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Gabe Newell of Valve Software (Steam) recently spoke to 1 NEWS in New Zealand about everything that has been going on and teased a few fun details. For those who didn't know, Newell has been staying in New Zealand since early 2020 and decided to stay after a holiday when COVID-19 got much worse.

Newell continues to talk very highly of New Zealand, even somewhat jokingly mentioning that some Valve staffers appear to strongly want to move their work over there now too. Newell mentioned why there's no reason other game companies couldn't move to New Zealand, and joked how they're a producer of "not-stupidium" seemingly referring to how well New Zealand has dealt with COVID-19.

The real juicy details though come when, as expected, questions were asked about upcoming games. Newell said very clearly "We definitely have games in development that we're going to be announcing — it's fun to ship games," and that "Alyx was great — to be back doing single-player games, that created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that.".

When asked about Half-Life 3 and the other usuals, joking about Valve being afraid of the number 3, Newell said directly "I've successfully not spoken about those things for a long time and I hope to continue to not talk about them until they are moot questions. Then we'll move on to a new set of questions," and that the "nice thing is, by not answering those questions, I avoid the community coming up with new, equally-difficult-to-answer questions.".

It's good to know that the game development fire has been lit under Valve once again. Nice to see they continue to keep Linux in their sights for games too with all their recent games (Artifact, Underlords and Half-Life: Alyx) all having Linux builds, although Alyx is not directly mentioned on the store page for Linux it is available.

What are you hoping their next game announcement will be?

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bubexel Jan 21, 2021
Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.

Amazing that there is people saying vr is a gimmick on 2021. It's been in market atleast 4 years atm and you didn't tried it yet? do a favour to yourself and buy on second hand market and play half life alyx.

And i really hope the next game from Valve will be VR, i tought i was not experience like i did when i was child with games like doom or quake never in my live, that it was part of be a kid. But Half life Alxy made me feel same feeling, wowing at any corner of the game.

Every single VR user in this forum is the same thing, we don't like VR and you think we haven't tried. Second-hand VR are scarce and according to some VR users they don't approach that 90 FPS to enjoy VR "properly".

Expecting the next valve game to be VR is so selfish but I expect that after seeing comments coming from VR owners on Alyx forums.

Selfish? we just want next gen gaming, just that. It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card. When you play for first time 3D games with a good accelerated videogame you don't want anymore software accelerated games. Same feeling i have with VR. I have a problem with flat games atm to be honest.
Arten Jan 21, 2021
[quote=orochi_kyo][quote=bubexel]
Expecting the next valve game to be VR is so selfish but I expect that after seeing comments coming from VR owners on Alyx forums.

Interesting. Same argument as windows users use about linux support. Why game developers throw money out of window when they support us? It's so selfish want linux/VR to be supported.
Ehvis Jan 21, 2021
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It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card. When you play for first time 3D games with a good accelerated videogame you don't want anymore software accelerated games. Same feeling i have with VR. I have a problem with flat games atm to be honest.

Not the same thing. Hardware accelerated rendering was a better replacement for software rendering. However, VR gaming is not a replacement traditional gaming. It is an entirely different beast that needs a different approach to games. I would love to have more high quality VR games, but I don't want to give up the regular ones.
rustybroomhandle Jan 21, 2021
Valve acquired Campo Santo and cancelled "In the Valley of Gods"

This is not accurate. Valve have a "work on what you want" policy, and the Campo Santo team kind-of just drifted themselves over to Half Life: Alyx. They made the decision themselves, not Valve.
bubexel Jan 21, 2021
It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card. When you play for first time 3D games with a good accelerated videogame you don't want anymore software accelerated games. Same feeling i have with VR. I have a problem with flat games atm to be honest.

Not the same thing. Hardware accelerated rendering was a better replacement for software rendering. However, VR gaming is not a replacement traditional gaming. It is an entirely different beast that needs a different approach to games. I would love to have more high quality VR games, but I don't want to give up the regular ones.

It's exactly the same thing. VR is a better replacement of Flat Monitors. 3D games was not replacing tradicional gaming, we still have 2D release gamings.
olivias Jan 21, 2021
I'm a big fan of Half-Life 2 and it was intersting to read
scaine Jan 21, 2021
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It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card. When you play for first time 3D games with a good accelerated videogame you don't want anymore software accelerated games. Same feeling i have with VR. I have a problem with flat games atm to be honest.

Not the same thing. Hardware accelerated rendering was a better replacement for software rendering. However, VR gaming is not a replacement traditional gaming. It is an entirely different beast that needs a different approach to games. I would love to have more high quality VR games, but I don't want to give up the regular ones.

It's exactly the same thing. VR is a better replacement of Flat Monitors. 3D games was not replacing tradicional gaming, we still have 2D release gamings.

Nope, definitely not. Sure, I don't want to play Elite:Dangerous on a monitor anymore. That's literally how good the VR "upgrade" is for that game. It also gets around the "gross motor control" point made by another poster here, because I'm still using my keyboard/mouse (or joystick/HOTAS) and the headset is just for immersion. But my god, the immersion. It's... hard to describe how game-changing it is.

But conversely, I don't want to play Noita in VR. Or indeed, the vast bulk of twitch FPS games I love. And anyway, my desktop is still 2D, so unless a compelling VR-based desktop comes along, I'm still going to play certain games in 2D even if they could benefit from 3D, because I use my desktop while playing them.

Honestly, even if that 3D desktop comes along, I still don't buy that VR is a natural upgrade path from a monitor, simply because the hardware isn't there yet. I played about 5 hours of Elite in one session at the weekend there and when I took the headset off, not only was my hair a mess, but my "panda face" was spectacular, and I had soreness across my cheek bones from where the headset rubs very lightly. Hardware will have to improve by two or more generations before this stuff becomes viable.
BielFPs Jan 21, 2021
I just hope it isn't another VR only title, because while it's can be awesome if done right, it still a very exclusive gimmick.

I wonder how ironic would be another Left 4 Dead game, in response of the new game from the original creators of the franchise.
Tuxee Jan 21, 2021
It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card.

In 2004? I assume you the complainers could be counted on ten fingers. By that time 3D cards had been on the market for about 8 years and Quake II from 1997 had already set the de-facto requirement of a 3D card.
Tuxee Jan 21, 2021
It reminds me people saying same at half life 2 because it had no software rendering and no everybody can afford a video accelerated card. When you play for first time 3D games with a good accelerated videogame you don't want anymore software accelerated games. Same feeling i have with VR. I have a problem with flat games atm to be honest.

Not the same thing. Hardware accelerated rendering was a better replacement for software rendering. However, VR gaming is not a replacement traditional gaming. It is an entirely different beast that needs a different approach to games. I would love to have more high quality VR games, but I don't want to give up the regular ones.

It's exactly the same thing. VR is a better replacement of Flat Monitors. 3D games was not replacing tradicional gaming, we still have 2D release gamings.

No, it is not. Quake II superseded Quake which superseded Doom which superseded Castle Wolfenstein. And in the case of Quake I and II you could still play the game without 3D acceleration. Slower and less attractive but otherwise still the same game.
dorron Jan 21, 2021
Half-life 3 incoming...nope, just joking
Nanobang Jan 21, 2021
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If it comes out in VR, then a non-VR version too. Other than that, nothing really, just that it comes out DAY ONE on Linux.
gustavoyaraujo Jan 21, 2021
I would like to see a game that could be played on a controller...
Whitewolfe80 Jan 21, 2021
Single player games yes please i would prefer non vr games as i think its a gimmick but as long as linux is support natively sure why not some vr games for people that into that.

Amazing that there is people saying vr is a gimmick on 2021. It's been in market atleast 4 years atm and you didn't tried it yet? do a favour to yourself and buy on second hand market and play half life alyx.

And i really hope the next game from Valve will be VR, i tought i was not experience like i did when i was child with games like doom or quake never in my live, that it was part of be a kid. But Half life Alxy made me feel same feeling, wowing at any corner of the game.

Except i am old enough to remember og VR from the 90s in arcades and i dont want to wear a toaster on my head when am trying to relax and play games its not for me if its your jam its your jam but it will never be mine
Whitewolfe80 Jan 21, 2021
[quote=Arten][quote=orochi_kyo]
Expecting the next valve game to be VR is so selfish but I expect that after seeing comments coming from VR owners on Alyx forums.

Interesting. Same argument as windows users use about linux support. Why game developers throw money out of window when they support us? It's so selfish want linux/VR to be supported.

Think you pulled wrong user name i didnt say any of the above i said VR was a gimmick never said anything about being selfish
kaiman Jan 21, 2021
Valve acquired Campo Santo and cancelled "In the Valley of Gods"
This is not accurate. Valve have a "work on what you want" policy, and the Campo Santo team kind-of just drifted themselves over to Half Life: Alyx. They made the decision themselves, not Valve.
And now that Half Life: Alyx is done, maybe they can just kind-of drift back, thank you!

I was really bummed when they cancelled that one. Not only was Firewatch already pretty good, so there was a decent chance that In the Valley of Gods would not disappoint either, but I also really was looking forward to what they'd do with the Egyptian setting. Ancient real-world stuff fascinates me, and there's little enough of it in video games.
Kimyrielle Jan 21, 2021
It's kinda sad when thinking that Valve and Paradox are the last two major publishers still supporting Linux natively...

For me personally it's even more sad, because while I do a lot of business with Valve, I never cared about their own games much. I am just not into shooters (or really anything First Person) and I wouldn't touch that toxic hellhole that's the MOBA community with a ten foot pole, either. And VR is out of the question for me and my motion sickness, too. So unless they're coming up with something dramatically different from what they've done in the past, I am likely not going to care much.
Whitewolfe80 Jan 22, 2021
It's kinda sad when thinking that Valve and Paradox are the last two major publishers still supporting Linux natively...

For me personally it's even more sad, because while I do a lot of business with Valve, I never cared about their own games much. I am just not into shooters (or really anything First Person) and I wouldn't touch that toxic hellhole that's the MOBA community with a ten foot pole, either. And VR is out of the question for me and my motion sickness, too. So unless they're coming up with something dramatically different from what they've done in the past, I am likely not going to care much.

Proton has got to the point where its good enough for most peoples gaming needs. Valve are patching Big blockbuster games with day one patches see cyberpunk Rage 2 and BL 3 so they run on linux.
Fereal have pretty much ditched linux in favour of mobile and switch save from probably annualized total war games.
The other game studios that tried linux support are either under totally new ownership or in IO interactive case they just didnt get the sales they were expecting from Hitman so when they went independent from square and hitman 2 was on the horizon they ditched linux.
Can anyone even remember the last time Ayspr put out a linux game. Metro exodus is apparently still coming to linux nobody has said anything other than yup its still a thing no timetable on it.

Even valve shifted gears remember when they started going after games to have come to linux either via feral or native ports i do i remember the slides Street Fighter 5 Witcher 3 etc Proton love it or hate it is your option for gaming on linux if you want play something thats not indie or not a game from a two decade old engine.
denyasis Jan 22, 2021
It's kinda sad when thinking that Valve and Paradox are the last two major publishers still supporting Linux natively...

For me personally it's even more sad, because while I do a lot of business with Valve, I never cared about their own games much. I am just not into shooters (or really anything First Person) and I wouldn't touch that toxic hellhole that's the MOBA community with a ten foot pole, either. And VR is out of the question for me and my motion sickness, too. So unless they're coming up with something dramatically different from what they've done in the past, I am likely not going to care much.

You might like Portal. I'm in the same boat as you, not being much of a FPS person and have no interest in multiplayer stuff.

It's just slow paced enough that you don't need any twitch skill. More of a puzzle game than a shooter.
slaapliedje Jan 22, 2021
For the naysayers about VR, check out some of the stuff that is simply sit and play type games.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1XSPGs3uW6E
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUkmUk5fgs
Just two great examples where you get beatiful perfect 3d, yet still just play with a controller.

But if you all may recall, Valve had stated a few years ago that they are working on THREE fully VR games. They have only released Half-Life:Alyx. So, sorry gor those that think it is a gimmick, can't/ don't want to afford it, or simply have better things to spebd your money on, Valve really does think that the next level of gaming is VR. They have actually probably spent close to more R&D on it than anyone else, so why wouldn't they try to sell it?
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