Is In the Valley of Gods still happening? It appears not as any mention of the game has been removed from developer Campo Santo’s official site. There has been considerable intrigue about In the Valley of Gods ever since the games announcement back in 2017. But it seems that for now, development of the game may be halted.
Developer Campo Santo released the well reviewed Firewatch back in 2016. Firewatch is a first-person exploration game with puzzle and mystery elements throughout. The game was an immediate hit with gamers, so much so that it prompted Valve to make their first studio acquisition in ten years. In the Valley of Gods was already in development at the time Valve acquired Campo Santo. It appeared that development for the game would continue as normal but that may have not been the case.
Several members of the development team for In the Valley of Gods have removed the game from their social media job descriptions (via GameRant.) It’s important to note that there could be an alternative explanation for this, but if so, that remains to be seen. In the Valley of Gods is not a radically different game from its predecessor Firewatch. In fact, both games seemed to share the same art style and use similar gameplay features. So it seems unlikely that production issues would be the problem. That being said, both games were primarily story-focused titles. Valve hasn’t released a narrative driven game since Portal 2 back in 2011. It’s possible that Valve’s business strategy and development for In the Valley of Gods was not congruent. But it’s hard to ignore the financial success of Firewatch and for what purpose Valve sought to acquire Campo Santo.
In recent years, Valve has found success with its esports titles. For example, the DOTA 2 International tournament for 2019 had the biggest prize pool in history. The rise of Valve as a tournament organizer and esports leader has correlated to the fall of their single-player titles. It’s no secret that Half-Life 3 has been plagued by development issues for the better part of a decade. Despite the enormous critical and financial success of Portal, Valve has yet to release another single player title. There’s two ways to look at Valve’s acquisition of Campo Santo. The first is that Valve bought out the developer for their resources and talent. Although there’s certainly some truth to that, it’s more logical to assume that they were excited about the financial and critical appeal of In the Valley of the Gods.
Regardless of how Valve feels about the game, fans around the world are eager to find out what’s going on with In the Valley of Gods. It’s no doubt that Campo Santo is one of the industry’s most exciting new developers. One who has certainly earned the respect of millions of gamers. As of today, In the Valley of Gods remains on Valve’s official website for upcoming games.
Last Updated: November 18, 2019
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Source: Twitter/ValveNewsNetwor (via GameRant)
