What will we get first, a third Half-Life or a new one Portal? Knowing Valve’s history, most likely neither, but that didn’t stop a craftsman who worked for the studio from making a strong plea in favor of Portal 3.
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During a visit to the Kiwi Talkz podcast, screenwriter Erik Wolpaw, who notably worked on the first two Portalcampaigned for a third installment of the cult franchise, calling on Valve to launch the project without wasting time.
“We have to start [le travail sur] Portal 3. That’s my message to… anyone,” Wolpaw said at the end of his chat with host Reece Reilly, as spotted. VGC.
Arguing that it’s “not getting any younger,” the screenwriter argued that the American company should simply greenlight the project before the franchise’s original team is no longer around to work on the game.
“We are approaching the point where – crazy to say – [nous] will literally be too old to work on Portal 3. So we should just do it,” he argued.
Easier said than done
Admittedly, it is also not because one of the pillars of Portal proclaims loud and clear to want to give life to a third part that Valve will jump into the adventure with both feet. And that, Erik Wolpaw is well aware of.
“I would get to work on another Portal in time to say it, but I can’t do it myself,” he conceded.
Wolpaw, who also worked on Psychonauts, Left 4 Dead et Half-Life: Alyx, thus pointed out that Valve has around 300 employees and that several of them work on Steam or other projects. According to him, the company therefore may not have the resources immediately to embark on the development of a game like Portal 3.
“There’s a definite opportunity cost to taking 75 people and trying to make a game. As much as it often feels like Valve is just a bunch of people drinking gin and tonics around a pool , everyone is working,” he said.
“They work all the time, it’s just that you don’t always see the [résultat]. It doesn’t always end up coming out or it comes out years later. It’s turned into something else. So everyone’s busy, I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. People are all doing something,” he insisted.
Wolpaw also pointed out that, despite fan appetite for the franchise, Portal 3 wouldn’t risk making as much money as Valve’s bigger guns, like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
“That being said, maybe every game doesn’t need to make as much money as Counter-Strike: GOyou know, Gabe, if you’re listening,” the screenwriter joked to Valve founder and big boss Gabe Newell.
What Portal 3 sees the light of day or not, note that the franchise will still make its appearance on the Nintendo Switch later this year with Portal: Companion Collectionwhich will include the first two installments of the cult series.
And, who knows, maybe the success of this port will encourage Valve to start working on new adventures… In any case, it’s already perhaps more likely that Half-Life 3!
ALSO ON WEIGH ON START
