Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw has retired from Valve

That said, I don’t think I’d be surprised if Valve completely shut the door on Half-Life at this point.

“My nickname when I first started at Valve in 1997 was ‘old man Laidlaw, ‘” he said. “I, Marc Laidlaw have retired from Valve”, he told reddit user TeddyWolf in one email exchange.

However, at this point, it has been so long since we last heard anything official about a sequel that many have took to believing that it may never happen.

Laidlaw confirmed the news to Gamasutra, explaining that he “left very recently” and that he may now “return to more self-directed writing projects”. If Valve is truly interested in creating it, they would have to get someone else to write the story unless Laidlaw finished it prior to his departure. After that, Valve appointed him as the lead writer on Half-Life Episode 1 and 2.

In addition to giving gamers some of the most-acclaimed stories and characters of the medium, Laidlaw also made a name for himself before his time at Valve as a professional sci-fi/horror writer, winning awards and nominations for works like Dad’s Nuke (1985) and The 37th Mandala (1996).

What of the future of Half-Life now Laidlaw has left Valve?

As with anything Half-Life related there’s always a chance this could be a fake, but it doesn’t look like it and Laidlaw’s reasoning, that he’s now 55 and wants a quieter life, seems perfectly reasonable. “Since I no longer speak for Valve, it would be inappropriate for me to answer questions or speculate openly on the fate of the franchise”. “I have been a grateful co-creator but my time of working on the series is behind me”.

Laidlaw will move forward on his personal projects, but for Half-Life fans, the long wait for news about the end of Valve’s trilogy will go on.