Summary
- Half-Life antagonist G-Man's voice actor, Mike Shapiro, may have hinted at Half-Life 3 potentially being announced in 2025.
- Shapiro recently tweeted a cryptic video where he teases "unexpected surprises" in his G-Man voice before concluding with "see you in the new year."
- The tweet features hashtags for Half-Life, Valve, and 2025.
A cryptic post from a well-known Half-Life voice actor seems to suggest that Valve may finally be planning to announce Half-Life 3 in 2025. Rumors surrounding the almost-mythical third entry in the Half-Life series have been picking up steam in recent memory, and this year might just bring an announcement fans have been waiting for since 2007.
Valve struck gold in the first-person shooter space with the debut of Half-Life in 1998. The game's gripping narrative continued in 2004's Half-Life 2, which introduced physics-based gameplay mechanics highly regarded by many to this day. Half-Life 2 received two episodic sequels, with Episode One launching in 2006 and Episode Two in 2007. Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was in the works as well, but was unfortunately canceled in the early 2010s. Ever since then, fans have been clamoring for a formal continuation of the series by way of a Half-Life 3.
The prospect seemed highly improbable up until the release of the VR-focused Half-Life Alyx in 2020, which reignited hopes of Half-Life 3 potentially being in the works at Valve. Almost five years later, Mike Shapiro, the voice actor for iconic Half-Life antagonist G-Man, has teased that Valve may finally be gearing up to unveil Half-Life 3. Shapiro recently took to Twitter to wish fans a happy new year with a cryptic video where he uses his G-Man voice to say "Another year already. Good to see and hear from so many of you. May the next quarter-century deliver as many...unexpected...surprises hmm? As did the Millenniums first. Then again, time is fluid, like music. See you in the new year."
G-Man Voice Actor Teases Potential Half-Life 3 Announcement in 2025
As Shapiro progresses through his speech, the video diagonally scrolls up a mysterious piece of artwork. Twitter user garageagle stitched the frames together to form a partial result, and further investigation revealed it to be the cover image of a song called "Best Long Dog" by Shapiro himself. While the image doesn't seem to feature any Half-Life hints, the hashtags in Shapiro's tweet explicitly do. The 2025 hashtag especially drew attention from fans, as it might allude to Valve announcing Half-Life 3 this year. Some of Shapiro's quotes in the video, such as "unexpected surprises" in the "next quarter-century," strongly point to long-awaited announcements for Half-Life fans in the coming years. The "Millenniums" line also seems to hint at the 1998-2007 time period when Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were released.
It's worth noting that Shapiro rarely ever posts on Twitter, and whenever he does, it's often related to Half-Life. The last tweet he made was in March 2022, so his re-emergence from the shadows to celebrate the onset of 2025, complete with Valve and Half-Life hashtags, may end up being more significant than it seems. It appears increasingly likely that Valve isn't done with the Half-Life series, with the company itself teasing this during Half-Life 2's 20th Anniversary documentary.
- Released
- November 19, 1998
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Valve
- Publisher(s)
- Sierra Studios
- Engine
- goldsrc, source
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Half-Life
WHERE TO PLAY
Named Game of the Year by over 50 publications, Valve's debut title blends action and adventure with award-winning technology to create a frighteningly realistic world where players must think to survive. Also includes an exciting multiplayer mode that allows you to play against friends and enemies around the world.
