80%
Probable
The Game Awards 2025 have come and gone and Half-Life 3 was still nowhere to be seen, despite recent rumors of an imminent official announcement. That was more than enough to send some of the fans who had truly believed into utter despair, but all is not lost.
In the latest episode of the Insider Gaming Weekly podcast, journalist Mike Straw provided an update on the Half-Life 3 situation. According to his sources, Valve is holding back the announcement due to the ongoing RAM pricing issues affecting the PC industry, which will inevitably impact the price of the Steam Machine. Since the game is supposed to be the big launch title of the new hardware, it doesn't make sense to reveal it until they are ready to go forward with the Steam Machine. The original launch window was Spring 2026 for both.
I wanted to just give an update on things. People have asked. I have been told a date. I wasn't going to report that date because they weren't 100% confident in that date. That date has sailed past. So, there's a reason I didn't report it. Every date from every journalist I've spoken with, every creator who follows it and has dug, every single date that they were told has passed. [...] Now, everything I have, everybody I talked to, is still adamant that Half-Life 3 will be a launch title for the Steam Machine.
There is a concern, however, that they haven't made a decision on price, which is holding back the announcement of anything else. The reason is because of PC RAM prices. They're up 200%, 300%, 500% of what they were in October, and it's only getting worse. The window that I was told was Spring 2026, for the Steam Machine, for the Steam Frame, for the Steam Controller, for Half-Life 3. [...] At the end of the day, the game is real. There's no denying it. It's just a when and not if at this point. All the signs pointed to it being announced in December. Then everything hit the fan, and I think it was a case of that concern. The Steam Machine was supposed to be Q1, like the end of Q1 2026, but I'm starting to wonder if that hardware's going to be pushed out.
I can tell you the people I spoke to about this game, they're not these run-of-the-mill sources that haven't gotten me information before. They're the same sources that have given me details on Madden. A couple of them are the same sources that have given me details on The Lord of the Rings game that is in development that I reported on. They're not random, like, one-off people, and they're still adamant that Half-Life 3 is coming in the Spring.
Indeed, the pricing of the Steam Machine has already been a somewhat controversial topic, following Valve's confirmation that it won't be subsidized like consoles. That is to say, Valve isn't willing to lose money on unit sales to recoup with game sales via Steam and accessory sales, as Microsoft and Sony have done in the past with Xbox and PlayStation consoles. With the aforementioned RAM pricing issue, Valve may be forced to put a hefty price tag on the hardware, potentially hampering its sales from the start. It makes sense that they would rather wait and even delay its launch a bit if necessary.
Meanwhile, if you'd like to get a sense of how Half-Life 3 might play once it is finally released, check out our dedicated article, which includes all datamined information from Source 2 engine updates and more.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
