"Half Life" co-creator and writer Marc Laidlaw was recently reported to have left his position at Valve. The most surprising aspect of the news is that it did not came from Valve but from "Half Life" fans who sent emails to Laidlaw over the lack of update regarding "Half Life 3."
Laidlaw confirmed that he is no longer affiliated with Valve and added that he has retired his position as the company's spokesperson for the "Half Life" franchise.
Laidlaw din not provide specific information regarding his departure from Valve. He also did not provide any reason as to why he will leave the company that he has worked with in the past 18 years. On the other hand, he did mentions that he left the company due to personal reasons as well as the undescribed chaos when it comes to game production.
According to RockPaperShotgun, Laidlaw also played a major role in the development of Dota 2.
In a statement acquired by Game Rant, Laidlaw said, "I am no longer a full part time Valve employee, no longer involved in day to day decisions or operations, no longer a spokesman for the company, no longer privy to most types of confidential information, no longer working on Valve games in any capacity."
Despite his heartbreaking departure from Valve, Laidlaw did not provide any information regarding "Half Life 3." The outgoing developer neither confirm nor deny the existence of the highly anticipated game.
Laidlaw played a major role in the overall success of the "Half Life" franchise and fans were somewhat disappointed that he is leaving the Valve.
Despite Laidlaw's departure from Valve, "Half Life" fans were not deterred from formulating speculations and rumors regarding the game. With Laidlaw leaving the major writer's post, fans speculate that "Half Life 3"might take a different spin depending on what he next writer thinks will be best for the franchise.
Valve has kept its silence about "Half Life 3" but intrepid fans were still able to uncover their dose of information. The latest to surface about the franchise is the hidden file called "hl3.txt" which is believed to contain potential gameplay feature that includes procedural spawning, a zipline, NPC speech and VR movement."