Half-Life 3
GameBy Valve
Documents about Half-Life 3
List Feature
Nathan Brown's Hit Points newsletter (issue #388, July 24, 2026) uses Valve's latest Steam update as a springboard for a critique of Sony's digital storefront.
- Valve has introduced significant improvements to Steam's wishlist functionality, including better organization, filtering, and the ability to gift wishlisted games, addressing a critical tool for game discoverability and funding, especially for indie developers.
- Sony's PlayStation Store is criticized for its poor functionality, particularly its wishlist feature which lacks essential notifications for sales or releases, and its overall inability to categorize games effectively, raising concerns as Sony plans to fully transition to digital-only game sales within 18 months.
- Xbox's VP of Engineering, Jared Palmer, left after three months to join an AI company, while Xbox also announced a 'Backwards Compatibility' initiative bringing four original Xbox games to PC, with plans for more over time.
Back in Your Box
This document, published on February 6, 2026, argues that the current economic climate, particularly escalating component costs driven by the generative AI industry, makes it an exceptionally poor time to launch new gaming console hardware.
- Valve has delayed the release of its Steam Machine, Steam Frame VR headset, and redesigned Steam Controller due to rising component costs driven by AI industry demand.
- AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed that development for the next-generation Xbox is progressing toward a 2027 launch, despite industry-wide concerns regarding high hardware costs and consumer spending power.
- The Nintendo Switch has become the company's best-selling console of all time, reaching 155.37 million lifetime units sold by the end of 2025 and surpassing the Nintendo DS.
Call of Duty under Attack
The document analyzes the competitive landscape of the shooter genre in late 2025, focusing on the challenges faced by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 amidst strong launches from Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched with 100,000 peak concurrent players on Steam, significantly underperforming compared to Black Ops 6 (300,000) and Modern Warfare 3 (190,000).
- Competing shooters Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders achieved strong launch figures, peaking at 747,000 and 482,000 concurrent Steam users respectively.
- Arc Raiders shows low player crossover with Call of Duty, with only 11% on PS5 and 13% on Xbox, while 5 million Call of Duty console players were drawn from Fortnite last weekend.
Digital Toys at Play: Top 10 Toy and Entertainment Licensors in Gaming
The document, "Digital Toys at Play: Top 10 Toy and Entertainment Licensors in Gaming," analyzes the evolving landscape of interactive entertainment and its impact on traditional toy and media companies.
- The top 10 non-gaming licensors generated $9.9 billion in consumer spending for the twelve months ending in June 2024.
- Third-party developers drive the vast majority of revenue, accounting for $7.9 billion of the total spending compared to $1.8 billion from in-house efforts.
- Hasbro leads the sector, fueled by the success of Monopoly Go—projected to exceed $3 billion in lifetime revenue—and Baldur’s Gate III.