Half-Life Writer Marc Laidlaw Leaves Valve

<p>After over 18 years as the co-creator and writer for <em>Half-Life 1<&sol;em> and <em>Half-Life 2<&sol;em>&comma; Marc Laidlaw has confirmed that he has retired&period; This news come from an enlightening email correspondence between Laidlaw and a Reddit user&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In response to an inquiry sent to him asking about the lack of confirmation for <em>Half-Life 3<&sol;em>&comma; Marc Laidlaw explains that he cannot comment on the future of franchise since he has recently retired&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I am no longer a full or part time Valve employee&comma; no longer involved in day to day decisions or operations&comma; no longer a spokesman for the company&comma; no longer privy to most types of confidential information&comma; no longer working on Valve games in any capacity&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Laidlaw explains&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In response to why he has chosen to leave Valve&comma; Laidlaw boils it down to age and interest&colon; &&num;8220&semi;I had a good run but lately I have been feeling a need for a break from the collaborative chaos of game production&comma; and a return to more self-directed writing projects&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The future of the <em>Half-Life<&sol;em> series seems to be as uncertain as ever&period; Though fans have been eagerly awaiting some kind of announcement from Valve or any kind of information regarding the story-driven franchise&comma; no details have been shared&period; Even more&comma; Laidlaw&&num;8217&semi;s departure doesn&&num;8217&semi;t provide any substantial hint or tease towards a future for the series&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t and can&&num;8217&semi;t entirely know&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Laidlaw says about the implications of his departure from Valve on the future of <em>Half-Life<&sol;em>&period; &&num;8220&semi;<em>Half-Life<&sol;em> is fully owned by Valve&period; It came into existence before my arrival&period; Where Valve may choose to take it in the future is not in my hands&period; I have been a grateful co-creator&comma; but my time of working on the series is behind me&period; Since I no longer speak for Valve&comma; it would be inappropriate for me to answer questions or speculate openly on the fate of the franchise&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he adds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On a more hopeful note&comma; Marc Laidlaw&&num;8217&semi;s tight-lipped response neither confirms nor denies the existence of <em>Half-Life 3<&sol;em>&semi; it could still be in the works&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Source&colon;  TeddyWolf on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;reddit&period;com&sol;r&sol;HalfLife&sol;comments&sol;3zzmi2&sol;sent&lowbar;an&lowbar;email&lowbar;to&lowbar;marc&lowbar;laidlaw&lowbar;about&lowbar;hl3&lowbar;he&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Reddit<&sol;a> &lpar;via <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamasutra&period;com&sol;view&sol;news&sol;263256&sol;HalfLife&lowbar;writer&lowbar;Marc&lowbar;Laidlaw&lowbar;leaves&lowbar;Valve&lowbar;after&lowbar;18&lowbar;years&period;php" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Gamastura<&sol;a>&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;