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There is no chance Valve will make HL3 SteamOS or Linux exclusive.
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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There is no chance Valve will make HL3 ~~SteamOS or Linux exclusive~~.
I think it will get made someday but likely will suck and/or be too late for anyone to really care
It won't suck because Valve playtests the hell out of their games, but it might be bland/old fashioned feeling. The biggest issue with Valve is that they've really lost their edge. They used to be this young scrappy company that would innovate as easily as breathe, but over time they've begun to become so senior-heavy that now they just foster promising talents more than actually produce games.
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It's already too late. HL1 came out 27 years ago, HL2 came out 20 years ago.
Only old people will be hyped. Old people don't hype well.
alyx was really good though. Like still top 10 VR games ever made.
Only a few people have VR, and its easy to get into that top 10 when there are maybe 15 good games for VR on the steam store total.
It's because we are all tired and something usually hurts. The thing that hurts and the reason it hurts changes, but "something hurts" is near constant state of being.
I think his is underestimating how big HL3 is as a part of gaming culture. Half Life really wasn't part of my generation, but I grew up with HL3 being memed constantly. The constant fake leaks and rumors have kept the idea alive. Just a couple months ago I saw a lot of people genuinely believe it was going to be announced during The Gaming Awards thanks to a leak that Valve would be present. Every gaming event has chat full of people spamming Half Life 3 memes. Plus, Alyx got a lot of younger gamers to play the series.
If Half-Life 3 were actually announced the hype would 100% be there, even if most of it will be from people who had never played the games.
But, maybe we can make a super clickbaity article anyway?
Are ‘super-clickbaity’ articles a thing of the past? The signs point to yes!
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No. Exclusives suck for everyone in the long run. In this case, it would also be pretty heavily set against the Linux / FOSS ethos, too.
probably all the fanboys will come out of the woodwork to defend it just like console exclusives
Nah sounds like a waste of time and resources to make a game built on their multiplatform engine and then lock it down to one environment.
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This is not only dumb, but also manages to ignore Gabe's past declarations on the matter. It even ignores the fact they even released CounterStrike (of all things) on consoles.
There won't be exclusives. That isn't good business for Steam or Linux.
As much of a Linux fanboy as I am, I just kinda hate platform exclusives in general when it comes to gaming.
Something fun could be Steam items you can only gain through playing the game on Linux, Like the promotional in-game items you got for playing TF2 on the launch of the Mac and Linux versions.
I think it would be cool as a freebie to steamOS users. Would encourage people to try out installing steamOS to get the game for free.
Could either be that they just need to try it once to claim the game, or the game is free to play as long as they stay on Linux/steamOS to encourage them to use it long enough to finish the game.
I think if they did a special launch on SteamOS and made it super polished it would be a nice demonstration... Or maybe an exclusive demo or minigame or something along those lines. They did some nifty stuff for VR this way and it got people pretty hyped about it for a while back when Vive launched.
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Exclusivity is bad for gamers. We should reject it at all times.
Inclusivity then again means that even nazis should be allowed to game if they behave.
Genius way to create a ton of ill will towards Valve, SteamOS and Linux as a whole.
We already got half life 3. It was called half life alyx specifically to get away from the massive pressure that came with the meme.
Its also important to know valves strength is that they don’t need to pump out games, they make profit enough though steam. This makes sure they can put time in exploring new concepts and innovation and only release games that maintain the perception of excellence, which they could lose fast if they released a “mid” tier game.
Please do not make a SteamOS exclusive game. I love Linux and Steam Deck, but this is not a good idea to exclude Windows users from playing the game.
What would be the point of actually making Half Life 3? The void caused by that game's non-existence is too culturally important to ever replace!
We all know Valve can't count past two.
SteamOS 3.6 though 🙂
I stand corrected.
Making HL3 only GNU/Linux exclusive would be the gigachadest thing ever done. Well even better than exclusivity. Make the game playable on windows but only with a downgrade in performance or need of emulation, like the whole industry has made with GNU/Linux.
Imagine if the Windows version requires WSL to work.
I'll copy what I said on Mastodon
I don't know, even though Valve are pushing Steam OS they still treat all their platforms equally, and I don't think asking gamers to replace their OS (or install alongside their existing one) or buy a new PC in order to play Half-Life 3 is a good marketing strategy. Half-Life Alyx is a great example: as great a game it is, few people actually bought VR headsets to play it.
PS: I'm one of those guys who bought a headset for HLA, but I know I'm part of the minority here.
Horrendous idea, sorry.
If anything making it exclusive would just make your average Joe resent SteamOS
There are grown ass adults born after the last main story Half-life game.
While I have no doubt there would be some hype for a Half-life 3, I don't think it would be the firestarter this author is thinking.
Ewww exclusives.
Exclusivity can eat my ass.
I think Valve knows better than to make an exclusive. Now will they optimise it for SD? I don't think there's any doubt about that.
Also, make the names of save files case sensitive, and name them like:
- aaaaaa
- aaaaaA
- aaaaAa
- aaaAaa
- aaAaaa
- aAaaaa
- Aaaaaa
It's more than enough to make HL3 a Steam exclusive. And make it run well on the Deck. If Valve really wants to gild the lily, they could put a little side-story just for the Deck's controls. A follow-up to Aperture Desk Job, perhaps.
The same could be argued about HL:Alyx for VR, yet here we are...
VR has a major physical problem that no one has been able to solve: Nausea.
I feel bad for people who do but I’ve never gotten nauseous from VR. Maybe it doesn’t need to be for everyone? I haven’t played HL Alyx but from what I’ve heard it’s heavily crippled and reduced compared to something like Boneworks because it tries to accommodate those with motion sickness etc
Yeah, I can play Alyx just fine with point and click movement, aside from my head getting ridiculously hot, but full-motion like boneworks wrecks me in 10 minutes.
Even if Alyx is "crippled" it's by far the best VR content that exists, by an incredibly wide margin. (I'm too lazy to check but I also think you can change it to full motion.)
It should be noted that I don't get motion sickness in other contexts like in vehicles, rollercoasters, acrobatic aircraft, etc.
back when they were trying to do steam machines, i was saying that's what they needed. even if it was just a limited time exclusive, like hl3 comes out on linux in june, and on windows in december, it could've done a lot to solidify their os and hardware scheme. now though? idk if there's enough hype remaining around the idea of hl3, and steamOS is already a success due to handhelds, and proton has made it way more appealing to do games from linux in general, so i don't think it'd be so dramatic of an effect, and they'd probably lose out on sales to people who're really into windows.
all that said, exclusives are usually the deciding factor when choosing between systems. linux has never really had a 'killer app'. nobody wants to develop a program exclusively for linux because of its small market share, and it stays at a small market share because its competitors have important exclusives that folks can't bear to go without.
It's always funny to see periodicals talk about Valve like they're a normal puplicly traded tech company.
Valve is private. That fact alone is neither inherently good, nor bad. What it means though, is that Valve will very likely behave very differently than other companies in the same market. Heck, I very much doubt half life Alyx would exist if they were public. If we get HL3, it will likely be a similar case.
Valve is private. That fact alone is neither inherently good, nor bad.
I'm leaning towards being a public company is inherently bad, so being a private company is preferable as the primary "not bad" option.
My main experiences with public companies lately is that they prioritize quarterly and yearly profits over long term health of the company and a good relationship with their customers. I don't think that approach will be healthy for the company long term, and hurts consumers short term.
Privately owned companies can be just as shitty as publicly owned companies, but they're not required to put short term shareholder profits first. The well run ones (especially family run ones) are more likely to prioritize building a good reputation and consumer loyalty, which is how you get companies that don't suck to interact with.
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