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Half-Life 2 writer Erik Wolpaw is back at Valve

It appears that Valve might be getting the Half-Life gang back together with the return of Episode 1 and 2's writer, Erik Wolpaw.

Asif Khan

January 3, 2019 10:20 PM

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Valve has been under fire lately as the PC Launcher Wars rage on, but one secret weapon they have at their disposal is their ability to make video games. We saw this just last year with the release of Artifact, and we have heard rumors of other games in development. The latest tidbit of news that has some fans excited is that Erik Wolpaw, writer of Half-Life Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Left 4 Dead, has returned to Valve software.

Wolpaw left Valve in February of 2017, joining several other writers including Marc Laidlaw, but a screencap of an email conversation with Gabe Newell has been circulating on social media.

We did some more digging and found that Erik Wolpaw is featured in the credits for Artifact. That game was released in November of last year, which means Wolpaw was working for Valve Software as early as the fourth quarter of 2018. 

Before our readers start confirming Half-Life 3 or Left 4 Dead 3 or Portal 3, it is important to remember that Valve recently demonstrated the ability to count to three. It may take some time for the creative juices to start flowing at the company. Valve's boss man Gabe Newell is on the record saying that "Artifact is the first of several games that are going to be coming from us. So that's sort of good news. Hooray! Valve's going to start shipping games again." Wolpaw's return along with the acquisiton of Firewatch developer Campo Santo definitely adds some credibility to Gabe's claims.

It also makes sense that Valve Software is going to get back to making games as they face increasing competition in the PC digital software storefront landscape. Epic Games Store, Discord, and many other companies are coming for Steam, and Valve can help their own storefront out by creating some of the high quality game experiences that they are known for. We can only hope some of the other Hal-Life writers will consider rejoining the team, but there may be some bad blood out there. Marc Laidlaw shared a potential plot for Half-Life: Episode Three in 2017, and several other members of the team have gone onto other projects in the industry. Either way, Erik Wolpaw's return to Valve Software is a good thing for fans of their games, and we look forward to hearing about what they have up their sleeves.

Shout out to shirif for bringing this to our attention with his Chatty post.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.