“We definitely have games in development that we’re going to be announcing — it’s fun to ship games,” Newell said when asked about future games coming out of Valve. Valve has developed – and subsequently cancelled – a lot of games in the past (including several versions of Half-Life 3). The fact that Newell specifically says these new games will be announced suggests a shift from the company’s recent history of being reticent to release new software.Newell also spoke about the process of creating Half-Life: Alyx, and Valve’s return to single-player: “Alyx was great — to be back doing single-player games, that created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that.”
Newell’s comments also suggest that the studio is energised and keen to work on more single-player titles, which makes sense considering the plot of Half-Life: Alyx. It means that we may see more of Gordon Freeman (or hell, maybe even Chell?) in the future. That tallies with his Half-Life: Alyx’s developers’ comments after the game arrived, with more than one telling IGN that the team wanted to work on more Half-Life games now that Alyx was complete.
Famously, Valve revealed Half-Life: Alyx in November 2019 and then launched it in March of 2020. Newell’s explanation that Valve is “going to be announcing” these games could suggest that we may even hear about them soon. In less positive Valve news, The European Commission recently issued the company with a fine over alleged “geo-blocking”.
Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
