Are Valve even AWARE of how badly they're screwing up?

Pops16

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What they should have done was release ONE Steam Machine (not fifty) and made this a launch title, with HL 1 and 2 already preloaded on the box.
 

BloatedGuppy

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Valve upon reading this thread...


I wish I could screw up as badly as Valve. I'd sit on my golden throne, looking out over my fleet of yachts, and ponder all the poor decisions that had brought me to this terrible precipice.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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BloatedGuppy said:
Valve upon reading this thread...


I wish I could screw up as badly as Valve. I'd sit on my golden throne, looking out over my fleet of yachts, and ponder all the poor decisions that had brought me to this terrible precipice.
Well, if that happens, you can count on me being there for you. I'll comfort you, cheer you up and try to keep your spirits up while stuffing my pockets with money because I'm your friend.
 

RealRT

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Now while I do understand where people with "IT'LL BE DUKE NUKEM FOREVER PART DEUX" are coming from, but nevertheless, there's one thing they don't consider: Duke Nukem Forever wasn't panned because of great expectations. It was panned because it was an offensive piece of garbage that's bad by both old-school and modern FPS standards.
 

Evonisia

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Jun 24, 2013
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Half-Life 3 will never live up to the hype, it is just too late to even bother making it. Plus I imagine making a Half-Life 3 will confirm to us that BioShock made Half-Life 2 pretty much obsolete in three years.

In the mean time, they can focus on making Portal 3, Left 4 Dead 3 and Team Fortress 3, games where it is not too late to make a third one.
 

ryessknight

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Its simple really. Valve doesn't care at all for the half life brand or making games at all anymore. Sure they may be working on it and other stuff on and off but steam makes them so much money and needs updating so often that its become there full time job at this point.
 

mezorin

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My theory on HL3? Either its tied to a major new Source mile stone (that other, more readily availible games like TF2/Portal/Left4Dead and DOTA 2 keep stealing the thunder), or that the scope creep on that damn game is the stuff of legends. As a coder, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall during a typical Half Life 3 meeting when Gabe decides to yet-again not reveal it to the world.

Ironically, Valve has fallen prey to almost too much hype and expectations. This is Half Life we're talking about, most of us PC FPS players wouldn't be here if not for HL1/TFC/Counter Strike/HL2. EA tanked Mass Effect 3's ending, pooched Sim City, and literally jumped the megaladon shark in Battlefield 4, and people just shrugged their shoulders. Because EA is the 'bad guy', if they put out something half decent we're pleasantly surprised, if its bad well that's par for EA. I don't think that anyone is surprised by Destiny's story being on par with crap a stoned grade 9 kid scribbled down at the back of math class either. But given who Valve is, what they did with all their other games (Portal, TF2, DOTA 2, L4D2 are all best in class at what they do) and the fact that its been ten freaking years, Half Life 3 needs to be the greatest American Story ever told, a fantastic FPS and come with a published cure for cancer paper .doc file on the disc or its not going to live up to the hype.
 

happyninja42

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Is Valve even publishing games anymore? I don't follow the publishing side of stuff very much, and I don't worship the Half-Life series as a cornerstone of gaming, (though I did enjoy the games a lot), but I mean, are they even publishing games? Or have they just moved into a...actually I don't really know what they are doing anymore, aside from running Steam. Is that pretty much it?
 

The Random Critic

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O come on guis, it's not all Steam. There's also Dota...

I never had the pleasure of playing the Half life series, so I can't really say I'm upset of the delays. But Valve can't count to three

Don't mind if they try some new ip though
 

BarkBarker

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Considering that the first one only made strides in storytelling in a FPS game and the half life 2 and two episodes are part wow this is genuinely clever A.I as a partner and the other was I'M SICK OF PHYSICS PUZZLES, I'd say its nowhere near the acclaim anyone has eevr suggested. I DO also find it incredibly stupid that when they coulda said its in their minds like a year after episode 2, they ignored it and it has spiralled out of control, dooming the franchises opportunity for a sequel or at least just some finality on a fade to black cliff hanger.
 

Artaneius

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The problem with HL3 is that like DNF it would be IMPOSSIBLE to meet expectations with a game being this long in "development hell". I think Valve is just too plain scared to bother. Why would they risk their reputation, Steam sales, and everything else for a game that is most likely just too over hyped to ever meet realistic expectations? As a company who suddenly created a DRM platform that millions are willing to bend over and get screwed, why would you BOTHER making a game that has a very large percentage of being bitched and moaned about for not meeting expectations? Look at H4 for example. Game sold well, but MS and 343 industries reputation went to shit because they "gasped" sold out to the CoD crowd and betrayed the original arena shooter fanbase.
 

senordesol

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I think the idea that Valve is paralyzed with fear of it 'not meeting expectations' is a Red Herring. At present, there's nothing *to* expect. And lets not forget the massive gap between HL1 and HL2 didn't seem to harm them any.

Valve is in the very enviable position of being able to take as long as they want in anything they do. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were coming up with an entirely new engine for HL3 to run on. I mean Source has pretty much hit its limit it seems, but if they could release a new one that's as groundbreaking as Source was (at the time); I don't think the butt-hurt factor would really be an issue.

The only thing I wish they'd do in the mean time is release some other original IP for us to chew on.
 

Dragonbums

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Valve doesn't even need to make videogames anymore for all they care.

Whatever existing games they have- they'll upkeep it to keep their game devs and art folks occupied and have some good side cash, but they won't care fuck all for whatever cliffhanger they left anybody in HL2.
 

x EvilErmine x

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I dunno how meany others feel the same as me about it but I'm firmly in the 'I don't even care one hoot any more' camp. I loved Half Life and Half Life 2 but it's been so long now that I'm just not bothered if Half Life 3 ever comes out at all. I've lost all investment I had in the games.

I think that's the reason[footnote]the sentiment expressed above[/footnote] the we've not heard nor ever will hear anything about it. As meany have said the game will more than likely end up hurting Valve, coz unless Valve can make HL3 dispense free blowjobs and coke then it's never going to live up to the hype.
 

Th37thTrump3t

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So we're starting this discussion up again, huh?

Valve said they are working on it, so I'm not worried that it won't come out.

Also, as far as the DN:F comparisons, keep in mind that DN:F changed developers multiple times. Even under normal development periods, that can kill a game. HL3 on the other hand is and will pretty much always be worked on by largely the same people, so the main vision will stay intact.
 

laggyteabag

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"the bitter cliffhanger from hell."
"the most anticipated sequel of all time."
"no matter how good the game ends up, it'll be dooming itself to become the next Duke Nukem Forever, completely crushed under the weight of its own expectations."
"one of the most highly-regarded series of all time"

There are your problems. Can Valve make good games? Yes. Can Valve make great games? Yes. But when they are faced with these expectations and problems, Valve would be idiots to try and make this game, because the game that people are expecting is impossible. If Valve makes one mistake, one hiccup, if the game isn't the best of the best in all fields, then people will shoot it down as a disappointment. It has gotten to the point where Valve has an impossible decision to make: Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Valve are making a game, that is a given, and whilst they probably have someone looking at the possibility of Half-Life 3, my bet is they are concentrating on a sequel for another game, or a new IP entirely. In the end I would rather be the company that never made the most anticipated sequel of all time than be the company who made the most disappointing sequel of all time.

What you might also forget is that Valve isn't a normal developer anymore. Sure, they too generate revenue from game sales, but Valve get a cut from every game sold on Steam, and that is probably enough money to guarantee that Valve never has to make another game again. However, Valve also generates revenue via merchandise sales, their cut from sales via the Steam marketplace, software licensing (Steam OS, Source), and soon to be hardware (Steam controller). Most other AAA developers only ever have one additional source of revenue, but Valve is in the kind of position that they don't even have to make another game to stay afloat, because they are constantly and consistently getting money from pretty much everywhere else. In other words, they can take as long as they damn well please on whatever game they are planning on releasing, because there is no pressure whatsoever.
 

Gennadios

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This may surprise HL fans, but HL is just a drop in the bucket of Valve's business plan. The majority of people who use Steam don't really care if we see another game in the series or not.
 

Evonisia

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Artaneius said:
Look at H4 for example. Game sold well, but MS and 343 industries reputation went to shit because they "gasped" sold out to the CoD crowd and betrayed the original arena shooter fanbase.
Well that and Halo 4 was pretty shit even outside of the multiplayer. It was also made by cynical developers desperate to appease the fan base by carrying on a plot thread that was ended like that to finish Master Chief's story.
 

runequester

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Evonisia said:
Artaneius said:
Look at H4 for example. Game sold well, but MS and 343 industries reputation went to shit because they "gasped" sold out to the CoD crowd and betrayed the original arena shooter fanbase.
Well that and Halo 4 was pretty shit even outside of the multiplayer. It was also made by cynical developers desperate to appease the fan base by carrying on a plot thread that was ended like that to finish Master Chief's story.
Hate to say it, but listening to the fan base too much isn't always a good idea.