Valve explains game delays – Video Games Updates
Jason Holtman, the business development Chief of Valve, the studio behind the Half-Life games and the popular PC Digital Distribution service Steam, shed some insight on why Valve takes so long to release games.
Valve Software was founded by Gabe Newell in 1996 and launched its first game, Half-Life in 1998. Half-Life was the first PC shooter that introduced scripted sequences in game-play and hence evolved the First Person Shooter genre. The game was very well
received by fans and critics and is considered as the best PC game to date with an average of 96 percent on Metacritic.
The sequel, Half-Life 2, came out for the PC in 2004 and was the best looking game of its time. The game was ported over to the original Xbox after its phenomenal success in 2005.
After Half-Life 2, Valve announced in 2006 that they would be adopting an episodic approach for the Half-Life games. The plan was that Valve would release shorter and cheaper games but that would also mean that there would be less development time leading
to games coming out much quicker. A trilogy featuring the same story arc as Half-Life 2 was planned and the first game Half-Life 2: Episode 1 came out on June 1, 2006.
The second episode came out one year later in 2007 and was bundled with four other games which included Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The bundle was known as the Orange Box and was released for the PC, Xbox 360 and the
Playstation 3.
It has been over five years since the release of Episode 2 and there is no sign of Episode 3 or Half-Life 3. Gamers have been eagerly awaiting the third installment and have coined the term “Valve Time” for the constant delays.
Holtman explained ‘Valve Time’ by saying that Valve picks quality over quantity and the company will not release its flagship game if it feels that it is not ready, "because we're trusting the fact that when it takes longer, it will be better. The thing
that is ultimately consumed and played with, customers will like it better - like it better than the thing we could have shipped them a year ago. We would infinitely rather have happy customers for decades, rather than a happy batch of customers at one Christmas.”
There have been some rumours and leaks that Half-Life 3 or Episode 3 code named “Ricochet 2” is in development but so far Valve has refused to comment on rumours and stated that the game will come out when it’s done.
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