Half-Life 3 speculation grows as Valve developer mentions ‘HLX’ during stage panel
Valve music designer Mike Morasky mentioned ‘HLX’ during a GameSoundCon panel
A Valve developer may have accidentally revealed the codename for the next Half-Life game at a convention panel this week.
Speaking at GameSoundCon 2026 in Burbank, California, Valve music designer Mike Morasky participated in a talk about how the company implements audio in its games.
Notably, Morasky mentioned ‘HLX’, the alleged codename for the next Half-Life game, which has been mentioned by insiders and discovered in game files in recent years.
In a section discussing the implementation of HDR, the designer said: “In fact, Deadlock has its own version of HDR, HLX has its own version, and so on and so forth.”
According to notable Valve insiders, Half-Life 3 is in active development at the Steam studio, and is far along enough that testers could play it from start to finish last summer.
The last Half-Life game, VR title Half-Life Alyx, was released in 2020.
Tyler McVicker, who has a history of insider reporting on Valve projects, claimed in a YouTube discussion last year that “Half-Life 3 is not a VR title” like Half-Life Alyx was, and that Valve was at the polishing stage of development.
“The game is playable end-to-end, period,” he claimed. “It’s never been that far. And they’re optimizing it, polishing it. They’re probably content-locked, or if they’re not they’re mechanic-locked.”
Valve’s last activity around Half-Life was its 2023 celebrations for the series’ 25th anniversary, which included several promotions and content drops, including an extensive new update for the original game.
As detailed on the new 25th anniversary site, Valve added new multiplayer maps, restored game content, graphics options, and full Steam Deck compatibility.
Valve also released an hour-long documentary – made in partnership with Secret Tape – in which the original development team shared their memories of creating its first game.
