World War Z Devs Wanted to Remake Half-Life 2, But Valve Declined

It has been nearly 15 years since Valve released Half-Life 2, and fans have been waiting for a third installment ever since. Sure, there were a couple of episodes added on to the sequel, but players want Half-Life 3, even if it has become the center of jokes over the years. That said, Saber Interactive, who recently launched their Left 4 Dead-like World War Z game, happens to be big fans of Valve. Not only did they get inspiration from the team-based zombie shooter for their own iteration, but CEO Matthew Karch is rather fond of the Half-Life series, which prompted them to see if they could remake the second installment.

While there is no denying that they are capable of remaking Half-Life 2, one thing stood in their way – Valve. “After we did Halo Anniversary and Halo 2 Anniversary, as part of the Master Chief Collection, I reached out to Gabe Newell personally, because I knew him from a past life, and I said I want to remake Half-Life 2,” said Karch while speaking to GameWatcher. “That’s all I want to do. I won’t charge you anything for it. I’ll do it for rev-share and doesn’t even need to be a big rev-share. I just really want to do because I love that game so much.”

Sadly, Valve’s response was not ideal, as they said, “Sorry, if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it internally.” Considering Valve allowed fans to remake the first game, this is certainly an interesting take when it comes to remaking the second entry. Then again, who knows what Valve has going on behind the scenes. For all we know, a Half-Life 2 remake is in the works and it is kept under lock and key. Either way, Karch is pretty sure that remakes need to happen.

“Where’s Half-Life,” he said. “Half-Life was the game that made Valve. Before Left 4 Dead, there was Half-Life, which needs to be remade in my opinion, because I think we’re scratching that itch with World War Z on the Left 4 Dead side. I think other developers are going to come and do similar types of things. But Gordon Freeman, man, he’s as iconic as Master Chief. Where is it?”

That’s probably something that resonates with a lot of fans. Here’s to hoping remakes of both are in the plans at Valve. In the meantime, World War Z is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

What do you think about all of this? Should Valve have let Saber remake Half-Life 2, especially considering it would have come from a place of love for the series? Sound off in the comment section below, or feel free to hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!