Portal co-writer Erik Wolpaw wants to help make a third Portal game a reality sooner rather than later, noting that he may soon be "too old to work on Portal 3."
The Portal franchise is fairly well known in the world of gaming. Sadly, these games have fallen somewhat by the wayside -- not much has been going on aside from a tiny Portal 2 update last year until the release of the free game Aperture Desk Job back in February 2022, coinciding with the launch of the Steam Deck. Now, one of the game's co-writers is urging Valve to make this game happen before it's too late.
Creating Portal 3 Would Be a Serious Challenge
As VGC reports (via Reddit), Portal co-writer Erik Wolpaw recently went on the Kiwi Talkz podcast. One of the many subjects that came up for discussion was the Portal franchise -- and how badly Wolpaw wants to make Portal 3.
"We’ve gotta start Portal 3," Wolpaw said. That’s my message to… to whoever."
"I am not getting any younger. We are reaching the point where it’s crazy to think [that we’re] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3, so we should just do it."
Although Wolpaw's list of writing credits is somewhat short, he more than makes up for it through the quality of his work. His past writing includes both Portal games, both Left 4 Dead games, most of the "Meet the..." series of videos for Team Fortress 2, and the first Psychonauts game. He nearly quit working at Valve due to illness in the mid-2000s, but Gabe Newell told him to stay with the company and focus on getting better first, a story that was detailed in The Final Hours of Portal 2.
Erik Wolpaw correctly highlights the challenges of making Portal 3 a reality, one of which is the simple lack of available staff -- everyone at Valve is very busy. He also notes that it's unlikely Portal 3 would make as much money as any future content for Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Then again, not all projects need to be solely about the bottom line -- at least in Wolpaw's estimation.
"But having said that, maybe every game doesn’t need to make Counter-Strike:GO money, you know, Gabe, if you’re listening."
