This is why you’ll never see Half-Life 3

Gabe Newell spoke to The Washington Post about Valve’s history, how they work, and what makes their unconventional organization perfect for them. Valve famously has a fluid structure that allows anyone there to take the reins of a project. Decisions on what to do next are driven by the marketplace. For Half-Life fans waiting on the third installment, that means they may be waiting a long time. As long as free-to-play multiplayer remains wildly profitable, why create a singleplayer game with little to no recurring revenue stream?

So, if somebody becomes the group manager of X, they’re going to really resist it when X is not what you want to do in the next round of games. You don’t want them to sort of burrow into that – you want them to recognize that being really good at Half-Life level design is not as nearly as valued as thinking of how to design social multi-player experiences. You’ve had them feel like they have an organization and title tied up to something when the key is to just continue to follow where the customers are leading.

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