Delay of Portal 2 - Analysis - Games

Upon hearing about the delay of Portal 2 - which will be released in 2011 - I was intrigued. This was the announcement I least expected from Valve because, as a result of this, [b]no games will be released by Valve in 2010.[/b] This is the first time (except for 2002 - when Valve was still quite small) in the companies history that it has not released a product in a specific year. Observe: 1998 - Half Life 1999 - Team Fortress Classic 2000 - Counter Strike + Ricochet 2001 - Deathmatch Classic 2002 - (nothing) 2003 - Day of Defeat 2004 - Half Life 2 + Counter Strike: Source 2005 - Day of Defeat: Source 2006 - Half Life 2: Episode 1 + Half Life Deathmatch: Source 2007 - Half Life 2: Episode 2 + Team Fortress 2 + Portal 2008 - Left 4 Dead 2009 - Left 4 Dead 2 Valve have already stated that the delay will make Portal 2 a "better game", but it is hardly commercially viable for a now relatively large company like Valve to not release anything new to sell for a year. This delay could be attributed to the theory that Portal 2 will be released in a collective package. Valve have, themselves, stated that the Orange Box proved to be a success. Why do you think Valve would avoid releasing anything in 2010? Speculation time!

Maybe they want to make the game better, and they've got L4D and L4D2 DLC to pump out, and CSS.

it's because they are making the ps3 version.

[QUOTE=Foda;22646139]it's because they are making the ps3 version.[/QUOTE] But it doesn't make sense for Valve to suspend most of their profits just to make a PS3 version. It's not like they haven't had time. Left 4 Dead 2 was released 8 months ago and they have development teams capable of working on multiple games.

durr mb dem b wurking on ep3 it is posbile!!!!!!!!!!

Ugh, like I keep saying, why would Valve release a game based in the same universe as Half Life two hundred years after the events of Half Life/Portal? They're going to release a product that explains that first.

Did they delay the game or are they just releasing PS3 version later?

[QUOTE=Logidru;22646161]But it doesn't make sense for Valve to suspend most of their profits just to make a PS3 version. It's not like they haven't had time. Left 4 Dead 2 was released 8 months ago and they have development teams capable of working on multiple games.[/QUOTE] they want a simultaneous release on all platforms. their deal with sony happened, and the next day they announced the cancellation of their showing at the regal theater. a few weeks later, portal 2 gets delayed until 2011.

[QUOTE=Foda;22646214]they want a simultaneous release on all platforms. their deal with sony happened, and the next day they announced the cancellation of their showing at the regal theater. a few weeks later, portal 2 gets delayed until 2011.[/QUOTE] Plausible. But it shifts any other games they have in development forward. I don't understand why they would go to this length for PS3 fans.

loads of TF2 updates in 2010 though

Making games is hard.

[QUOTE=Max of S2D;22647393]loads of TF2 updates in 2010 though[/QUOTE] Yeah you gotta take those into account too

it's because of DLC's.

[QUOTE=Alex_DeLarge;22646198]Ugh, like I keep saying, why would Valve release a game based in the same universe as Half Life two hundred years after the events of Half Life/Portal? They're going to release a product that explains that first.[/QUOTE] Uh... This is Valve. They want us to wonder and see what we can think of. I'm honestly not surprised Portal 2 is coming out first.

[QUOTE=Logidru;22646095]hardly commercially viable for a now relatively large company like Valve to not release anything new to sell for a year[/QUOTE] They have Steam. They don't really even need to make games anymore.

Doesn't matter as valve doesn't have to worry about impressing any shareholders.

Other games they're making don't matter as there are separate teams within Valve. It's delayed so they can polish it up and probably to get the PS3 port ready. No games this year is just a coincidence, it's not like an annual release was an intentional pattern.

They're going to release Portal 2 and Episode 3 in The Purple Box.

I could learn, test, betatest, alpha test, and publish an Episode 3 Mod by that time :colbert: Well not really, I would get bored and not finish it.

Episode three will actually be Half Life 3, and it will be on Source 2. It will be bundled with Left 4 Dead 3. And Ricochet 2.

They have to playtest it way more because they have both a singleplayer and co-op campaign that are longer than the original portal.

Ricochet 2 sounds good haha

[QUOTE=Meatmuppet;22646123]Maybe they want to make the game better, and they've got L4D and L4D2 DLC to pump out, and CSS.[/QUOTE] L4D and L4D2 DLC is being made by a separate in house team. If i remember correctly from their new studio walk through. Same with Counter-Strike, It was handed off to another studio to be updated. Update: Hidden Path Studios, is the studio working on the updates for some of the older games. Update 2: Turtle Rock is the team handling most of the updates for L4D and L4D2. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq2X7KRt1hg[/media]

Ep3. 'Nuff said.