Marc Laidlaw is a bit of a legend in the gaming community. After all, besides being an accomplished science-fiction and horror writer, he also wrote the stories for the much acclaimed Half-Life series. Nonetheless, all good things must come to an end and Marc Laidlaw announced today that after 18 years, he has left the Valve corporation.
The news initially broke when a Reddit user and Half-Life fan emailed Laidlaw about a potential new game in the series from Valve. Laidlaw responded to the user, saying he no longer is with Valve, nor is he privy to their decisions. This report was confirmed by Gamasutra who reached out to Laidlaw as well.
In his correspondence with Gamasutra, Laidlaw expressed no ill will towards Valve, simply stating his age and a desire to return to personal projects as reasons for his departure.
“My nickname when I first started at Valve in 1997 was ‘old man Laidlaw.’ The little baby level designer who gave me that that nickname is now older than I was then,” said Laidlaw. ”I had a good run but lately I have been feeling a need for a break from the collaborative chaos of game production, and a return to more self-directed writing projects.”
Laidlaw produced one of the greatest stories ever put into video games. The gaming community will surely miss him, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about Half-Life 3 emails anymore. Good luck to you Mr. Laidlaw.
