Half-Life News

'There's an alternate universe where Half-Life disappeared after release': Valve's first marketing strategist Monica Harrington says she helped navigate its way out of early disaster

Looking back on Valve's record of repeated hits and the fact that most of us are playing our PC games under Steam's monolithic shadow, it's tempting to think that this was the only way history could've gone. But according to Monica Harrington, Valve's chief marketing strategist in its early years and then wife of studio co-founder Mike Harrington, we only barely avoided a world where Half-Life left Valve in ruins, and we've got her work to thank for it...
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Amazon tried to buy part of Valve in the days before Steam, according to former exec who says she's been "erased" from Valve's history

Monica Harrington isn't one of Valve's official co-founders, but she was heavily involved in its formation and initial success - working by day as a marketing manager at Microsoft with responsibility for the games division, while helping her partner, Mike Harrington, and Gabe Newell get the Half-Life studio off the ground. In a lengthy post on Medium - which Nic has already covered in the most recent Sunday Papers, but which I think deserves a piece of its own - Harrington takes us through those heady early days.

Naturally you have to admire the work of game developers, particularly those with a talent like Valve. Between the original Half-Life, new hero shooter Deadlock, and maybe, just maybe, Half-Life 3, the Gabe Enclave has successfully produced some of the most defining PC games of the last two decades. But perhaps even more awe-inspiring is the work of speedrunners, and the ingenious ways they manage to reverse engineer and break Valve's games. 25 years since it was released, Half-Life Opposing Force, the Adrian Shephard-led expansion focusing on the HECU, has just been dismantled and rebuilt into a staggering speedrun record that almost defies belief.

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Underrated Half-Life game gets huge new Steam record 23 years later

Valve has been in the news a lot lately. The digital storefront owner and (too occasional) game maker has just shared details on its latest project, an Overwatch style multiplayer hero shooter called Deadlock that looks to be coming out soon after running invite only tests. Less officially, we've also heard fresh rumblings about the eternally anticipated Half-Life 3, with speculation on a current iteration of the game picking up thanks to a voice actor's CV. But, amidst all of this, a group of fans has looked back further into Valve's history to make another kind of news, gathering together to give the first Half-Life's Blue Shift add on a new concurrent player record on Steam.

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Half-Life players are plotting to break a new Steam record

Half-Life Blue Shift is not to be underestimated. Alongside the other expansion, Opposing Force, and of course the tentpole Gordon Freeman adventure proper, the story of Barney's worst ever day at Black Mesa might seem comparatively minor. But it's a fantastic FPS, lighter, swifter, and often funnier than its siblings, and offering a totally different perspective on the disastrous resonance cascade. Built by Gearbox, alongside all the others, Blue Shift feels like the most forgotten Half-Life game. But now, as some small rumors about Half-Life 3 start to appear, HL fans are determined to prove that Blue Shift still deserves attention.

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Half-Life News

'There's an alternate universe where Half-Life disappeared after release': Valve's first marketing strategist Monica Harrington says she helped navigate its way out of early disaster

Amazon tried to buy part of Valve in the days before Steam, according to former exec who says she's been "erased" from Valve's history

Half-Life players somehow manage to beat Opposing Force in 17 minutes

Underrated Half-Life game gets huge new Steam record 23 years later

Half-Life players are plotting to break a new Steam record