Highlights
- Rumors of a Half-Life announcement at Gamescom are not likely to be true, so fans should lower their expectations.
- Although an outdated companion app mentioned Half-Life, it's not a reliable indication of Valve's presence at Gamescom.
- The most realistic possibility for Half-Life at Gamescom would be a PlayStation VR2 port for Half-Life: Alyx, but nothing has been confirmed.
Rumors have been making the rounds online that a Half-Life series announcement could be happening at Gamescom, but fans shouldn't hold their breath. For those unfamiliar with the event, Gamescom is essentially Europe's version of E3, though while E3 hasn't really covered since the COVID-19 pandemic, Gamescom has been going strong consistently since the first event took place all the way back in 2009.
The Gamescom 2023 event will take place from August 23 to August 27, with the Gamescom Opening Night Live presentation taking place August 22. Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023 will be hosted by The Game Awards' Geoff Keighley and feature a variety of big game reveals and announcements. Fans will have to tune in to see which games are featured at Gamescom this year, but it's safe to say they shouldn't expect to see Half-Life.
The rumor claiming Half-Life will be at Gamescom started because of a Reddit post citing an outdated Gamescom companion app that listed Valve and Half-Life for the show. While Valve has not said whether it will be at Gamescom or not, the outdated companion app isn't a good indication one way or another. Half-Life fans can still tune in to Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 22 just on the off-chance that Valve actually does have some kind of announcement prepped for the big show, but don't go in with any expectations.
If Half-Life does have some kind of presence at Gamescom, one of the more realistic possibilities is that it will be for a PlayStation VR2 port for Half-Life: Alyx. A PlayStation VR2 port for Half-Life: Alyx has been rumored for some time, but no such project has actually been announced at the time of this writing. With Half-Life: Alyx being the highest-rated virtual reality game to date, it would make a great deal of sense for it to come to Sony's new VR headset, though time will tell if that actually happens.
Of course, the big announcement that all Half-Life fans are still holding out for is Half-Life 3. It's been nearly two decades since Half-Life 2's launch and Half-Life 3 is still nowhere in sight. It's entirely possible that the game will materialize at some point down the line, but if it does exist, it's highly unlikely that it will be revealed at Gamescom this year.