Half-Life 2 costs '$40 million' to date

Expensive hobby.

A very interesting report on Eurogamer.net, informed partly by a recent interview on Maxitmag.co.uk, reveals that Half-Life 2's development has cost developer Valve upwards of $40 million to-date - a gigantic figure where videogame development is concerned.

The huge sum spent so far may however include the investment in content delivery system Steam, too - for which the developer has justifiably high-hopes, which extend far beyond the hoped-for debut of Half-Life 2 this summer. As Valve's Gabe Newell elaborated in the interview, gamers subscribing through Steam will be acquiring possibilities that extend far-beyond the download of a new game at launch. "Let's say there is some new fantastic capability that emerges in the hardware, we can give updated content to all of the people who buy this hardware. Basically you'll plug in the hardware, Steam will detect it, and get the new shaders, textures, or whatever you need," he enthused. "Being able to individually deliver unique assets is a big step forward from the one-size-fits-all approach that traditional physical goods delivery has restricted us to."

Half-Life 2 is also apparently still on track for launch this summer, and is but 'months' away according to Newell. More as we get it.

By Luke Guttridge