Insider Mike Straw has reaffirmed his earlier claim regarding the announcement schedule of Half-Life 3 and its release in Spring 2026.
Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw took to Twitter/X to reaffirm his earlier claim that Half-Life 3 will be announced this month and that its release will happen something during Spring 2026. The date he was told by his source has yet to arrive, though he was unable to verify is from at lease 2 other sources. As such, he believes that Valve may have multiple dates to “catch leakers”.
“I’ve been asked so much. The date I was told hasn’t passed yet, though not being able to get at least 2 other people to verify it has me really thinking Valve did have multiple dates to ‘catch leakers’,” said Straw in his Twitter/X post. “Announcement date aside, source still believes it’ll be announced this year w/ Spring 2026 release.”
A fellow Twitter/X member reminded Straw that Valve had also circulated different announcement dates for Half-Life Alyx with people involved with the project in order to find out who was leaking information. In response, the insider said that he believes this is also the case with the unannounced Half-Life 3 based on the conversations he’s had with other people in the games media.
Last month, during an episode of the Insider Gaming podcast, Straw mentioned that he has a release date for the unannounced Half-Life 3 on hand, but he isn’t willing to share it because he believes it’s a Canary Trap set up by Valve to catch leakers. He reminded that both Tyler McVicker and Gabefollower are still firm about the Half-Life 3 reveal happening in 2025, and haven’t said anything about a change in plans. Back in August, both insiders reported on a new data mine of updates to Counter-Strike 2 and Deadlock that uncovered evidence regarding the previously leaked Valve project codenamed HLX, believed to be the long-rumored Half-Life 3. Recently, Xbox Era co-founder Shpeshal_Nick claimed that if the information he received is actually true, GTA VI may have its “thunder stolen on the hype scale”, possibly hinting at an incoming Half-Life 3 announcement.
