Half-Life 3 is becoming to be folklore in the same vein as UFOs and the elusive Bigfoot! While there have been some sightings, no one can confirm -or deny- that the HL3 development is still being worked on.

Ever since the original Half-Life debuted in 1998 and Half-Life 2 in 2004 players from every corner of the gaming world have been feverishly waiting for the trifecta to happen. But it hasn’t and Valve has been very tight-lipped on its long-term plans for the franchise.

Without any current information coming out from the Valve team, one has to wonder why a game that can guarantee to sell in the millions isn’t a priority to them. We take a look now at our Top 3 reasons why Half-Life 3 will never see the light of day and why gamers would be better off forgetting about it…for the time being anyways.

 #3 Procrastination

You know that famous saying, “Good things come to those who wait?” Well, Valve seems to take that quote to heart. In general, Valve takes its sweet time on every game they develop and publish. The Time between HL1 and HL2 was almost 6 years – which in the gaming world is considered a long time.

Another first-person survival horror game, Left 4 Dead debuted in 2008 and its sequel one year later. Counter-Strike was released in 2000 and Counter-Strike 2 Global Offensive in 2012; a total of 12 years not counting all the installments in between.

While I commend Valve for taking the time to polish up their games, they go beyond the average wait time to do it. As gamers, we forgive them because it’s Valve, and their games rock, but they should not take advantage of our patience. We can wait but not forever.

#2 Valve Is No Longer a ‘Game’ Developer

Yes, folks, Valve is no longer a game company. There I said it. They use to be…but not anymore. Why? Because they don’t need to develop games to make money. Their digital distribution platform is their bread and butter and as long as that pays the bills (and a few homes in several exotic islands) there’s no reason to do anything else but lay back and soak up the sun.

Their most recent job posting had over 70% looking for an IT specialist in systems analysis with less than 10% in game design. What does tell you? It means more resources are being allocated to Steam than to their internal game studios.

#1 Steam

This 5 letter word is the real reason we aren’t getting Half-Life 3 anytime soon. Steam is so successful that it is considered to be the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming and was estimated by Screen Digest to have 75% of the market space since 2015. I’m no math guru but when you own so much of the PC landscape you’re almost forced to not do anything else.

While I can’t fault Valve as a company for solely focusing on Steam I will place some blame on Gabe Newell for not licensing Half-Life 3 to a developer who actually wants the game to be released. Look I understand the reasons Valve is in no hurry to complete the game, but it’s the players that are wanting it. And when I last checked, it was the gamers who made Valve and Steam the juggernauts they are today.