HTC has apologized after teasing a new Half-Life game for the company's upcoming virtual reality headset, ‘The Vive', which was developed in collaboration with Valve. The drama all kicked off yesterday when HTC Chairwoman, Cher Wang, suggested that a new Half-Life game was on the way in an interview with the BBC.
During the interview, the HTC Chairwoman said “I think Valve's best game is Dota, right, and Portal and Team Fortress and I think they are very keen to have them on Vive”. She then went on to say “We are co-operating with Half-life, and I think… I hope, you know, it will be on it.”
As you can imagine, given the official announcements of the Source 2 engine and the constant Half-Life 3 rumors, this claim from HTC that it was actively helping with a new Half-Life game set the internet alight with speculation. Things got worse when it was discovered that a Valve employee had a talk on game physics scheduled at GDC for 3PM on the third of March (3/3 at 3), this turned out to be a coincidence and Valve did not mean to fuel any speculation.
Following the interview with HTC, the BBC received official comment from Valve explaining that no VR Half-Life game was in development and that the comments made by HTC were surprising.
After fueling the fire, HTC ended up apologizing for incorrectly teasing a new Half-Life game:
“I would like to apologize for any confusion caused when I referred to individual games titles”, Wang said. “In response to a question on specific games, I misspoke when I referred to our working together with Valve on a particular game, when instead I meant our collaboration with Valve on developing next-generation virtual reality experiences for gaming.”
“I am very excited about the work we are doing with Valve, and look forward to bringing our HTC Vive to market later this year.”
The Vive is Valve's own virtual reality headset built in collaboration with HTC. This marks HTC' first big venture in to the gaming market. The device will be commercially available later this year.
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KitGuru Says: HTC caused quite a stir yesterday with its Half-Life tease. Unfortunately, none of the rumors have panned out so far. There is still no Half-Life 3 but Source 2 has been announced and should be on the way soon, surely Valve will have a game running on the engine to show off its capabilities closer to release?
not sure how “We are co-operating with Half-life, and I think… I hope, you know, it will be on it.” means there is gonna be a HL3, it just means Half-Life in general, could be 1, could be 2… or a 3, if there will be one. Even though BBC asked if HL3 will be on it, She didn’t state there will be a HL3
For me, Valves statement says it all – There will be no more Half Life games in the foreseeable future. I say this because the existing HL2 games already have VR support and if another was being developed they would be implementing the VR side of things along with the game rather than bolting it on afterwards, especially if they are bringing a VR headset to market.
“Following the interview with HTC, the BBC received official comment from Valve explaining that no VR Half-Life game was in development and that the comments made by HTC were surprising.”
^That’s not Valve saying HL3 isn’t in development, it’s saying a VR version isn’t coming. Valve is no better than HTC here imo, in fact they are worse than HTC.
Valve should just say whether the game is eventually coming or not. I’m sick of hearing these rumours every year. Personally I think Valve knows they can’t or won’t make HL3, but they won’t say that, because it keeps them in the news. I think Valve is running out of ideas, and their dip into VR and (Linux OS) Steam Machines helps prove that.
“Things got worse when it was discovered that a Valve employee had a talk on game physics scheduled at GDC for 3PM on the third of March (3/3 at 3), this turned out to be a coincidence and Valve did not mean to fuel any speculation.”
^I call bullshit. Even Valve isn’t that stupid. Valve is messing with their fans heads, and I think that’s wrong, but HL fans are loyal so they won’t abandon ship unless Valve gives them a reason to… but they won’t. Also, what kind of developer ignores the decade long cries for HL3? Did HL2 not do so well? Did they lose too many people that worked on HL2 since its release that they don’t think they can make a good enough sequel with who they have? Valve is keeping quiet… and I can almost hear them laughing.
Valve should man the eff up and answer once and for all if the bloody game is coming or not. I don’t think they will, because if they said it wasn’t coming, Valve would go back to just being Steam and a handful of titles that probably didn’t make them as much money as they’d like. Of course I can only speculate, but that’s the fault of Valve for not being transparent.
HTC = Half-life Three Confirmed
Well, why make a new game when they already make copious amounts of cash doing absolutely nothing and letting csgo and dota make all the money for them? Seems to me like half life is a last resort to get them out of the sh*t
I doubt that.
“if another was being developed they would be implementing the VR side of things along with the game rather than bolting it on afterwards…”
They bolted VR on after HL2 came out didn’t they?
lol Good one.
Yes but doing it that way adds extra expense and complications.
For fucks sake, it has already been proven the game exists.
Why are they trying to cover it up?