A mysterious new Valve listing has fans pleading for Half-Life and Left 4 Dead

A mysterious new Valve project has shown up on Steam, and fans are having a hard time staying calm.

Last night on January 4, a new listing for something called Valve Event Upload was discovered on SteamDB. There's very little information available, but the most important piece of the puzzle is that this is a 'Config' file - something only Valve itself can create. According to Tyler McVicker, who has dedicated years to unpicking Valve's secrets, those 'configs' "are specifically done for large releases that [Valve] control." 

Sometimes, those releases are just sales, but on other occasions those configs have appeared for hardware and software releases. That has, understandably, got some fans of the studio a little hyped up. McVicker points out that the CS:GO team was making its own changes around the time that the Valve Event Upload listing dropped, potentially linking the two together. Alternatively, they speculate that it might be linked to the Neon Prime trademark that appeared last year, or maybe something smaller and far less consequential. 

Elsewhere, however, the speculation is a little more rabid. Over on Reddit, one thread begins with a plea for 'The Orange Box 2', but even the more earnest comments ask for Left 4 Dead or Half-Life. While it's always possible that Valve is looking to overhaul an existing franchise, it's worth noting that the 'config' file might mean that what's being discussed isn't even a game.

There's no timeframe for when we might uncover what 'Valve Event Upload' might be, although changes are likely to continue to be logged via SteamDB. It's fairly certain, however, that we're not staring at the imminent reveal of Half-Life 3.

For a more concrete list of what to expect this year, check out these new games 2023.