As the years have gone by, Valve has drifted further away from the games that made it a household name, but speculations will no doubt be in plentiful supply as a new listing on the Steam database suggests the company may be in the midst of something big. Hot off the success of the Steam Deck portable PC, the Washington-based hardware and software conglomerate continues its dominance of the PC market, most notably for its digital storefront that's been the blueprint for other examples ever since.
However, many older gamers will remember the studio's earlier days. Valve began exclusively as a video game developer, releasing the first Half-Life in 1998, which has gone on to become one of the most influential first-person shooters of all time. Following that up with a sequel, plus two games in the Portal series, the zombie action-packed Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress, Valve has been a force to be reckoned with in the gaming industry. However, the company is mostly known these days for its Steam client, and while the developer does still make games, many are holding out for something big from its mainline releases.
Once again, the fires of hype are being stoked, as a recent discovery over on the third-party website SteamDB shows that Valve added a mysterious file called "Valve Event Upload" that's leaving people puzzled. There's no information about what this could be in relation to, but a recent video from Tyler McVicker says that as this is a "Config," it's unlikely to be something that someone else has randomly uploaded as only Valve can do anything with these file types, which are specifically related to "large releases" that only the company controls. At the time of writing, there's no further information on what this is, but no doubt many will have their own theories. However, it should be noted that until anything is confirmed, any references to what this listing could be about should be considered speculation only.
Of course, what so many fans would love for it to be is the announcement of Half-Life 3. Going down as one of the most overdue threequels in gaming, the elusive third installment in Valve's seminal series has been a topic of conversation for many gamers for a decade and a half now, so there will be many who will once again be getting their hopes up.
And that's not all. In late 2022, Valve registered a new software trademark, which, again, led to many people hoping for a new game in any one of the developer's big franchises. Whether this listing on SteamDB has anything to do with it cannot be said at this stage, but hopefully Valve will shine a light on things soon.
Source: GamesRadar, SteamDB
