Marc Laidlaw, the software veteran who wrote Half-Life, its expansions and its sequel, is no longer employed at Valve.
In an email to Polygon, Laidlaw said that he has left Valve after 18 years.
“I retired very recently,” he wrote, before confirming that an insightful email obtained by a Half-Life fan and attributed to the writer was legitimate.
In the message shared on the Half-Life subreddit, the series helmer went into why now seemed like a good time to call it quits.
“There are many reasons, most of them personal,” he wrote in his reply to the Redditor who reached out to him about his rumored departure. “An outwardly obvious reason is that I’m old, or anyway oldish.”
When asked about what his departure from the company means for the Half-Life series, Laidlaw said simply, “I don’t and can’t entirely know.
“Half-Life is fully owned by Valve,” he continued. “It came into existence before my arrival. Where Valve may choose to take it in the future is not in my hands.”