I mean all the crap about innovation is bullshit. So there's no reason not to do it here, only that Valve is flighty and isn't interested in it anymore for whatever reason. Again, not the case here, the game could be crap and it would still make money because so many people want it bad (not that it matters because of Steam). No matter how much you'd like to continue something, if the market isn't interested it is a bad idea to do. Likewise I can understand not making a sequel if it is going to be a commercial failure.
If the series has run its course, it sucks to tell the creative people "You have to make another one, no I don't give a shit how much it doesn't fit!" Clearly not the case here, they had more story to tell so the creative types should be happy to continue it. I mean I can respect not making a sequel just for a sequel's sake. They'll play with a project for awhile, get bored, and move on to something else. They seem to suffer from "Oooo shiny!" syndrome pretty bad, which they can afford to do since Steam makes them more money than they know what to do with. Ya there's plenty of reason to do it, it is just clear Valve has lost interest. The only reason we would go back and do a 'super classic' kind of product is if a whole bunch of people internally at Valve said they wanted to do it, and had a reasonable explanation for why it was." We aren't going to go all retro because there are too many interesting things that have been learned. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and he has Alzheimer's, it's like, Oh my god, I may never get another great Discworld novel.
In a recent podcast interview he had with Geoff Keighley, Valve CEO Gabe Newell opens up the current situation a bit more: "I'm a fan of TV shows, I'm a fan of writers, I'm a fan of movies, I'm a fan of games and I certainly understand why people are like, you know, hey I remember this awesome experience and I'm starting to get worried that I'm never going to have it again. While Valve transitioned from the revolutionary series that brought the company most of its original success, to online games like Team Fortress, Dota and Left 4 Dead, people still desperately want to believe that there is more coming for Half-Life. Jones_supa writes Half-Life 3 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games in history.