Skip to main content

With three new games in development, Valve is showing its commitment to virtual reality

Valve headquarters
Harry101UK
The studio behind Half-Life and Portal is currently working on three full-length VR games, Gabe Newell, Valve co-founder and president, disclosed in an interview with Eurogamer.

Newell stressed that the projects aren’t merely tech demos like 2016’s free VR title The Lab, a prototype experience that coincided with the launch of the HTC Vive, the headset that Valve partnered on with HTC. All we know so far is that the games will be built with Valve’s in-house engine Source 2 and Unity.

Related Videos

Newell further explained Valve’s steadfast commitment to the use of the emerging technology in games, emphasizing that he doesn’t think VR is a fad.

“It feels like we’ve been stuck with mouse and keyboard for a really long time, and that the opportunities to build much more interesting kinds of experiences for gamers were there — we just need to sort of expand what we can do. But it’s not about being in hardware, it’s about building better games. It’s about taking bigger leaps forward with the kinds of games that we can do,” he said.

Newell and his team won’t simply bring traditional console experiences into VR.  “VR is not going to be a success at all if people are just taking existing content and putting it into a VR space,” he said. He explained that when Valve first started working on VR, the team put Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress in VR, but found that it didn’t add any substance to those experiences.

Valve is taking its time to create high-caliber VR experiences that truly differentiate themselves from traditional games, thus influencing more people to embrace the technology. In order to do this, the level of technology that Newell desires will need to catch up to his design ideas. Newell predicted VR will overtake almost all other display technologies in terms of resolution and refresh rate by as soon as 2018.

We already knew that Valve was dedicating a large amount of its resources to VR to turn its ambitions into reality. Last year, it was reported that roughly a third of Valve’s employees were developing for VR.

We’ll just have to wait and see if Newell’s vision for VR pans out in the three games.

Editors' Recommendations

Netflix expands its game lineup with new titles from Ubisoft and more
The Netflix Games logo on the Pixel 4a.

Netflix is doubling down on its commitment to gaming. During a presentation attended by Digital Trends, the streaming service's games team teased four new titles. It highlighted how many games are in the works for Netflix as it continues to put its mark on mobile gaming and ramp up its efforts on its cloud gaming service.
The four games Netflix discussed were all from external studios. Following Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, Netflix is collaborating with Ubisoft again on the action roguelike Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace, which is based on the game Mighty Quest for Epic Loot and launches on April 18. 
Ustwo Games is bringing complete versions of both Monument Valley titles to Netflix in 2024, building on the partnership established with Desta: The Memories Between. Netflix also confirmed that it is working with Catalyst Black and Vainglory developer Super Evil Megacorp on a tie-in game for an unannounced Netflix IP.
Finally, Netflix confirmed that it is working with developer Nanobit on another game based on the show Too Hot to Handle. Their previous tie-in game for that show is the most popular Netflix game.

Netflix made it clear that it understands that people like games that tie into known franchises and that there are plenty of titles still in the works. Leanne Loombe, vice president of External Games, confirmed that Netflix is currently working on 70 games with external developers, in addition to 16 titles that are in "early ideation" at its internal studios. She explained that the ultimate goal is for Netflix to release batches of new games that appeal to a wide variety of gamers every month.
"It's going to require us to release a variety of different games and take some risks, and not everything we launch will be a hit," Loombe explained. "But everything is going to be a great opportunity for us to continue to evolve our strategy and also our approach around games to make sure that we're bringing those most-played games to our members."
In the near term, that means the focus will remain on mobile games that players download on the App Store and Google Play Store before authenticating them through Netflix. Loombs also reaffirmed Netflix's efforts to build a cloud gaming platform, albeit slowly and steadily.
"We are very early in that side of our journey, but we are very committed to making sure that games can be played wherever you have Netflix," Loombe said. "We do believe that cloud gaming will enable us to provide that easy access to games on any screen, be frictionless, and provide that accessibility into gaming experiences. But we do want to be super thoughtful about how we build that and how we bring it to our members, ... just like we're doing for mobile games, we will take it slow."
Don't expect Netflix to be an immediate competitor for Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo, but don't be surprised if it ends up becoming very relevant in the mobile and cloud gaming spaces in the future. 

Read more
The best Final Fantasy games, ranked from best to worst
Final Fantasy X

While the role-playing game (RPG) has become a catch-all genre, now encompassing an almost silly range of games that don't share much in common, there was one video game franchise in the 1980s that was the quintessential RPG. Yes, we're talking about Final Fantasy from Square Enix.

The fantasy Japanese RPGs debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987, but they became cultural touchstones in the '90s as Super Nintendo games. From there, the series made an incredibly successful jump to 3D on the PlayStation 1 before the mainline series started to take more risks, including the elimination of turn-based battles and massively multiplayer online game (MMO) entries, and the latest game, Final Fantasy XVI, becoming a full-on character-action game.

Read more
The best Xbox Series X games for 2023
Two Spartans side by side in Halo Infinite.

After an uneven console cycle with the Xbox One, Microsoft's latest consoles are aimed at getting the ship back on course. The Xbox Series X is a next-generation powerhouse that rivals gaming PCs, while the Xbox Series S is an affordable stopgap for those who are curious about trying new games.

There's no shortage of games to play on either console thanks to Xbox Game Pass, which gives players immediate access to a library of titles old and new. That built-in catalog is an extra value on top of all the new games available on the system that take advantage of its impressive technical specs. When it comes to first-party exclusives, the Series X is still growing. Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 gave a good boost to the console's library following a somewhat sparse first year. More games are also on the way. Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition will bring exclusives like Starfield and Redfall, and the potential addition of all Activision Blizzard games would further bolster that list, but the console's real strength lies in third-party support.

Read more