Portal 3 Officially On The Way?
It’s been more than 11 years since the release of Portal 2, and fans nearly gave up hopes for any kind of sequel to one of the most iconic video games ever. However, following the ultimatum they dropped a year prior, the writers of Portal games have recently revealed that they already have a concrete story set out for the Portal 3 game. While the game hasn’t been scripted yet, the writers have a fleshed-out idea for the entire story and a good starting point. We just hope it doesn’t wind up in the same pit as The Last of Us Part 3 game.
According to ComicBook.com, Portal 3 might be a real possibility following the writers’ announcement, leaving it up to Valve to decide whether or not they want to continue the franchise. The two writers have already pitched the story to the gaming company and got an enthusiastic response, but given Valve’s internal structuring, setting things up is easier said than done. Still, this is great news for the fans of the franchise, who would like to see the narrative unfold further, despite it being concluded with the ending of the second game.
For those that aren’t familiar with the Portal franchise, the ending of the second game has concluded the narrative of both installments and brought closure to the game’s silent protagonist, Chell — who appears as the main playable character in Portal games and a supporting character in other games produced and released by Valve.
However, while the silent protagonist got her long-awaited freedom and the treacherous antagonist was sent into space, concluding the story, the core concept of the game is so fantastic that it deserves to be explored further in Portal 3 or the announced film.
Well, Valve really has a problem with threequels, following the attempted development of Half-Life 3, which never came to be despite numerous attempts to make the game. This trend has continued with Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead 2, all of which have never received any proper sequels, prompting many to wonder about Valve’s issues with threequels — what exactly is going on here? All of this stems from the nearly historical times when Valve was still making video games instead of selling games and manufacturing Steam Deck.
As it turns out, the internal structuring at Valve is making sequels and threequels difficult to produce. Massive releases and high-quality follow-ups, such as Portal 3, are incredibly difficult to make, much more difficult than the originals.
Additionally, Valve is structured in a way that allows anyone to make whatever they want, which implies that the developers have to rally a group of people to make the game and ensure that they all stay committed to the development project during its entire duration. This, of course, isn’t an easy task to accomplish.
Organizing developers within Valve would have to take place during the collective downtime when the company’s employees aren’t busy with a particular project, and while Valve has provided writers with a green light, any type of further development and its result falls on their hands. We’re stressing that Portal 3 hasn’t been announced, and it’s currently not in active development at Valve.
