In a recently released documentary celebrating Half-Life’s 25th anniversary, Newell shares his thoughts on the importance of quality beyond deadlines.
Half-Life was originally planned to be released in November 1997, but a few months before release the Valve team realized that the game was not ready yet.
“We were three months away from release and realized it wasn’t going to work,” said Valve engineer Ken Birdwell. Rather than rushing and releasing an incomplete product, Valve decided to delay the release despite pressure from publisher Sierra.
“It is better to be late than to be bad forever,” said Newell, emphasizing that quality and player satisfaction should always come first. This decision turned out to be correct: Half-Life became a cult game and laid the foundation for many of Valve’s later successes.
Newell also talks about “realism” in video games, stating that it’s not about realism, but about player enjoyment and involvement. “I need to make shopping lists in the real world, but that doesn’t mean I have to make shopping lists in the game,” Valve’s president said.
Source: Ferra
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