Valve has turned down movie offers for Half-Life, Left 4 Dead

There are quite a few video game movies in the works, from Assassin's Creed to Mass Effect, and even Angry Birds. But if you were hoping for a movie adaptation of Half-Life or Left 4 Dead any time soon, don't hold your breath.

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There are quite a few video game movies in the works, from Assassin's Creed to Mass Effect, and even Angry Birds. But if you were hoping for a movie adaptation of Half-Life or Left 4 Dead any time soon, don't hold your breath.

Valve has rebuffed Hollywood a few times for not understanding the passion behind the games and being able to translate that passion in the ideas presented, Valve chief Gabe Newell said in talking to on The Nerdist podcast (via Polygon). "There really were people who came to us with proposals of: ‘Okay, it's Half-Life 1, and there are horses, and it's a cavalry charge, and it's high-tech carbon armor on the horses,'" Newell added. "And we were like, ‘What the f*** are you talking about? Have you even played this?'"

Newell said Source Filmmaker was a response to these poor pitches, allowing gamers to be able to show their passion is their own movies. He also said that Valve is using the tool itself to create a 15-minute Team Fortress 2 project down the road.

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  • reply
    January 15, 2013 3:15 PM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Valve has turned down movie offers for Half-Life, Left 4 Dead.

    There are quite a few video game movies in the works, from Assassin's Creed to Mass Effect, and even Angry Birds. But if you were hoping for a movie adaptation of Half-Life or Left 4 Dead any time soon, don't hold your breath.

    • reply
      January 15, 2013 3:20 PM

      Even Gabe recognizes that his games aren't interesting enough to be movies, unlike properties such as Angry Birds.

      • reply
        January 15, 2013 3:24 PM

        Anyone remember The Sims movie that was going to be made?

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        January 15, 2013 3:34 PM

        That's what you got out of this?
        It seems Gabe was saying that he finds the story pitches an affront:
        "There really were people who came to us with proposals of: ‘Okay, it's Half-Life 1, and there are horses, and it's a cavalry charge, and it's high-tech carbon armor on the horses,'" Newell added. "And we were like, ‘What the f*** are you talking about? Have you even played this?'"

      • reply
        January 15, 2013 3:38 PM

        Or Anno 2770?

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          January 15, 2013 5:18 PM

          ANNO 2070?

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            January 15, 2013 5:21 PM

            ANNO 2070!

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              January 15, 2013 7:38 PM

              Whatever, the game is balls.

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                January 15, 2013 8:47 PM

                I concur good sir!

                Currently have ANNO 1404 Gold (w/ unofficial English patch), ANNO 2070 Deluxe (plus all DLC) and the Settlers 7 Deluxe Gold installed on my rig.

                Now to find time to play them all again...

      • reply
        January 15, 2013 3:39 PM

        Perhaps you've forgotten a little game called..... Battleship!

      • reply
        January 15, 2013 3:44 PM

        Seriously. I'd pay top dollar for a "Where's My Water?" flick. Half-Life, fuck that, I'll just read the wiki page.

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          January 15, 2013 5:20 PM

          Who do you think they'd get to play Cranky?

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          January 15, 2013 7:22 PM

          Woah. This is not my cup.

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        January 15, 2013 9:30 PM

        pretty sure there is a Uwe Boll joke in here somewhere...

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        January 16, 2013 3:44 AM

        I think they are, it's just people are terrible at making them. For example, world war Z could have been an amazing movie, and yet somehow it looks absolutely dire because they've crapped on everything that made the original story good.

        Half life would make a brilliant movie. Left4dead, not so much, because fast zombies are boring.

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      January 15, 2013 3:22 PM

      That Gabe quote about the WTF tech horse armour made me crack up hard. Good on him for turning down that kind of shit.

    • reply
      January 15, 2013 3:29 PM

      HL movie could work, but good video game movies are a rare beast.

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      January 15, 2013 4:24 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      January 15, 2013 4:29 PM

      Halo still needs a proper movie, hell it doesn't even have to feature the chief as the main character, those forward unto dawn eps were fantastic

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      January 15, 2013 5:21 PM

      A film adaption is probably possible only if the studios retain creative control. The last thing we need is more clueless films typical of Uwe boll or films like Mario Bros. To do it right you need to pretty much follow what made the games popular to begin in the first place. Adding random characters or pandering to a demographic isn't going to do that.

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      January 15, 2013 6:08 PM

      The plot twist?

      The horse armor was dlc

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        January 15, 2013 6:41 PM

        Not much of a twist considering that's the first thing people think of when they hear horse armor.

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        January 15, 2013 7:23 PM

        LOL.

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      January 15, 2013 8:06 PM

      Turned down or asked for a massive percentage, which was laughed at?

      Im going with B

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        January 15, 2013 9:15 PM

        Valve isn't hurting for cash. They have said that if a Half-Life film is ever made, they will create it to ensure it doesn't damage the brand.

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          January 16, 2013 3:54 AM

          And as good at visual storytelling as they are, I can't think of a better option.

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      January 16, 2013 4:18 AM

      Don't trust anyone but me to write and direct the MassEffect movie. =/

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      January 16, 2013 4:40 AM

      Speaking of which, what's up with the world of warcraft movie?

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      January 16, 2013 5:09 AM

      For anyone Valve fans, those two episodes of Nerdist where they talk about Valve: The Company and Valve: The Games are pretty OK listens.

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