If rumours are to be believed, the studio of ZeniMax (the parent company owning Bethsda) have their sights set on gaining yet another FPS series to add to their long list of franchises (including Fallout, Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein) and are aiming to purchase Valve.

Since it's creation in 1996 the makers of Half Life have remained largely independent in their production of games and have constantly paired up with larger companies to handle the distribution of their products, namely Sierra and EA. There is no denying that even with a lack of information upon the progress of Half Life 2: Episode 3 Forever this would be a major boost for ZeniMax's ever expanding series of games.

Valve itself would most likely benefit from this themselves giving the company access to funds and a relatively hands-off publisher, which is something that it seems to like.

Whether these rumours are true or not, only time will tell.

More Some information here.

Well, the publisher seems to be a good company if they're hands-off. Let's put it this way, if this gave more resources for Valve to use that would mean Episode 3 could come out BEFORE the apocalypse, I'd like it.

Seriously, what the hell? Weren't these things supposed to be out in a matter of months each? We could've had Half-Life 3 as a full blown game by now if they started after HL2.

Valve actually puts a lot of work into their games. Unlike EA Games (known for rushing their games out the door and STILL being behind), they take as long as they like but put a massive $%&@ton of gameplay in it. Much like Bethesda, who takes their sweet time. The "episodes" are essentially Half-Life 3. That's six years of planned development. They're still ahead of schedule.

This is possibly my dream combination - Bethesda/Valve would be beyond epic. All they'd need is Bioware and they'd be the most orgasmic game company ever.

Yea, that's not how they sold it. They specifically said the shorter game span of the episodes would mean it would be shorter development and they would release them much more frequently. They've fallen far short of that.

They haven't even so much as released a trailer for episode 3. If they are going to take their time with it atleast keep us up-to-date with it. What Valve has done is retarded.

Bethesda is on my bad side right now with how they make you pay full price for Fallout 3 and then make you shell out 10 bucks for an expansion and you have to get at least 2 if you want it to be a full game with more then 1 story line.

Plus i have heard that they aren't making Elder Scrolls 5 but are instead making a crappy MMO (not entirely sure of this) but if that is true i'd be pissed.



Of course thats Bethesda not ZeniMax but still.

So long as ZeniMax/Bethesda doesn't start using Steam anything beyond Valve's projects, I think we'll all be in good shape. I have yet to have a good experience with anything that used Steam, so I no longer buy anything that Valve even works with, generally.

Steam already sells many non-Valve products.

Ouch! There goes the 3 best FPS of all time

"You got Bethesda in my Valve!"
"You got Valve in my Bethesda!"
Two great tastes that taste great together.

Personally, if they stay hands off, it's a good idea to help Valve get more resources and stuff...though I did like that Valve was more independent...

Hopefully it won't become like Westwood following EA takeover...

And should that happen I seriously hope they do as a number of employees westwood had did and form a new company, only not one that fails like their new one has thus far.

They specifically said it would take longer to release Episode 3 than for them to do HL1 -> Episode 2. They said that instead of keeping us waiting for six years while they made the entire game they'd release it in episodes.

I think you're again missing the point. As far as I know, they said and advertised that the episodic instalment meant that the games would be released more frequently. They have utterly failed on that count.

But when they do release it, it's a shiny gold-plated spitshined masterpiece.

More frequently compared to what? Two games in four years > one game in six years.

Compared to the releases of Ep1 and Ep2. Ep1 came out in June/July 2006, Ep2 came out about 13 or 14 months later. We're now at about double that time period for ep 3.

Not from 1 to 2, from Half Life 2 to Episode 2.

Technically, 3 years then. 2004-2007. But that really only goes to further prove my point doesn't it? It took them 1 year between the two episodes and it's probably a safe assumption that Ep3 will be of a similar length in gametime compared to Ep1 or 2. So, why the delay?

(Four years, including 2004... which you didn't) Actually, it's not a safe assumption. Given the longer development times and secrecy involving Episode 3, it's a safer assumption that EP3 will be of longer length and more quality gameplay.

I really truly hope so, because I'll feel extremely ripped off by one of my favourite devs.

People are assuming that EP1, 2 and 3 will all have the same amount of time/gameplay in them and should all take the same time. The developers said that the game itself would take six years, and that this would at least give something to the gamers in the time elapsed while development. So far, it is totally on schedule as they have already predicted.

This sounds terrible. Hands off Valve! I know I'm reactionary but I don't think Valve needs "more resources" - and I doubt that they will get it without strings attached.


Two tiny little art titles called "Team Fortress 2" and "Left4Dead". You probably didn't hear about them, nobody played them because they're both really esoteric.

To be honest, L4D can die in a hole.

Hands off my Valve, I am afraid they will mess up the half-life story line.
Hell, go back to the Half life 1 engine for all I care, but don't mess it up now!!!

I echo Arcturus Jefferson's sentiments about resources and Vicea's concerns about publisher intervention after being bought over. It affords them less independence if the publisher decides to be more inteventionist in the projects.


Half-Life 2 was released November 16, 2004. Episode 2 was released October 10, 2007. Three years minus one month passed in between them, not four unless you're counting from a different date for a reason I'm not aware of in following the discussion. Nov 16 04-05, 05-06, 06-07.

So long as they don't decide to divert resources away from Bethesda it should be okay.

I just want Bethesda to release the next Elder Scrolls, although if they're going the MMO route, it's fail.

Zenimax has a history of being more hands-off (see: Bethesda).

Episode 1 was being worked on before HL2 was finished and released. I saw Nov.-Oct. and the '07 and jumped to four years. Development was longer than three (I don't have a date, honestly, and it's 5:40 in the morning). Let's just round it to three for ease right here. Three years between the release dates. October 07 - November 09. 07-08, 08-09. Two years and a month. They still have a year of development in them and said this at the outset.

I think the correct tiny little art title is "Portal".

But honestly, complaining about slow release of the third expansion to a game is beyond silly.

o no u di'int.

Oh yes I did. Remember, MP is unimportant to me. Episode 3 > L4D.

That may be the case now but there's no guarantee it always will be or that the small way it will be hands on won't have a significant impact.


You're right, development probably started at least 6 months prior to the release of HL2.

Bethesda has been nothing but quality since Morrowind (except Horse Armor, I'm still wtfing about that). Valve would be fine under ZeniMax's ownership. A partnership between Bethesda and Valve may just make the most awesome game ever.

Indeed, Valve handles the actual FPS aspect of gameplay (which, to be honest, Fallout 3 was kind of crap at) while Bethesda handles crafting the RPG elements of it. We'd get what Fallout 3 should have been. Fallout 3 with physics puzzles and headcrabs!

Fallout 3: Source

To be honest, I wonder if they could do a better job of that with the Source engine. To any modders, what is easier to mod? The Fallout 3 engine or Source games?

Source engine, definitely.

Meh. Just, meh.

You recognize greatness not.

I didn't like Fallout 3. No problem with physics and headcrabs.

Anything is great with headcrabs and physics puzzles.

That sounds like a plan...

And people wonder why some Valve fans are hesitant about this acquisition.