In the panel video, fellow Valve panelist and sound designer David Feise can be seen muttering a sarcastic “nice job” to Morasky after the codename HLX slipped out of his mouth. Later, as the audience applauds at the end of the question-and-answer session, Feise leans toward Morasky and appears to say, “Good job, you only said HLX once!”
When will they arrive at the HLX factory?
An official statement from the shibboleth “HLX” is of course a good sign for those looking for an indication of the franchise continuing beyond the 2020s. Half-life Alyx. But the question of when Valve will make its next Half-Life project official remains an important one.
Remember, just under a year ago, journalist Mike Straw insisted that Half-life 3 would be a Steam Machine launch title. Now that the Steam Machine’s launch has happened without so much as a wink of an announcement, we can understand why Valve watchers would be more coy than usual about new rumors.
Longtime Valve watcher Tyler McVicker said Half-life 3 was in the “final stages of development” and suggested a 2026 announcement was “likely” last year – admitted in a recent video that he no longer believes HLX will be announced this calendar year. But he also pointed to the recent increase in coding activity within Valve (as measured by externally visible internal “commit” numbers), that something big could happen sooner rather than later.
One thing is certain: every time Half-life 3 is finally announced and released, it will have to be truly amazing to make up for the loss of the long-standing metagame of speculating about its mere existence.
Gn tech
