Chet Faliszek, the last remaining writer of the highly popular “Half-Life” game franchise, has reportedly left Valve. That means none of the original writers remain in the company which could be a big blow to the game’s fan base and perhaps puts the game itself in jeopardy for another sequel.
Valve has no more writers
Falszek is one of three notable writers of the “Half-Life” game series. Marc Laidlaw, the writer who basically created the franchise, left Valve last year. He also worked with the game’s two episodic sequels, “Half-Life 2: Episode One” and “Episode Two.” Erik Wolpaw and Faliszek co-wrote the said sequels.
However, Wolpaw also decided to leave Valve in February 2017 to work on “Psychonauts 2.” And now, Faliszek departs as well. Before joining Valve, Faliszek and Wolpaw ran a gaming site called “Old Man Murray” through the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Valve’s website doesn’t have writers listed on its “people” page, and there seem to be no relevant job vacancies at the moment.
Although, Valve still has 300 employees and 100 of them are listed on its website, but it’s impossible to tell how many writers are left. Valve has not released a narrative game since “Portal 2” way back in 2011. The company only released “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” in 2012, “Dota 2” in 2013 and last year’s VR demo “The Lab.”
Faliszek said that he just wanted to change things up, that is why he decided to leave.
The company has lost its three best writers in a span of 18 months.
Valve will move on
The company may not release a new sequel to the “Half-Life” franchise anytime soon without its talented writers. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the company is struggling. Valve has other endeavors such as running the most successful PC gaming store, Steam, and maintaining multiplayer games like “Team Fortress,” “Dota” and “Counter-Strike.”
Also, Gabe Newell, Valve’s president, recently confirmed that the company is working on three full virtual reality games; don’t expect one to be “Half-Life 3” though.
Faliszek’s contribution
Speaking of VR, Faliszek was a key contributor for Valve’s direction to virtual reality. He was part of the project since the early days of secret testing to the eventual public launch of the HTC Vive.
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