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Update: Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned on Twitter it’s for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi Survivor.


Here's something interesting for you. Valve developers seem to be improving the Mesa graphics drivers right now towards a secret game. First noticed by Phoronix, developer Samuel Pitoiset has been working on improvements in Mesa for the RADV driver (AMD Vulkan). This is the driver used by most for gaming on AMD + desktop Linux and also the Steam Deck.

In a merge request from April 18th, one of the commits noted there was an improvement to "a depth-only pass by +35% in one upcoming game". Another one from April 19th notes it gives another performance improvement of around 10% in "that game" (continuing to be rather cryptic). Then from April 20th there's another and when you read into the comments, Pitoiset notes it's "again this upcoming (secret) game" that was pointed out by SadlyItsBradley on Twitter.

Initially, I thought perhaps it was just going to be preparations for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and they just didn't want to name the game of a partner they were testing for because it's coming soon. However, the continued secrecy around it and even saying directly it's a "secret" definitely now has my curiosity piqued.

Do we think this is a new Valve game? It would make sense that Valve have their people working on performance improvements, and not naming it because then the internet would go wild. Perhaps Left 4 Dead 3 that was spotted being named in Counter Strike 2 files? Perhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).

Pure speculation of course and it may not be a Valve game at all. It really could actually just be a game they're testing for a third-party, as we know Valve do get to do driver fixes and Proton fixes at times before a game releases on Steam so it's ready for Steam Deck. Either way, it seems we'll eventually find out on this one…

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CatKiller Apr 21, 2023
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QuotePerhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).
HL3 couldn't be anything but disappointing. In The Valley Of Gods is what I'm dreaming of. Of course that probably wouldn't need aggressive driver performance optimisations.
jonnypanic Apr 21, 2023
Quoting: CatKiller
QuotePerhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).
HL3 couldn't be anything but disappointing. In The Valley Of Gods is what I'm dreaming of. Of course that probably wouldn't need aggressive driver performance optimisations.

I disagree about HL3. I think with HLA they managed to steer the story back to something they can work with for HL3.
Furyspark Apr 21, 2023
Quoting: CatKiller
QuotePerhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).
HL3 couldn't be anything but disappointing. In The Valley Of Gods is what I'm dreaming of. Of course that probably wouldn't need aggressive driver performance optimisations.

Of course. That's why they're skipping HL3 and going straight to HL4.
wvstolzing Apr 21, 2023
Quoting: CatKiller
QuotePerhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).
HL3 couldn't be anything but disappointing. In The Valley Of Gods is what I'm dreaming of. Of course that probably wouldn't need aggressive driver performance optimisations.

The timeframe for its release *does* fall in line with Valve's notion of 'soon':
KohlyKohl Apr 21, 2023
Quoting: wvstolzing
Quoting: CatKiller
QuotePerhaps finally Half-Life 3 (yeah likely not but I can dream).
HL3 couldn't be anything but disappointing. In The Valley Of Gods is what I'm dreaming of. Of course that probably wouldn't need aggressive driver performance optimisations.

The timeframe for its release *does* fall in line with Valve's notion of 'soon':

I really hope there is a Stargate 😁
KROM Apr 21, 2023
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My bet is on Portal 3.
itscalledreality Apr 21, 2023
We will get Portal 3 before Half-Life 3.

There is also: Neon Prime !!!???!!!
TheRiddick Apr 21, 2023
It would be hilarious if they released Half-Life-3 for 1 year exclusive on Linux. It just be awesome.

Doing a L4D3 game would be a mistake. The market is pure saturation point with those atm!

IF I was a betting man I'd say 100% Portal-3 since they already did the ground work for that in their VR demo. They can also make it a VR compatible game for upcoming headsets.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 21 April 2023 at 11:52 pm UTC
STiAT Apr 21, 2023
Must be a new IP. I doubt Gabe has learned to count to 3.
elmapul Apr 21, 2023
if they are making so much mystery for an game its either an new ip, or Half Life 3.
sure it could be CS2 port for linux, but they already made the CS2 announcement, so i dont think they would keep it a secret, maybe an strong IP from a thirdy party, but what could be that would be so huge they wont want to leak? gta6 ?
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