The "Left 4 Dead" franchise has been silent since the last DLC for the second game launched in 2012. Fans have been waiting for "Left 4 Dead 3," but for the past few months, nothing but unofficial rumors have surfaced. This time, however, a Valve employee has hinted that the game is indeed being developed in secret.

According to a report from Game N Guide, Valve has remained silent regarding the game's development or about any plans they may have for the franchise. The company appears more focused at the moment on improving their Steam machines, the Steam controller, as well as the SteamVR unit known as the HTC Vive.

Despite this, it is possible that Valve still has employees developing their franchise video games. Back in June, PC Gamer reveals that one of the employees from Valve was doing a public presentation for the "Destinations Workshop Tools." During this presentation, audiences noticed that one of the folders on the desktop was labeled "left4dead3."

It has since been speculated that this means the game is indeed being worked on, but no announcements are made as of writing. During the recent Steam Dev Days, the company explained (via Gamasutra) that Valve will talk more about their games sometime in 2017, particularly the games that would run on Steam VR.

With that in mind, it is possible that "Left 4 Dead 3," as well as "Half-Life 3," may be unveiled when Valve starts discussing the games they are working on for Steam VR. Both are First Person Shooter (FPS) games, and both would easily work well on the VR platform.

If the game is indeed being developed with VR compatibility and is going to be announced next year, particularly now that a leak has come directly from an employee, fans speculate the game will launch in 2018. It is important to note that Valve has yet to make any official comment regarding this matter.