Half-Life 3 Trailer Reportedly in Production, Release Could Be Close

Half-Life 3 rumors are heating up again, with new claims suggesting Valve could be preparing an announcement sooner than anyone expected.

HL3 trailer possibly in production and a reveal closer than expected.

According to insider Tyler McVicker, Valve may already be working on an announcement trailer for what many believe is Half-Life 3, codenamed HLX.

In his recent YouTube video, McVicker explained that Valve’s approach to trailers is very different from other AAA studios. Instead of flashy teasers years before release, Valve tends to create trailers only when a game is nearly finished. That means if a trailer is indeed in production, the game could be much closer to launch than we think.

McVicker also pointed to updates in the Source 2 engine, spotted in the October 15 Counter-Strike 2 patch, which included new systems not currently used in any other Valve title. While he emphasized that this is still speculation, he suggested these changes could be tied to HLX.

Interestingly, he dismissed rumors that Valve would reveal the game at The Game Awards on December 11, instead hinting that the company might drop the news casually, perhaps even through a single tweet.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Valve did something similar with Half-Life: Alyx. The VR title was announced in November 2019 and released just a few months later in March 2020. If HLX follows the same pattern, we could be looking at a surprise announcement followed by a quick release window.

The speculation around HLX isn’t new. Back in 2024, McVicker reported that Valve was working on two Half-Life projects: a VR game and HLX. Around the same time, another Valve enthusiast, Gabe Follower, uncovered Source 2 code suggesting advanced features like procedural mechanics, dynamic weather, and improved physics.

Adding fuel to the fire, Mike Shapiro, the voice actor for G-Man, posted a cryptic tweet at the start of 2025 with hashtags like #HalfLife and #Valve, which fans immediately interpreted as a tease. Shortly after, datamines from Valve’s other project, Deadlocks, revealed references to “hlx_fsr3,” a code string tied to AMD’s upscaling tech, usually seen in late-stage development. Another clue came from Valve concept artist Evgeniy Evstratiy, who mentioned during an April podcast that he was "in the room" where Valve is working on HL3. While he didn’t witness any actual development, he did notice computers and whiteboards.

Still, it’s important to keep expectations in check. Valve has never confirmed HLX or Half-Life 3, and as McVicker himself stressed, all of this remains rumor until the company speaks up.