“I am not getting any younger,” Wolpaw told KiwiTalkz (thanks, Kotaku). “We are reaching the point where it’s crazy to think [the original development team is] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3, so we should just do it.” Unfortunately, Wolpaw acknowledged the business considerations of Valve focusing a chunk of its workforce on a Portal 3 - especially when the company had the money-printing Steam and hugely successful Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to run instead. “The problem is with 300 employees… and I don’t know exactly the breakdown [between] the production side versus the Steam business side versus legal… there’s a lot of opportunity cost to taking 75 people and trying to get a game made,” Wolpaw said. “As much as it seems like Valve often is just a bunch of people sitting around sipping gin and tonic, everyone’s working.” “[Is Portal 3] going to make Counter-Strike GO money? Probably not,” Wolpaw continued. “But… maybe not every game needs to make Counter-Strike: GO money. Gabe, if you’re listening…” The original Portal arrived 15 years ago, in 2007, and became an instant classic for its cerebral first-person puzzle solving. Portal’s critically-acclaimed sequel, which added Stephen Merchant’s Wheatley robot and campaign co-op, arrived in 2011. Despite various spin-offs, a decade has come and gone without a third entry. Wolpaw is currently a freelance writer, though has returned to work on related Valve projects such as Half-Life Alyx and Aperture Desk Job. When it comes to Portal 3, Wolpaw said he would volunteer to work on it “in a second”.
