In the lead up to The Game Awards 2019, host and producer Geoff Keighley said that fans could look forward to seeing more from Valve’s upcoming VR title Half-Life: Alyx. However, if you ended up watching the show last night and were wondering where the game was, well, it seems as though plans to show off more of Half-Life: Alyx was scrapped late in the planning process for the event.
Mere hours before the show, Valve communicated with its fans over on Twitter that Half-Life: Alyx wouldn’t end up making an appearance at The Game Awards after all. “We’re sorry to say Half-Life: Alyx won’t be shown at The Game Awards tonight,” read the tweet from Valve. “The team is hard at work on the game, and we’re excited to show you more in the new year as we approach the March release!”
We’re sorry to say Half-Life: Alyx won’t be shown at The Game Awards tonight. The team is hard at work on the game, and we’re excited to show you more in the new year as we approach the March release!
— Valve (@valvesoftware) December 12, 2019
This entire situation begs the question: why did Valve end up canceling its plans to appear at The Game Awards? The answer, according to Valve insider Tyler McVicker, the host of the Valve News Network YouTube channel, is that it was primarily pushed because of the recent release of the VR game Boneworks.
Boneworks just launched this week and it has been taking the VR world by storm. It has some of the most impressive physics ever seen in the VR space and also features full locomotion movement. By comparison, the current build of Half-Life: Alyx, which was what was planned to be shown at The Game Awards, is said to only feature teleportation movement as of now. While full locomotion is planned for the game’s full launch in March, it wasn’t something that Valve had ready to show in gameplay footage at The Game Awards.
As such, Half-Life: Alyx would have likely looked far less impressive compared to something like Boneworks, which is on the minds of everyone who is integrated in the virtual reality scene right now. So instead of showing a build of Half-Life: Alyx that might not have looked as great compared to competitors, Valve seemingly just decided to wait until later to show off more of the project.
This is surely upsetting for anyone who was excited to see more of Half-Life: Alyx last night, but you really can’t blame Valve for making this move, either. If the studio felt as though what they had on their hands wasn’t good enough to be shown publicly just yet, then it doesn’t hurt to wait to show more at a later date. First impressions of live gameplay footage often go a long way with fans and you only have one chance to make an impact — don’t waste it on a build that you aren’t pleased with.
Because of this cancellation though, it also will likely make many wonder whether or not Half-Life: Alyx will still hit its launch window. A Valve game getting pushed back a bit, especially a Half-Life title, wouldn’t be surprising to anyone in 2019. Still, you’d have to imagine that Half-Life: Alyx wouldn’t have even been revealed by Valve back in November and announced to launch a mere four months later unless the developer knew that it could hit that window.
Half-Life: Alyx is set to launch on PC via Steam this coming March, but it still doesn’t have a specific release date. It’s safe to assume that a launch date will likely come about around the same time that Valve opts to finally reveal uncut gameplay footage from the title.
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