- 0-20%: Unlikely - Lacks credible sources
- 21-40%: Questionable - Some concerns remain
- 41-60%: Plausible - Reasonable evidence
- 61-80%: Probable - Strong evidence
- 81-100%: Highly Likely - Multiple reliable sources
75%
Probable
Half-Life 3 fans were not nearly sated by the hardware announcements Valve made last week (the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller, all due sometime early next year). They believed before those announcements and their faith was renewed when several insiders pointed to the game's existence and potential imminent launch. Now, though, more sources have added fuel to the hype, just as the franchise celebrates the 27th anniversary since the release of the original Half-Life.
- Insider Nate the Hate, who has a solid track record, acknowledged that his sources also spoke about Half-Life 3. However, he received some conflicting information on the announcement timing; one of the things he heard was that it was going to happen at noon yesterday, which obviously wasn't the case.
- Shpeshal_Nick, who has a slightly more checkered track record, wrote on X: Last week I got a DM that Valve was showing off hardware “this week” (last week) and software “next week” (this week). This software was allegedly Half-Life 3.
- The Verge journalist Sean Hollister was among those invited to Valve's headquarters for the aforementioned hardware announcements. In a brief story published on the website, he noted that the developer's halls were strangely filled with security guards, which never happened on his previous visits. The story also included a picture of a Steam Machine visually customized with several memes, including a title that starts with H and is 'censored'. Fans took it as a tease from Valve that soon, it might not be censored anymore, at long last.
Traces of a game project codenamed HLX were discovered through extensive data mining and references across Source 2 engine updates. Tyler McVicker alleged as early as this past May that the project believed to be Half-Life 3 was almost at the end of its development.
Needless to say, an announcement on the anniversary of the debut installment in the franchise would make a lot of sense. Besides, Valve unveiled its upcoming hardware exactly a week ago, so if they did want to space their news evenly, today would be the day for the next announcement.
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.
