Former Valve writer mocks report that Half-Life 3 devs are being redistributed, joking, "There's never a crunch at the end of a project"

As Half-Life approached its anniversary last November, I had my clown makeup at the ready. There had been whisperings throughout 2025 that Half-Life 3 was finally going to materialize, culminating in a bum note, rather than a roaring crescendo. The expectation among leakers and rumor mill aficionados remains that gaming’s most-memed FPS game should arrive at some point this year, as data-mining efforts point towards a near-finished game; whether that’s Half-Life 3 or some other beast entirely remains to be seen. Naturally, at this point in the development cycle, you may expect some to stick their feet up and call it a day. This, as former Valve writer Chet Faliszek sarcastically points out, could not be further from the truth.

Videogame development is a tricky business. Folks devote years of their careers to a project, chiseling away at the marble until something that hopefully resembles a Game Of The Year winner manifests. Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing, as, often, deadlines become increasingly more unrealistic, and the big crunch ensues. It’s a tale as old as time, and despite efforts across the industry to improve working conditions, especially in the post-pandemic era, the issue persists.

On Sunday February 1, Valve insider ‘Gabe Follower’ shared a rumor that the developer-publisher is beginning to shift those whose Half-Life 3 race is run over onto other projects. This was subsequently picked up by outlets, including TheGamer, which Faliszek references. In his response, the former Valve writer puts this notion well out to pasture.

“They must be right,” Faliszek begins, “because I cannot think of a time a product has shipped where, at the end of the project, it’s not just relaxation; it’s hanging out by the lake, maybe going home early and hanging out with your family… because there’s never crunch towards the end of a project.

“There’s never a rush, there’s never a scramble to try and fix all the bugs or get all the content in,” he continues. “I have never heard of a game shipping where they scrambled and then had to release a day zero patch or even a day one patch.”

Faliszek himself contributed greatly to the likes of Half-Life, Portal, and was the lead writer for the original Left 4 Dead, so he knows a thing or two about what it’s actually like being at the business end of late-stage development. There could still be substance to the murmurings mentioned by Gabe Follower, but I’m not convinced.

Back in 2020, GamingBolt interviewed Half-Life Alyx designer Greg Coomer. Here, he says that, while “crunch mode is not the norm” at Valve, “in very rare cases where people are in the last couple of weeks of development, a subset of the group will choose to work hours that are sort of extended in order to get through certain periods.”

While there may be fires to put out, as Faliszek notes, there could very well still be some wiggle room for members of the team who aren’t involved with those very final pre-launch tweaks. Whether there’s enough to move bodies over, I don’t know, but for now I’m far more inclined to trust the thoughts of an industry vet over unsubstantiated internet ramblings.