No Half-Life 3 or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 for 2011?

Nathan Andrews 19 May, 2011 at 1:52am ET Article published in Gaming

That appears to be the case based upon a short, concise email sent out this morning by Valve’s marketing director Doug Lombardi.

The content of the email states simply:

Hi,

Lots of folks have mailed asking about appointment times, etc., with Valve.

Well, we are not showing any titles at this year’s show. So no appointment is needed.

Thanks

Finding this interesting, I fired off a quick response asking if they will even have a booth. Doug’s one word response:

Nope.

I found this a little strange, considering that Valve so recently pulled off one of the biggest launches in their history with the almost universally well-received Portal 2. Additionally, people are constantly clamoring for new updates to the Half-Life franchise. For them to be completely silent at the largest event in the industry seems a bit odd.

Comments

19 May 2011 ~ 1:55am primesuspect What the hell has crawled up Doug Lombardi's butt lately? We used to have a great relationship with Valve, we interviewed Doug a few years ago, have always had very awesome interactions with them... Fast forward to 2011, we no longer receive any replies to any emails we've sent them, and finally we get a ONE WORD response from the mighty Doug Lombardi? I understand the guy is busy, but damn. There's a fine line between "I'm too busy to answer your questions, my apologies." and just straight up arrogant/rude.
19 May 2011 ~ 3:46am UPSLynx http://gaming.icrontic.com/news/no-half-life-2-episode-3-in-2010/

Screw you, Valve.
19 May 2011 ~ 6:44am mertesn I'm guessing the short response is because around a billion other sites and fans e-mailed and asked the same question. Guess it's better than a canned response that doesn't answer questions or a rage reply.
19 May 2011 ~ 7:42am Cliff_Forster They do what they must, because they can.....
19 May 2011 ~ 8:13am Scott Reid Valve are never one to give away details about anything they may be showing... It sais "this yearâ€™s show" which doesn't neccecarly mean that it won't be announced this year. If Valve don't release Half-Life 3/ep 3 this year, they are well within their rights. They can't release a game simply because people rage about how long it takes.

What would you rather : Wait, and play an awsome, well made game.

Or rage at Valve, causing them to release it too early without finishing all it's development?

Just wait. Good things come to those who WEIGHT. Ehemm** wait.
19 May 2011 ~ 8:46am Scott Reid "this yearÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s show"? Damn you copy & paste!
19 May 2011 ~ 9:13am AlexDeGruven My thing is this:

E3 is the video game equivalent to the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) or LA Auto Show (to make a car analogy). No matter what's going on with the company, every auto company with any kind of PR or marketing sense makes sure they have at least SOME kind of presence. For Valve to completely not make an appearance (They didn't have a booth last year, but still booked a meeting room to show off Portal 2) at E3 is like Ford saying they're going to skip the NAIAS this year.

Valve just pulled off one of the biggest game launches in their history (albeit a bit delayed, but still) less than a month ago. They've got two very hotly-anticipated titles coming up some time in the future with HL3 and HL2:Ep3. They've got plenty they could show off this year.

But for some reason, they decided not to.

Ford just released a 200mph Mustang that seats 4 comfortably and gets 160mpg but decides not to show up because they're "Not showing any new models"?
19 May 2011 ~ 9:26am Butters I can understand the brief statement as simpler is always better especially when dealing with mass quantities of the same question. Having an obligatory booth seems like the right thing to do, but is there a real benefit to them other than pouring resources just for PR. They aren't conventional and going E3 seems pretty conventional.

Besides when they don't attend it makes the headlines, thats pretty good marketing regardless right?
19 May 2011 ~ 9:29am AlexDeGruven That's true. Them making no appearance creates more buzz than them appearing.
19 May 2011 ~ 9:33am Thrax Or they're just fucking with all of you.

//EDIT: For a group of people accustomed to and proficient with trolling (you guys), I am completely baffled that your first reaction was rage/disappointment, rather than "NOT SURE IF SRS" when talking about Valve, the company that just trolled the world with a bunch of potatoes.
19 May 2011 ~ 9:35am AlexDeGruven That would be a pretty mega troll. Tell everyone they're not even going to be there, then have a booth/area that takes up 1/3 of the entire West hall.
19 May 2011 ~ 10:32am Butters They will probably take over the Staples center.
19 May 2011 ~ 10:32am AlexDeGruven Don't joke. That's precisely what Activision did last year.
19 May 2011 ~ 11:18am Tushon

Thrax wrote:

Or they're just fucking with all of you.

//EDIT: For a group of people accustomed to and proficient with trolling (you guys), I am completely baffled that your first reaction was rage/disappointment, rather than "NOT SURE IF SRS" when talking about Valve, the company that just trolled the world with a bunch of potatoes.

This 1000x ... it's valve.
19 May 2011 ~ 11:20am AlexDeGruven Hey, my first reaction was neither of those. It was more of a curiosity and a 'Really?'
19 May 2011 ~ 11:34am primesuspect Valve may be trolls in the online space, but there's no way they would or even could pull off a troll like that. There are too many logistics involved. If Valve says they're not gonna be at E3, they're not gonna be at E3.
19 May 2011 ~ 11:54am GHoosdum

Thrax wrote:

I am completely baffled that your first reaction was rage/disappointment, rather than "NOT SURE IF SRS" when talking about Valve, the company that just trolled the world with a bunch of potatoes.

Truth. I remember walking around the entire LA Live complex at E3 2010, because we couldn't truly believe that Valve had canceled their big party on night 1. We thought it was a troll.

Honestly, though, it's better for Valve to simply not show at E3 this year if they've got nothing, than it would be to show up and have, what, a demo of Portal 2, which is already released? They'd be completely panned by the gaming press. Remember how pitiful Nintendo was at E3 2009? We tore them apart, and they deserved it... in those cases it's better to just not show up.

Valve just doesn't work that way, they wait until it's ready, and we love them for it.
19 May 2011 ~ 1:32pm UPSLynx I don't give a crap if Valve are trolling us or not. I have every reason to be angry at them for Episode 3. You can't watch a company release this unrelated game, then that unrelated game, and then yet another unrelated game while their main IP gets not so much as a SINGLE SENTENCE of information for four years and not have a reason to complain.

Am I entitled to their game or their time? No, absolutely not. But Valve's fans who have been rabidly devoted to them for years deserve better respect than this.
19 May 2011 ~ 1:43pm the_technocrat

Thrax wrote:

Or they're just fucking with all of you.

//EDIT: For a group of people accustomed to and proficient with trolling (you guys), I am completely baffled that your first reaction was rage/disappointment, rather than "NOT SURE IF SRS" when talking about Valve, the company that just trolled the world with a bunch of potatoes.

Combine takeover of E3? Would be amazing. Some SWAT-based game (I think) did it a few years ago. Maybe some untalented new PR person was able to get away with presenting it as a novel idea for 2011 E3?
19 May 2011 ~ 2:04pm Tushon They are going to drop potatoes from the ceiling like balloons and everything will go as expected: horribly.
19 May 2011 ~ 3:06pm Cliff_Forster First off lets all admit that E3 is not what it used to be. It has been taken over by the industry and the press. The enthusiasm for the public has been reduced a great deal since E3's glory days as a spectacle with expansive open floors for everyone to explore the latest games and booth babes as far as the eye could see. Allot of us common folk thought it was better when it was more of a convention for gamers, and not just an elbow rubbing session for a bunch of wannabe journalists. Part of me feels like we should all flip E3 the collective finger. The people in charge took the event away from gamers and gave it to the internet press marketing machine. When you think about it, its kind of silly. An event where internet press converge to report what they saw on the INTERNET! All of this could have just been done, you know, with the power of the INTERNET! The event has little real tangible value that can not be obtained through other internet channels, at least as it is now. E3 is no longer for gamers, its an elbow rubbing session for insiders.

Take a different event like QaukeCon. Those guys at id get it right. Quakecon is a celebration for gamers, where they slip in a little marketing while they are at it. E3 used to be like that, it was a celebration of gaming, a place where we could all converge and get drunk on the future of our hobby, now its just a marketing demo for a bunch of people that need material for their magazine or website. Lets face it, E3 sucks.

Now that said, its still an important event, until, somehow its made unimportant.... Valve's not showing tells me what I already know, that event has no tangible value to gamers that could not be obtained through a myriad of other channels. Perhaps Valve figures, showing at E3 just because popular convention tells you that is the thing to do is not a good enough reason? Maybe its their way of saying, everyone should realize this event is not longer legit? Maybe Doug Lombardi does not need another photo-op with Jessica Chobot for everyone to know that Valve is pretty awesome?

Maybe, just maybe Valve will divert this saved energy into their own Quakecon of sorts. You know, an event for actual gamers like us.
19 May 2011 ~ 3:44pm primesuspect To be fair: E3 has seriously scaled back the number of press passes they are giving out this year; many sites who got passes on previous years were denied this year. They've been responding to the complaint that anybody with a blog got a press pass.
19 May 2011 ~ 5:46pm RootWyrm And to be clear as well; there are very very few booths left at E3 (I counted 3) and none of the existing ones are reserved for Valve. At all. Not even a meeting room. I checked twice, by hand, the entire E3 2011 floorplan.
Valve ain't going to be at E3 2011.
19 May 2011 ~ 6:23pm Bob Marley While we may not see the next Half Life this year, I think you're jumping to conclusions and exaggerating a bit much. If I owned a gaming company, I'd run it just like Valve on many levels... including responding to your silly-ass follow-up email with an equally silly one word response.
Everyone is reporting on this email, just imagine all the other retards like you whom responded, "so when you say you're not going to E3, does that mean you're really 'not going'?"
Idiot.
20 May 2011 ~ 1:45am Koreish I knew Bob Marley wasn't dead. Though I am surprised he has in interest in Valve.
20 May 2011 ~ 2:37am UPSLynx Weed, man. Makes you say some crazy stuff.
20 May 2011 ~ 10:32pm Bandrik I too was with GHoosdum during E3 last year. When Valve announced at the last minute with cheeky and mysterious email that seemed to come from GLaDOS herself that their big event was canceled the following day, we were half-convinced they were trolling us. We tried to show up anyways, hoping they would have a special thing for those that showed up, but nope. Nothing. Kind of disappointing, really, especially with all their ARG marketing they did for Portal.

Still. My feelings are best summed up with this image:
23 May 2011 ~ 6:52pm Nate It's coming, just not yet. HL2 took ~5 years to develop... be patient.