Portal Writer Reveals Suggestions to Make Portal 3 Were a Joke

Erik Wolpaw, known for co-writing the Portal series and contributing to the scripts for Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode 2, as well as Half-Life: Alyx, has repeatedly mentioned in interviews that he is open to the idea of creating a third installment of Portal.

Unfortunately, fans should not hold their breath for the release of Portal 3 anytime soon. During a recent interview, the writer clarified that his previous remarks about being open to the idea of creating a new Portal game were mostly made in jest.

Speaking at the latest episode of Simon Parkin's My Perfect Console podcast, Wolpaw expressed his belief that it may be challenging for Valve to undertake a large-scale project such as Portal 3, especially since it may not generate the same financial results as the company's popular titles like Counter-Strike or Dota.

"It is a joke," Wolpaw said referring to the occasions when he publicly expressed his desire for Valve to begin developing Portal 3. "But the real reason is that in a flat structure like Valve, there is an opportunity cost to doing anything. And whatever is going on at Valve right now requires the dedication and participation of the people working on it, and it’s voluntary."

The writer noted that although he does have a personal interest in making Portal 3, he understands that advocating for such a project could potentially be counterproductive and cause internal conflicts within Valve. Wolpaw then elaborated that while Valve may be perceived as a large corporation due to the popularity of Steam, the reality is that the company still needs to carefully manage its staff and resources.

He further made a tongue-in-cheek remark that Valve's prolific game releases in the mid-to-late 2000s might have contributed to the public's perception that the company has since slowed down its pace.

"We had a good run. If you look from when I started in 2004 to the release of Portal 2 in 2011, Valve released a crapload of games in that time – [Half-Life 2] Episode One, Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal 2, plus updates to a bunch of those games and DLCs. That was a busy time," he said.

"Maybe we should have spread that out over across 10 more years, it would have seemed like we were doing more!"

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