I think Valve are very aware that their PR relies on them being seen as game devs. Their customer service is genuinely appalling. One of the major things keeping Steam in power is the refusal of players to consider using other platforms.

If they were to sell the HL franchise they risk losing a lot of customer support overnight. They would no longer be game devs, whose blunders can be excused because of their amazing games, they are money grabbers willing to whore out their franchises for short term cash grabs. The risk to the Steam platform just doesn't seem worth it.

If they were to sell it MS would be one of the worst destinations for it. If I were in their shoes I would likely explore having a smaller studio build it. A sale to MS could only be viewed as financially motivated and the quality of the game produced is almost certain to suffer.

However if I were them I would keep it as an ace up the sleeve to bring the masses to a new H/W platform Valve bring out. Such a release could seal the platform that wins its generation of consoles.

...However, if HL3 becomes console exclusive, Valve will lose the PC hardcore demographic that makes up their fanbase. I myself would never forgive them. This Steam Controller is okay, but keyboard and mouse is really the only way to play FPS.

I was thinking more of a VR transition, where it is still a PC game yet they are hawking some custom hardware in the goggles.

So the next generation of consoles or so they release a steam machine with VR tools and their 'next gen' games.

So still PC, but packagable for console users

Potentially. However, VR in traditional games hasn't been solved yet, and may not be for many years.

> How could valve motivate not making a game that would sell like hotcakes no matter how terrible it is?

I think it mostly boils down to Valve being a privately held company that is not under pressure to meet arbitrary quarterly financial targets. The article is quite clear that Gabe Newell gutted HL a few months before the original release date rather than deliver a game that wasn't quite "there" yet.

Additionally, if Valve have maintained their notoriously flat structure, HL3 will need to acquire critical mass /buy-in within Valve before it can make it out the door.

> Even if Valve decides against ever doing HL3, could they afford not to sell the franchise?

Yes, as long as Steam remains a money printing machine, they will not be desperate.

The value of Valve is in Steam, Team Fortress hats, and DotA skins.

No, that's where the money is. The value is in the actually good games.