Valve’s Gabe Newell Makes Half-Life 3 Joke, But Not All Hope is Lost

Half-Life 3 has been the butt of many jokes over the years. Some have been pretty hilarious, some not so much, but all have been saddening. It’s been nearly 15 years since the release of Half-Life 2 and it is increasingly becoming more apparent that a third installment just isn’t happening. Then again, this is seemingly Valve’s whole thing – not being able to count to three. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has even embraced the running joke, playing on it in the past. Most recently, during a launch event for the Valve Index, the company’s new VR setup, Newell dropped a pretty significant reference to the number that has haunted fans of franchises such as Half-Life, Portal, and more.

When Newell stepped up to speak, he touched on a few different things, one of which was the milestones that the company has achieved over the years. Of course, there have been many. However, he also took this opportunity to shed light on one thing that has escaped their grasps all these years – the number 3. You can hear the following for yourself in the video above at about the 4:20 minute mark.

“Milestones aren’t really the end of anything,” he said. “They’re really the beginning. So Half-Life led to Half-Life 2, Source led to Source 2, the experiments that we did with Team Fortress 2 were what enabled us to build Dota. Artifact is the reason we’re able to do Underlords. So, maybe someday the number 2 will lead us to that shiny integer glowing on a mountain someplace. We’ll just have to see.”

It got some laughs out of the crowd that was present, and probably many more people that have since watched the video. Now that Valve appears to be diving back into the business of developing games, one can only hope that they intend on revisiting some of their previous series. Not all hope is lost at this point, but it is not looking great. Then again, has it ever?

What do you think about all of this? Are we ever going to see Valve develop a third entry in a series that is numbered as such? If it is not Half-Life 3 that happens, what other title would you like to see receive the almighty 3? Sound off in the comment section below, or feel free to hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!