Half Life 3 has been at the top of most wanted games lists for several years now and fans haven't lost faith yet that it will be announced any time now. Unfortunately, it looks like Gabe Newell doesn't share the same enthusiasm.
In a podcast interview with Geoff Keighley, Valve CEO Gabe Newell affirmed that he is well aware of fans' hopes but Valve isn't really interested in working on a "super classic" title anymore.
"I'm a fan of TV shows, I'm a fan of writers, I'm a fan of movies, I'm a fan of games and I certainly understand why people are like, you know," said Newell. "Hey I remember this awesome experience and I'm starting to get worried that I'm never going to have it again. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and he has Alzheimer's, it's like, Oh my god, I may never get another great Discworld novel."
"We aren't going to go all retro because there are too many interesting things that have been learned," he added. "The only reason we would go back and do a 'super classic' kind of product is if a whole bunch of people internally at Valve said they wanted to do it, and had a reasonable explanation for why it was."
Half Life 2 was released in 2005. After which, Valve decided to divide the next sequel to 3 episodes as a way to speed up the release cycle. Episodes 1 and 2 were released less than 1 year apart but Episode 3 is yet to be announced, let alone released.