I don't think it's quite true that Valve has completely given up on developing. Their last release is Dota 2 from three years ago. If you follow the rumor mill, there's often asset leaks going out from various source updates to TF and Dota2 - development certainly hasn't stopped, it just seams that they only announce something when they know they have something that sets new standards.
Valve released a complete engine rewrite for Dota 2 only about 12 months ago, Dota 2 Reborn. They also release major game updates regularly.
Aside from Steam, Valve (the developer) seems to be putting a lot of focus on esports right now. Many of the recent updates to Dota 2 seem to be new features and quality of life improvements for casters and spectators.
You're right, and I phrased that badly. I should have said that they're continuing development for their existing properties, but not developing new games.
Re:Writing for Half-Life
by qwertyuiop924 on Tuesday October 04, 2016 @06:37AM
(#12634519)
Indeed. It's the Duke Nukem effect.
Now, you have to ask if HL3 could ever hope to meet the expectations of the modern gamer, many of whom were probably just born when HL2 was big and have no real connection to it. What do they have to gain from it? What do they have to lose? I'd argue that they're making so much money now they don't particularly need the expense and risk of developing a game that, even if it is quite good, stands to potentially harm their reputation.