Although developer Valve has long been silent (and lately stern) about the existence of "Half Life 3," the rumor mill believes that all hope isn't lost.

The latest report about the game is that it will be released in 2018, which is the year "Half Life" celebrates its 20^th anniversary. Beyond that, it is merely wishful thinking.

A decade ago, Valve has announced that a "Half Life" game is coming. It isn't "Half Life 3" but "Half Life 2: Episode 3." It was initially given a release date of holiday 2007, which obviously did not happen.

According to Polygon, Valve lost interest in releasing the aforementioned game or the "Half Life 3" because the writer behind the video game series' stories – Marc Laidlaw – is no longer with the company.

However, there's still no clear explanation as to why Valve abandoned its plans to release a new "Half Life" game. Valve chief Gabe Newell simply acknowledges it as something he does not want to comment about.

Last year, however, Newell said that there's one way "Half Life 3" will see the light of day, although he did not sound like it would be an option for his company.

"The only reason we'd go back and do like a super classic kind of product is if a whole bunch of people just internally at Valve said they wanted to do it and had a reasonable explanation for why," Newell told GameSlice.

According to other reports, "Half Life 3" is being prepared for Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which is starting to be the next big thing in gaming. It is reportedly being designed specifically for the HTC Vive, which was just released in the market.

The rumors are yet to be corroborated, although fans expect that Valve will surprise them all with an announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 2016 in the coming days.