They literally didnt finish episode 3 because they felt they had nothing new to show, they said all this in the documentary. They didn’t want to just make more of the same. If they are making Half Life 3 (highly doubt it, as Tyler McVicker just chats shit to try and stay relevant), it’s because they finally have some new tech or ideas they want to play around with, like as you said with Alyx.
I’m not sure I believe that Valve ran out of ideas for HL3. That’s clearly the image they want to project, and maybe even what they tell themselves, but judging from the ideas they did have for Episode 3 they showcased in that documentary, there was more than enough to justify releasing a game. Certainly there was as much or more new stuff than there was for either EP1 or 2. I think it’s much more likely they simply decided their other projects at the time–CS:GO, DOTA 2, even TF2–had way more moneymaking potential. And I mean, they were right! They made a ton of money off of lootboxes and cosmetics for their multiplayer titles. I don’t think Steam had totally taken over the market yet, so they were hedging their bets on multiplayer microtransactions.
I dunno. The whole “it needs to be new” philosophy they constantly espouse to hasn’t really been true at least as far back as Portal 2. Even Alyx wasn’t particularly revolutionary as far as VR titles go. Maybe doing that type of design was new to Valve, but the only standout features that distinguishes Alyx from other games are the graphics and the (genuinely very good) grabbity glove object pickup system. Pretty much everything else is several steps behind other VR shooter games in the name of Accessibility™, from movement to weapon selection to the painfully dumb AI.
They didn’t run out of ideas. The movement FPS genre is alive and well for a reason, even today: there’s lots to be done. They just lost interest in it themselves, and I believe the reason for that is primarily monetary.
There’s plenty of “it doesnt need to be new” in the industry, I think it’s refreshing Valve take a different approach. If none of them felt like they could continue the series without sacrificing quality or they just lost interest then there is nothing wrong with them stopping it. Yeah it sucks for fans who wanted more, but a good franchise being halted is better than one being milked.
I dont think they care about money at all, there’s probably loads of projects started and stopped internally at Valve, it’s how the company runs. They could print money by releasing a new Half Life game, they know that, it’s just not something they want to work on right now.
They do often talk about “it needs to be new,” but for the most part the things they release don’t actually follow that philosophy. Artifact was trying to follow the likes of Hearthstone. CS2 is a glowup of CS:GO. DOTA2, League. Deadlock is the closest they’ve come to something genuinely innovative in at least a decade, but even that is still following on the heels of MOBA/FPS hybrids like OW and Paladins, just taking more elements from MOBAs.
And the “not caring about money” thing wasn’t true in 2008. They were probably getting to that point around 2012, as Steam began to turn into a money printer and their microtransaction games took off, but that wouldn’t have been until after HL3 had been cancelled at least once. At some point Valve talked about the difficulties in selling Portal 2 (I think it might have been in the dev commentary? Idk it’s been years) and one of the points they bring up was how even a huge success like that game wasn’t living up to their other titles. They tried to implement microtransactions with the co-op mode, but they learned lessons about how that model only worked in bigger multiplayer games. One of the big stories they tell in both the HL1 and HL2 documentaries were the troubles they ran into with funding, and I guarantee they were not looking to repeat those experiences by continuing work on a game that had far less potential for return on investment. Again, that might have changed by 2012, but by then the momentum was already gone.
Better will happen. Cheaper than Meta selling the Quest 2/3s at a loss for $300 because they bank on the walled garden of the Oculus app store for profit? Rather unlikely.
Especially now that every VR headset seems to be a standalone and the simple “HDMI cable to a PC” doesn’t really seem to exist any more, so you have to pay for the mandatory integrated gaming tablet as well.
They literally didnt finish episode 3 because they felt they had nothing new to show, they said all this in the documentary. They didn’t want to just make more of the same. If they are making Half Life 3 (highly doubt it, as Tyler McVicker just chats shit to try and stay relevant), it’s because they finally have some new tech or ideas they want to play around with, like as you said with Alyx.
I’m not sure I believe that Valve ran out of ideas for HL3. That’s clearly the image they want to project, and maybe even what they tell themselves, but judging from the ideas they did have for Episode 3 they showcased in that documentary, there was more than enough to justify releasing a game. Certainly there was as much or more new stuff than there was for either EP1 or 2. I think it’s much more likely they simply decided their other projects at the time–CS:GO, DOTA 2, even TF2–had way more moneymaking potential. And I mean, they were right! They made a ton of money off of lootboxes and cosmetics for their multiplayer titles. I don’t think Steam had totally taken over the market yet, so they were hedging their bets on multiplayer microtransactions.
I dunno. The whole “it needs to be new” philosophy they constantly espouse to hasn’t really been true at least as far back as Portal 2. Even Alyx wasn’t particularly revolutionary as far as VR titles go. Maybe doing that type of design was new to Valve, but the only standout features that distinguishes Alyx from other games are the graphics and the (genuinely very good) grabbity glove object pickup system. Pretty much everything else is several steps behind other VR shooter games in the name of Accessibility™, from movement to weapon selection to the painfully dumb AI.
They didn’t run out of ideas. The movement FPS genre is alive and well for a reason, even today: there’s lots to be done. They just lost interest in it themselves, and I believe the reason for that is primarily monetary.
There’s plenty of “it doesnt need to be new” in the industry, I think it’s refreshing Valve take a different approach. If none of them felt like they could continue the series without sacrificing quality or they just lost interest then there is nothing wrong with them stopping it. Yeah it sucks for fans who wanted more, but a good franchise being halted is better than one being milked.
I dont think they care about money at all, there’s probably loads of projects started and stopped internally at Valve, it’s how the company runs. They could print money by releasing a new Half Life game, they know that, it’s just not something they want to work on right now.
They do often talk about “it needs to be new,” but for the most part the things they release don’t actually follow that philosophy. Artifact was trying to follow the likes of Hearthstone. CS2 is a glowup of CS:GO. DOTA2, League. Deadlock is the closest they’ve come to something genuinely innovative in at least a decade, but even that is still following on the heels of MOBA/FPS hybrids like OW and Paladins, just taking more elements from MOBAs.
And the “not caring about money” thing wasn’t true in 2008. They were probably getting to that point around 2012, as Steam began to turn into a money printer and their microtransaction games took off, but that wouldn’t have been until after HL3 had been cancelled at least once. At some point Valve talked about the difficulties in selling Portal 2 (I think it might have been in the dev commentary? Idk it’s been years) and one of the points they bring up was how even a huge success like that game wasn’t living up to their other titles. They tried to implement microtransactions with the co-op mode, but they learned lessons about how that model only worked in bigger multiplayer games. One of the big stories they tell in both the HL1 and HL2 documentaries were the troubles they ran into with funding, and I guarantee they were not looking to repeat those experiences by continuing work on a game that had far less potential for return on investment. Again, that might have changed by 2012, but by then the momentum was already gone.
I still haven’t played Alyx, I am waiting for better and cheaper VR before playing it.
Better will happen. Cheaper than Meta selling the Quest 2/3s at a loss for $300 because they bank on the walled garden of the Oculus app store for profit? Rather unlikely.
Especially now that every VR headset seems to be a standalone and the simple “HDMI cable to a PC” doesn’t really seem to exist any more, so you have to pay for the mandatory integrated gaming tablet as well.
Sadly it’s going to be a while since everyone is waiting for that to magically happen out of the goodness of the developers heart.
I do not regret my vr investment at all.