Introduction: Since its inception, Valve has been a different kind of gaming company. Besides running the biggest online store for video games, the same corporation has been creating its own titles, which include some of the most famous releases in the previous three decades. Now, it seems that the same developers are building several sequels to their famous franchises. These include a game that millions have been waiting for over 20 years, Half-Life 3. Furthermore, chances are good that Valve is also making the next game in the seminal multiplayer Team Fortress franchise.
Article: Last year, Valve reminded everyone in the gaming community that this company plays by its own rules. That reminder came in the form of Deadlock, a multiplayer, genre-bending title that suddenly appeared on the market out of the blue in its early development playtesting stage. This fact did not stop the game from generating a peak of 170,000 concurrent players on Steam. Even though it is still in its early stages, Deadlock shows how the developers at Valve think and just how much out of the box their collective mentality lies. The same game aims to redefine the competitive hero shooter space, allowing players to engage in complex battles that combine the genres of third-person action with MOBA concepts. All of this is happening inside huge spaces where players have access to multi-level traversal mechanisms, which adds further complexity to this game.
The players are presently enjoying the game in their tens of thousands, and there is little doubt that once it comes out, Deadlock will start a new chapter of competitive shooters. However, it looks like Valve’s developers are presently applying their atypical mindset not just to this game. More than that, it appears there are several unannounced projects. Unlike Deadlock, which is a brand new intellectual property, the other ongoing projects are much better-known franchises in the gaming space. The first of these is almost certainly the new installment of the legendary Half-Life series. For most companies, this would be more than enough to take on at the same time. But, Valve being the business that it is, seemingly decided to throw into its development pipeline another famous title – a new Team Fortress game.
Half-Life 3
Rumors around the new game that follows the adventures of Gordon Freeman began circulating a few weeks ago. But a report from an insider showcased so many details that most believe a new Half-Life game is definitely in the works at Valve. All of this is taking place five years after the release of the latest game in the series, which was Half-Life: Alyx. The last game in the main Half-Life branch came out way back in 2004. As everything stands now, the development team is most likely taking on the official third game in the original series. According to the reports, Half-Life 3 is fully playable in terms of its content from start to finish. The game is certainly not a VR-only title, meaning it will not be a sequel to Alyx. Because of that, most game journalists believe that Valve will announce the game very soon, with some speculating that it might even come out this year. Having in mind that Rockstar Games delayed its GTA 6 to May 2026, Valve would be wise to use the same window of opportunity and get Half-Life 3 on the market in time for the end-of-year holiday season.
Team Fortress
While all Valve-related news in the past couple of weeks was about the new Half-Life game, some online research found additional leaks about the company’s development projects. Among these is a code-based string present in the latest update for Deadlock that was labeled only as “Tf”. Additionally, the string is not a platform port or anything temporary, which convinced many that Valve is working on a Team Fortress game. Whether this is a full sequel or a spinoff, no one presently knows, and Valve is not commenting. In any case, the new game in the series would make sense – Team Fortress 2 came out in 2007, and younger generations likely never played it. But, its famous characters and other elements made their way to internet fame through memes and many similar types of content. A new game in the series, whenever it might come out, would likely immediately find both new and old fans.
History of Evolving Development
The leaks and rumors that make up the backbone of all of these Valve-related stories come from a long history of such development processes. Deadlock began its life as a project codenamed Citadel. It too became known because of initial leaks coming from data scrapers – these individuals sift through publicly available databases, looking for clues. At the same time, Valve is in a way not only used to data scrappers – in all likelihood, it also finds them useful. All leaks so far turned into free promotional material, even if ultimately Valve decided to scrap a particular project. After all, it is not like Valve decided to invest its own money into generating publicity for a game that will never see the light of day. That makes data scraping and leaks a win-win for the company. The same will still remain true in the coming period for these developers.
Many Titles, Constant Quality
To millions of fans of Valve games, all of these leaks are reasons to be both hopeful and excited. But the realities of the game development business have to turn down that hype at least a little bit. Valve is not going to release Deadlock, Half-Life 3, and a new Team Fortress game all at once or in close proximity. Half-Life 3 alone will require a sustained promotional campaign that cannot rely solely on free marketing. On the other hand, Deadlock and Team Fortress both belong to the genre of multiplayer, team-based shooters. That means that they share an audience, and Valve would be unwise to push out games that will become competitors on the market. Because of this, having all of these games out is not just a slim chance, but actually a financial hazard for their owners. It is still clear that Valve is continuing to do things in their own unique fashion. So far, that approach has created many fantastic titles, and right now, the developers are working hard on expanding that list. This is the ultimate appeal of Valve’s approach – the gaming public does not know what or when might come out, but most of them are certain that it is going to be good.
Author: Ivica Milaric, game designer and assistant professor of game design at the Novi Sada Academy of Arts, Republic of Serbia