GAME · 2004
Half-Life 2
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, macOS
16 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (16)
- #001
Development of Half-Life 2 started in June 1999, six months after the original Half-Life was released.
- #002
Half-Life 2 was developed by a team of 82 people, or around 100 including voice actors.
- #003
Valve president Gabe Newell wanted Half-Life 2 to redefine the FPS genre, saying that if it was not viewed as the best PC game of all time it would disappoint most of the team.
- #004
Gabe Newell gave the Half-Life 2 team no deadline and a "virtually unlimited" budget, promising to fund the project himself if necessary, while they used Valve's new in-house Source engine, developed simultaneously.
- #005
As an experiment, Valve made a minigame called Zombie Basketball, in which players threw zombies through hoops using a physics-manipulating gun.
- #006
In late 2001, Valve started work on a showreel intended to be shown at E3 the following year, with the aim of demonstrating the project.
- #007
The showreel presented to Newell featured physics, environments including the Borealis, and a dialogue-heavy scene with the scientist Dr. Kleiner.
- #008
In September 2002, the Half-Life 2 team completed a second showreel that included a buggy race along the City 17 coast, headcrabs on a pier, an alien strider attacking the city, and a shortened Kleiner sequence.
- #009
In October 2002, Newell told the Half-Life 2 team that the game would be announced at E3 2003 and released by the end of that year.
- #010
As with the original Half-Life, the Half-Life 2 team split into "cabals" that worked on different levels.
- #011
For Half-Life 2, designers built levels using placeholder shapes and surfaces, which artists then worked on.
- #012
Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003, showing off its characters, animation and physics; the reveal was well received and the game earned the E3 Game of the Show award.
- #013
After the Half-Life 2 leak, Valve implemented new policies to protect against leaks, including requiring journalists to attend their office to play the game before release.
- #014
After returning from Christmas in 2004, the Half-Life 2 team worked long hours under stressful conditions with no guarantee the game would be finished soon, while development cost $1 million per month.
- #015
By March 2004, the Half-Life 2 team had produced a version playable from start to finish and paused development for a week to play through it.
- #016
Major changes to Half-Life 2 at that stage included cutting the Borealis, swapping the jet ski for an airboat, and introducing the physics-manipulating gravity gun earlier.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Half-Life 2 — Wikipedia
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