them finish Black Mesa, move on to a future HL game that continues the series.

 

GTA V achieved a $ billion in sales in first 3 days of release. An HL3 could equal or top that. The potential for profit from an HL3 is just too great to ignore, regardless of how well steam is doing.

Could be.. but they could just commission another studio to do it, one even more capable than the original devs.

 

Maybe I'm kind of annoying people here but... it was great while it lasted. Let the franchise rest in peace, they won't magically make it better or more surprising than HL or HL2 was. If they did it and we'd be disappointed it would only make our memories of the series suffer, and then we'd probably wish there wasn't another episode / HL (Indiana Jones anyone? )

 

I agree. The hype surrounding the game is so insane it would have to revolutionize everything we know about gaming to measure up.

Being an FPS game, that's virtually impossible I think. And this coming from a guy who'd like nothing more than a new Half-Life game.
Hope some of these spin-offs or so would at least materialize or, like said the creators of Black Mesa would create something of it etc.

 

Yes....they make Source 2 so that they can make...nothing...with...it..............

 

Yeah, I agree.

Either the story would need to be the greatest thing since the beginning of gaming or the gameplay would have to feature a trend setter that has other devs spending an entire gen copying some game mechanic that HL3 pioneered.

Or both.