Erik Wolpaw, the writer behind Portal 1 and 2, has revealed the "real reason" we still haven't seen a Portal 3.
In an interview with Simon Parkin on the My Perfect Console podcast (via PC Gamer), Wolpaw first clarified that his previous public comments urging Valve to make Portal 3 were just "a joke." He goes on to explain that the reason Portal 3 still hasn't happened is that there simply aren't enough developers at Valve that want to make it.
"The real reason is that in a flat structure like Valve, there is an opportunity cost to doing anything, and whatever is going on at Valve right now requires the dedication and participation of the people working on it, and it's voluntary."
For the uninitiated, "flat structure" refers to an organization in which there aren't a ton of management layers between the actual workers, in this case the developers making the thing, and the decision-makers. Essentially, if the developers don't want to make something, the bosses at Valve aren't going to force them to.
Wolpaw has repeatedly called on Valve to get on with making Portal 3, but he again stressed that he doesn't want to cause anyone any grief by doing so.
"To some extent, I would like to make a Portal 3, but I understand that - other than the fact that I'm largely joking when I say it just to give Valve some crap - to really go out and advocate for something like that, could it be destructive, just in the sense that you don't want to cause internal strife. Which I guess I am doing but I think that the people who could be disturbed by it internally understand that it's just joking around."
Last year, Valve said it had "multiple games" in development, one of which turned out to be Counter Strike 2. There are also rumors swirling that the studio has been working on an unannounced puzzle game since 2021, but it's as yet unclear if it's Portal 3 or something else.
