4 ms·

Assuming it never gets released (never is a VERY long time), I'd rather get a documentary on how it failed to get made.

DasIch 10y ago
The failure would be to create Half Life 3. No matter how good an actual game called Half Life 3 could be, it would never live up to the fantasy. The No Man's Sky disaster would be nothing in comparison. The fact that Half Life 3 isn't released and there is no sign of it is almost certainly not due to some failure to produce it but due to a decision not to.
- waiseristy 10y ago
  I still find it hard to believe that a games company would drop an IP just because people wanted it too much. But maybe that's exactly what they did
  - sotojuan 10y ago
    My theory is that since HL2 was "revolutionary" because of its physics engine (and HL1 before was "revolutionary" because of the story telling and no cutscenes), it makes sense that HL3 should combine the series excellent storytelling and level design with something that is also considered new for its time. The problem is that the only "new" thing since HL2 that could take off is VR which isn't quite there yet.
  - DasIch 10y ago
    It's indeed hard to believe, in fact it would be ridiculous. The reason though why it isn't hard to believe that Valve would do this is because Valve isn't a games company. At this point games are to Valve what email is to Google. An important product to be sure but not what they make their money with. Valve makes their money with Steam, their games are side projects. Steam is popular, the games Valve makes are popular and Valve is popular. HL3 is a massive investment, a huge risk to all of that and for what? If Valve were a games company, the money would be the answer but Valve is the Steam company, that money is not all that much to them.
    - oblio 10y ago
      I'm pretty sure that Dota 2 makes them a lot of money. Not Steam-levels of money, but definitely enough to have it as a line on the balance sheet.
- timdeneau 10y ago
  It wouldn’t surprise me to see Half-Life 3 announced as a flagship title for a Steam VR platform. The individual components are in place, but it’s still immature. I thought the Portal demo on the Vive was mindblowing. If they released Half-Life 3 in that form, it would survive the anticipation.
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    Youd need to be able to move beyond the size of a room. The Vive cannot offer that kind of Freedom.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  >>The No Man's Sky disaster would be nothing in comparison. No Man's Sky wasn't a simple case of hype, though. The developer blatantly lied about what was going to be in the release version, including videos and screenshots of content that doesn't exist[1]. The extent of this mismatch between what was advertised and what was delivered is so large that it's being investigated in the UK[2]. [1]https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no_mans_sky_we_were_sold_on_a_big_list/?st=itmwlfhp&sh=e122b8d4 https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no... [2]http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/uk-advertising-board-investigating-no-mans-sky-marketing/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/uk-advertising-board-i...
  - DanBC 10y ago
    > and what was delivered is so large that it's being investigated in the UK[2]. Anyone can make a complaint with ASA, and they investigate any complaint for which they're the regulator. They also do not uphold plenty of complaints. To get a feel for what an ASA ruling is like people can read the archive of rulings here: https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx I think this recent ruling about a city council's campaign to stop people giving money to beggars shows there's some nuance to the rulings: https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/9/Nottingham-City-Council/SHP_ADJ_343048.aspx#.V_NnlVQrK00 https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/9/Nottingh... tl;dr An ASA investigation means nothing other than someone complained.
- CJefferson 10y ago
  Portal 2 had extremely high expectations, and while it didn't meet everyone's wishes it is still highly regarded.
  - intoverflow2 10y ago
    Considered a bit of a disaster internally from what people are saying these days and responsible for valve no longer having an interest in shipping single player experiences.
- zanny 10y ago
  Consider the 2016 Doom. You could claim expectations were tempered by Doom 3 and Rage plus the loss of Carmack, but the game wildly exceeded expectations and was incredibly well received by its target audience. Valve isn't developing HL3 because a project of that magnitude requires simply more dedication and conviction than Valve's devs might even have anymore. The company is one of those flat structures where developers work on whatever they have passion for, which means anything they make is gold, but if nobody has passion for it it will never be made. And compared to the work required to make all their games since HL2 - not skill, just raw hours of design and testing - HL3 is way beyond the scope of what Valve has made since then. Portal 2 is the most significant achievement since then, and all it really was was level design and event scripting - there are no real enemies, no AI, and the game length was still quite a bit less than what a full FPS release on par with the old Half Life would expect. It should be no coincidence the release of Steam ended the Half Life franchise. Once the company had effectively infinite cash the staff could pivot from making complex hard to develop games that would make huge returns to making whatever they wanted - Dota 2 has nothing pay to win, no payments to even play, the only in game transactions are for cosmetics. It is something no other moba, not even Blizzard's, is willing to risk because everyone else is too worried about making sure ends meet from the games revenue. So I do not believe Valve is incapable of living up to the hype. Even making a game as good as Half Life 2 would be enough. Portal 2 was considered a success despite being inferior to its predecessor because it was still really good. The problem has nothing to do with fear of failure, but a lack of willpower in Valve staff to put millions of hours into making a worthwhile successor to Half Life 2 when they can get similar accolades for much less effort making games in other genres. It is the same reason you so rarely see expansive and good RPGs. They are much more time consuming to make than almost any other genre of game.
  - DasIch 10y ago
    Maybe you're right and I'm overestimating the potential disappointment from gamers. Nevertheless I think we agree overall that after the release of HL2 and Steam the company has effectively transformed. In fact I have primarily focused on the financial motivation and I think you're making excellent points that not just financially but structurally Valve might not be in the position to be able to pull of any projects that require much coordination. I think the point you're making on structure, could also explain the failure of Steam Machines. Something that would require quite a lot of people coordinating not just with others in the company but also with people outside it.
andreamazz 10y ago
Obligatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0w9YP_wZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0w9YP_wZ0

The failure would be to create Half Life 3. No matter how good an actual game called Half Life 3 could be, it would never live up to the fantasy. The No Man's Sky disaster would be nothing in comparison. The fact that Half Life 3 isn't released and there is no sign of it is almost certainly not due to some failure to produce it but due to a decision not to.

waiseristy 10y ago
I still find it hard to believe that a games company would drop an IP just because people wanted it too much. But maybe that's exactly what they did
- sotojuan 10y ago
  My theory is that since HL2 was "revolutionary" because of its physics engine (and HL1 before was "revolutionary" because of the story telling and no cutscenes), it makes sense that HL3 should combine the series excellent storytelling and level design with something that is also considered new for its time. The problem is that the only "new" thing since HL2 that could take off is VR which isn't quite there yet.
- DasIch 10y ago
  It's indeed hard to believe, in fact it would be ridiculous. The reason though why it isn't hard to believe that Valve would do this is because Valve isn't a games company. At this point games are to Valve what email is to Google. An important product to be sure but not what they make their money with. Valve makes their money with Steam, their games are side projects. Steam is popular, the games Valve makes are popular and Valve is popular. HL3 is a massive investment, a huge risk to all of that and for what? If Valve were a games company, the money would be the answer but Valve is the Steam company, that money is not all that much to them.
  - oblio 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure that Dota 2 makes them a lot of money. Not Steam-levels of money, but definitely enough to have it as a line on the balance sheet.
timdeneau 10y ago
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Half-Life 3 announced as a flagship title for a Steam VR platform. The individual components are in place, but it’s still immature. I thought the Portal demo on the Vive was mindblowing. If they released Half-Life 3 in that form, it would survive the anticipation.
- ekianjo 10y ago
  Youd need to be able to move beyond the size of a room. The Vive cannot offer that kind of Freedom.
enraged_camel 10y ago
>>The No Man's Sky disaster would be nothing in comparison. No Man's Sky wasn't a simple case of hype, though. The developer blatantly lied about what was going to be in the release version, including videos and screenshots of content that doesn't exist[1]. The extent of this mismatch between what was advertised and what was delivered is so large that it's being investigated in the UK[2]. [1]https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no_mans_sky_we_were_sold_on_a_big_list/?st=itmwlfhp&sh=e122b8d4 https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no... [2]http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/uk-advertising-board-investigating-no-mans-sky-marketing/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/uk-advertising-board-i...
- DanBC 10y ago
  > and what was delivered is so large that it's being investigated in the UK[2]. Anyone can make a complaint with ASA, and they investigate any complaint for which they're the regulator. They also do not uphold plenty of complaints. To get a feel for what an ASA ruling is like people can read the archive of rulings here: https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx I think this recent ruling about a city council's campaign to stop people giving money to beggars shows there's some nuance to the rulings: https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/9/Nottingham-City-Council/SHP_ADJ_343048.aspx#.V_NnlVQrK00 https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2016/9/Nottingh... tl;dr An ASA investigation means nothing other than someone complained.
CJefferson 10y ago
Portal 2 had extremely high expectations, and while it didn't meet everyone's wishes it is still highly regarded.
- intoverflow2 10y ago
  Considered a bit of a disaster internally from what people are saying these days and responsible for valve no longer having an interest in shipping single player experiences.
zanny 10y ago
Consider the 2016 Doom. You could claim expectations were tempered by Doom 3 and Rage plus the loss of Carmack, but the game wildly exceeded expectations and was incredibly well received by its target audience. Valve isn't developing HL3 because a project of that magnitude requires simply more dedication and conviction than Valve's devs might even have anymore. The company is one of those flat structures where developers work on whatever they have passion for, which means anything they make is gold, but if nobody has passion for it it will never be made. And compared to the work required to make all their games since HL2 - not skill, just raw hours of design and testing - HL3 is way beyond the scope of what Valve has made since then. Portal 2 is the most significant achievement since then, and all it really was was level design and event scripting - there are no real enemies, no AI, and the game length was still quite a bit less than what a full FPS release on par with the old Half Life would expect. It should be no coincidence the release of Steam ended the Half Life franchise. Once the company had effectively infinite cash the staff could pivot from making complex hard to develop games that would make huge returns to making whatever they wanted - Dota 2 has nothing pay to win, no payments to even play, the only in game transactions are for cosmetics. It is something no other moba, not even Blizzard's, is willing to risk because everyone else is too worried about making sure ends meet from the games revenue. So I do not believe Valve is incapable of living up to the hype. Even making a game as good as Half Life 2 would be enough. Portal 2 was considered a success despite being inferior to its predecessor because it was still really good. The problem has nothing to do with fear of failure, but a lack of willpower in Valve staff to put millions of hours into making a worthwhile successor to Half Life 2 when they can get similar accolades for much less effort making games in other genres. It is the same reason you so rarely see expansive and good RPGs. They are much more time consuming to make than almost any other genre of game.
- DasIch 10y ago
  Maybe you're right and I'm overestimating the potential disappointment from gamers. Nevertheless I think we agree overall that after the release of HL2 and Steam the company has effectively transformed. In fact I have primarily focused on the financial motivation and I think you're making excellent points that not just financially but structurally Valve might not be in the position to be able to pull of any projects that require much coordination. I think the point you're making on structure, could also explain the failure of Steam Machines. Something that would require quite a lot of people coordinating not just with others in the company but also with people outside it.

andreamazz 10y ago

Obligatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0w9YP_wZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0w9YP_wZ0