Saber Interactive initially approached Valve about creating a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life 2 remake, but was shot down.
Saber Interactive, the developers behind the recent double-A success 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:World War Z, recently celebrated the zombie-slaying adventure surpassing two million total sales, a feat not often achieved by games of that caliber. However, the studio once had something far more ambitious than a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Left 4 Dead clone in mind; a complete remastering of Valve’s seminal sci-fi shooter Half-Life 2.
Released all the way back in 2004, Half-Life 2 was an utterly groundbreaking follow up to Valve’s previous Half-Life title in 1998. Showcasing the power of the Source engine, the game was able to emulate real-world physics to a degree never before seen in a digital space. While the software’s tendency to glitch out behave irrationally is nothing short of a meme today, it stood alongside Id’s Doom 3 as an example of what gaming could become.
With that in mind, Saber Interactive approached Valve about producing a remake of the famous title sometime after the release of their Microsoft-backed Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary in 2011. It had garnered quite a bit of experience when it came to remastering games thanks to its work with the first two Halo titles, and it seemed like a good choice for a possible Half-Life 2 update.
Unfortunately, while it had the talent to get the projec🦋t done, it faced one major roadblock: Valve. Though the developer and PC digital distribution proprietor hasn't had a problem with licensing or allowing games and mods featuring its IPs in the past, it wasn't keen on outsourcing in this instance. According to Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch, Valve’s Game Newell stated that “if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it internally.”
This isn’t necessarily surprising; though Valve isn’t overly-protective of its gaming properties, it has every right to want to helm the prospective remake of what might be their most famous title of all time. What’s more, while it certainly looks dated fifteen years on, Half-Life 2 still plays extremely well, and it doesn’t quite feel like a remastering would be totally necessary. Valve, as everyone knows, doesn’t tend to settle for half-measure when it comes to game releases — save for perhaps their underwhelming TCG Artifact — and it doesn’t seem like the sort to rel🍎ease a revised game without a major reason to do so.
Still, Valve’s denial of Saber Interactive’s request should feel like a bit of a smack in the face as time has gone on. It seems content to simply let its classic titles gather dust while simultaneously endorsing vastly inferior products like last year’s horrendous Hunt Down the Freeman.
Plus, the internet would be livid were Valve to announce a mere remaster of any game in the Half-Life franchise. Gamers have been starved of any such experience since 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and opting for a remaster rather than a new game would come across as a serious smack in the face to most fans. Sure, it would be nice to get anything at this point, but it’s hard to imagine something like that being well received initially. What’s more, if the update turned out to be more of a Bioshock: The Collection than a Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, it would be an utter PR nightmare.
The sad truth is that Valve simply doesn’t seem to be interested in Half-Life anymore. As♏ previously mentioned, we’re more 🐽than a decade removed from a release in the series, and it’s been nearly radio silent since 2007. It may have given its blessing to an externally developed reboot of the original game, but it seems like it’s long past time to move on from these games, sad though that may be.