Coming to light in a rather strange number of ways, it appears Mark Laidlaw, the writer of both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, has retired from his position at the games’ developer Valve. Though apparently announcing his retirement first through email correspondence with a fan, Laidlaw has gone on to verify with Gamasutra that he is in fact retiring.
In the original emails, posted on Reddit, Laidlaw reportedly explains, “I am no longer a full or part time Valve employee… no longer working on Valve games in any capacity.”
As for why he retired, “There are many reason’s most of them personal. An outwardly obvious reason is I am old, or anyway oldish. My nickname when I first started at Valve in 1997 was ‘old man Laidlaw.’ The little baby level designer who gave me that that nickname is now older than I was then.”
While he also says it is unlikely he will return to games, seeing as he will likely prefer writing his own stories for a while, it is always a possibility. When it comes to the inevitable question of Half-Life 3, he said, “Where Valve may choose to take it in the future is out of my hands.”
Marc Laidlaw was with Valve for 18 years, and everyone here at Gamespresso wishes him the best in whatever he chooses to do next. Half-Life 2 was recently featured in our Game of the Month series. What do you think of Laidlaw’s departure? Let us know in the comments.