According to The Know and an anonymous source relaying information to them, Half Life 3’s development has begun to wind down with plans within Valve pointing towards the cancellation of the popular, cult-followed FPS.
The Know’s insider has claimed that the team working on Half Life 3 has dwindled from the hundreds in 2009 to just 10 people today. While the story, gameplay, and script is already in place, the game is not being prioritized by Valve due to pretty much only negative reactions possible if they were to release the game.
According to the source, Mass Effect 3 — yes, Bioware’s RPG — is a major influential factor in convincing Valve that a release is not worth the great potential that the game would underwhelm; especially when the hype surrounding the game is so high. Apparently the extreme negative reactions circulating the final game in the Mass Effect trilogy convinced Valve that there is no possible way that they can release a game perfect enough to live up to what people would hope for and any release would be a disappointment to far too many people.
In addition to comparing Half Life 3 to other similar releases, Valve’s current status as a business is so incredibly successful with Dota 2 and Team Fortress, and the microtransactions within the games, that there’s no financial motivation for the game to come out.
While it is important to remember that this is a rumor and to take anything coming from an anonymous source with a grain of salt though the reasoning behind the potential cancellation is sound. But if the game does still have anyone on its development team than perhaps it isn’t time to give up all hope just yet.