Former Valve Developer Claims It Would Be a “Disaster Nightmare” to Work on Half-Life 3

For decades, if not longer, fans have debated the potential release of Half-Life 3, yet Valve has consistently denied these rumors or declined to comment on them entirely. It remains officially unclear whether the game is—or ever was—in development, but according to one former studio developer, even if work on Half-Life 3 were actually underway, he would have no part in it under any circumstances.

This concerns Chet Faliszek, a former Valve writer who contributed to the scripts for the Half-Life and Portal series and served as the lead writer for Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. He departed the studio in 2017 and currently hosts a YouTube channel where he fields audience questions and discusses video game industry topics. One of his recent YouTube shorts video, he addresses the prospect of work on Half-Life 3; he asserts that developing a new installment would be an absolute "disaster nightmare", while one of the users thought it would be easy, considering that the plot could have developed in virtually any direction. You can check out Faliszek’s comments from the shorts below:

“I almost never want to touch something that already has some kind of lore, or some kind of back history about it, not even like Left 4 Dead or anything. I don’t want to touch anything old. I don’t have to have people who remember stuff better than I do yelling at me about changing some history of lore from 50 years ago at this point.

Any sequel to me is just a disaster nightmare that I never want to do. So I’m not going to. I don’t want to touch that with a 10-foot pole. Or even a grav gun separating me from that 10-foot pole. A grav gun to a 10-foot pole, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it with Dog’s arms.”

It is highly likely that Chet Faliszek is unaware of recent insider rumors suggesting that Half-Life 3 is already in a playable state and that an announcement could theoretically occur this year. Speculation has further intensified after the host of the upcoming gaming showcase, Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley, posted a potential teaser on X. This has generated significant interest among fans, particularly as prior rumors suggested that Half-Life 3 was initially slated for an announcement at The Game Awards 2025, a timeline that would corroborate its advanced development status.

As previously stated, Valve does not comment on anything related to Half-Life 3. Nevertheless, the ending of Half-Life: Alyx—a VR game set in that universe—directly lays the groundwork for the third installment.

Are you still waiting for Half-Life 3? Do you believe the game is in development at Valve and could be announced at Summer Game Fest? Share your thoughts in the comments below!