I began working on this article on November 18, 2014. I aimed to talk to as many Valve employees as I could, but I knew the story needed two pieces: an interview with Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve, and information on what the hell was going on with Half-Life 3. Fun fact: Whenever Game Informer teases a new cover announcement, Half-Life 3 is almost always one of the first guesses. This guess is now made mostly in jest, but for years, people thought we would break that story.
On my first day of actively working on my piece, I sent emails to 20 to 30 people. Roughly 70 percent were still employed by Valve, and the remainder had either left the company or worked with it on Half-Life-related titles. I had a good feeling about getting a lead. Someone would talk. They always do. I just needed one person to open up.
The first response I received, from a person who worked on Half-Life’s episodic content, yet didn’t want to be named, said “No comment.”
Minutes later I received an email that said, “Good luck with the story. Out of respect to my friends and family at Valve, it wouldn’t be right for me to say anything. Sorry!”