Confirmed: the writer of the Half-Life series has left Valve

This is sort of the opposite of the semi-regular posts we get to write about miniature glimpses of a possible Half-Life 3 - Marc Laidlaw, Valve employee of 18 years and writer of both Half-Life and Half-Life 2 has quit the gaming giant.

It began after a Redditor, frustrated by a new game's non-appearance, contacted Laidlaw for some kind of comment on where it was. Instead, he received the first public word of Laidlaw's resignation from Valve.

In the email, Laidlaw says: "I am no longer a full or part time Valve employee, no longer involved in day to day decisions or operations, no longer a spokesman for the company, no longer privy to most types of confidential information, no longer working on any Valve games in any capacity."

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He describes his reasoning as "personal", but the decision comes down "outwardly obviously" to his age: "I'm old, or anyway oldish. My nickname when I first started at Valve in 1997 was "Old Man Laidlaw." The baby level designer who gave me that nickname is older now than I was then. Imagine how much older I am! [...] I had a good run but lately I have been feeling the need for a break from the collaborative chaos of game production, and a return to more self-directed writing projects."

Of course, any screenshotted email on a public forum is cause for some scrutiny (Laidlaw himself brings up how many times fake responses have been posted in his name). I got in touch with Laidlaw for some confirmation that the email was indeed real, and received a simple reply:

So, that's that.

But what does this mean for Half-Life itself? In the original email, Laidlaw says: "I don't and can't entirely know. Half-Life is fully owned by Valve. It came into existence before my arrival. Where Valve may choose to take it in the future is not in my hands. I have been a grateful co-creator, but my time of working on the series is behind me. [...] I appreciate all the interest and enthusiasm of Half-Life fans over the years; I loved working on the games and with the community, but I can no longer be considered a potential source of new information."

I highly recommend you read the full email, partly for the fullest amount of detail, but mainly because Laidlaw is, predictably, a great writer, and somehow makes a resignation letter a lot of fun. We thank him for his amazing work, and wish him the best on his further travels.

Let the speculation begin.

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