Portal writer Erik Wolpaw still wants to make Portal 3, but Valve's 'flat structure' makes it a challenge
Valve's allergy to the number three continues. While the desire for a third Portal game might not be quite as powerful as the hunger for Half-Life 3 (or even just Episode 3), the mind-bending puzzle series continues to have plenty of fans eager to see it continue, including Portal writer Erik Wolpaw. Unfortunately, the likelihood of another sequel remains hard to gauge.
Wolpaw has advocated for Portal 3 before(opens in new tab), hoping to inspire action in the company to which he returned as a part-time contractor back in 2019 after a stint at Double Fine. In December he even revealed that he had a «starting point» for Portal 3(opens in new tab), but that this didn't mean Valve had committed to developing it. Four months on, it seems that not much has changed.
In an interview with Simon Parkin on the My Perfect Console podcast(opens in new tab), Wolpaw explained the difficulties in getting the sequel off the ground. «In a flat structure like Valve, there is an opportunity cost to doing anything. Whatever is going on at Valve right now requires the dedication and participation of the people working on it—and it's voluntary.»
So there needs to be enough people at Valve willing to work on Portal 3. But in the meantime, Wolpaw is going to keep pushing for it and—jokingly—giving Valve a hard time. «The people who could be disturbed by it internally understand that it's just me joking around,» he added.
A source of frustration for fans is that there have been long periods of time where Valve hasn't seemingly been developing anything else, so why not Portal 3? Or Half-Life 3? But Wolpaw defends his employer.
«Valve is not a giant company. I think people sometimes think it is because of the outsized influence of Steam, but
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