Цитата:G4: So, is it safe to say that you have like four different projects in development right now? So, you have Left 4 Dead 2, you have Team Fortress 2, I’m going to go out on a limb and say Portal 2 and then…Episode 3?
Newell: [laughs] Uh, I’m not going to talk about things that we…we’re talking about Left 4 Dead 2 and Episode 3. As far as I know, that’s all that we’re talking about publicly.
Doug Lombardi: We’re not talking about Episode 3 publicly. (smiles)
Newell: Oh well, I guess I’m not talking about Episode 3 publicly either. (laughs) So..what’s your question? Yes, we have a lot of stuff that’s going on. We have Steam. Steam’s a lot of work. We have these movie things that we make, they take a lot of work.
G4: I only have one last question. Maybe a follow up, if you’ll allow it. The first time I interviewed you was about Episode 1. We’ve talked about Episode 2 and episodic content. It was very ambitious because you were saying you want to come out with the first episode in this amount of time, the second episode and blah blah blah, and granted it’s always when it’s done, and things always get pushed out. But now looking back when, even though you’re not talking about Episode 3 today, are you still happy you did it episodically or would you have, because it’s taken, kind of the same amount of time that Half-Life 2 took to get all three episodes out?
Newell: Oh, no no no, Half-life 2 took 5 years?
G4: Well we’re working on 3½ years now...
Newell: Yes, but we’ve shipped twice, right? And we’ve been able to take steps forward in the technology. Left 4 Dead couldn’t have shipped without Episode 1 and Episode 2, right? That put us in a position to be able to do Portal and Team Fortress 2, and all of these products were enabled by moving to these shorter development cycles. So, yea, I’m…
G4: So, you don’t regret it??
Newell: I want to make sure that I don’t sound like I’m dismissing user’s issues, right? I get a ton of email everyday saying why aren’t you talking about Episode 3? And there are very good reasons why we’re not talking about Episode 3, which I can’t talk about yet, but I will. So, I think there’s frustration there and I’m not somehow going to say that that’s not legitimate or length isn’t a concern or regularity. The speed with which these updates are coming out, people say, “Hey, gee, these episodes are supposed to be shorter and you take 25 years to ship each one.” So, I don’t wanna somehow dismiss those, or sort of throw them under - but I think we’re in much better shape than would have been, in terms of our ability to move stuff, technology, products, uh, forward faster by changing how, ya know, being different than, ya know, there was Half-Life 2 and then there was post-Half-Life 2 in terms of how we were approaching these things and yea, I think that we’re overall pretty happy without somehow dismissing the legitimate complaints that people should have towards us. But, we’re happy with that choice that we made.
G4: Do you think we’ll find out new details about Episode 3 by the end of the year?
Newell: Just so you know, the thing to me, that feels right, is the rhythm that Robin and his team are operating with. It’s like watching the reaction of that community, watching their ability to respond, looking at the quality of the work they’re getting with the length of those development cycles. They’re having a great time. And I think it shows on the other side, right? I mean, they were just giggling so hard when they were changing the buttons in the movies to say “leak video.” Do you remember the big screen with all the buttons? And they were like we have to put “leaks video” into that thing before we release it. They were just like cackling away. What should have been like, pretty demoralizing and stressful was for them, “Oh, this is no big deal.” So, yeah, people get the idea.
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