You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereThe original Half-Life is not only one of the best FPS games ever made (until Xen), but also one of the most important games of the modern era. While we live in the universe where the game was released in stores with a great deal of marketing, publisher Sierra On-Line planned to abandon the game shortly after release.While Half-Life eventually became one of the best-selling PC games of its time, it didnt start off that way. Early sales were quite dismal, piracy was rampant, and it wasnt until the games Game of the Year Edition reprint that the game became the success we know today, but Sierra didnt want to support the game after its initial release.Sierra almost killed Half-LifeSpeaking at GDC 2025, via GamesRadar, former Valve CMO Monica Harrington revealed that Sierra executives planned to launch or leave the game. Harrington and Valve co-founder Gabe Newell were told that the publisher would scrap all marketing from Half-Life to focus on other Sierra titles.Half-Life would quietly die, Harrington explained. I felt stunned.In a move worthy of a cinematic biopic moment (come on, Fincher), Harrington threatened to expose Sierras fumbling business to the games industry as a whole. If marketing funds were pulled from Half-Life, developers and journalists would learn everything about the state of the company. Needless to say, Sierra caved in.When Sierra told us about their plans to abandon Half-Life, I felt like someone had slapped me across the face, they explained.. Very quickly, I told Sierra that not only were they not going to pull marketing dollars from Half-Life, they were going to relaunch it in a GOTY box. And I said if you dont, were going to tell the game development industry, which is starting to fall in love with Valve, exactly how screwed up Sierra is.With Valve still deep in the hole from developing the original Half-Life, Harrington explains the moment was make or break for the company. While they didnt know how Sierra would respond, their threat was received in full.Sierra relented and began making plans to launch a new GOTY edition, and when it launched, Half-Life rocketed back up the best-seller list, and the GOTY was a huge success, the former Valve executive said.Needless to say, Sierra On-Line doesnt exist today. After countless scandals, controversies, mergers and moreseriously, just look at that companys historythe publisher was swallowed up by Vivendi Games which was then merged with Activision. Sierra On-Line was one of the biggest messes in the games industry, but one that released some of the best PC games ever made, including Half-Life. What a time.Today, Half-Life is still alive barely. After the release of the absolutely amazing VR spin-off Half-Life: Alyx, the second game in the series is also getting a gorgeous RTX remake which looks very shiny indeed. Still no third game, though.Half-LifePlatform(s):Dreamcast, Linux, macOS, PC, PlayStation 2Genre(s):Action, Platformer, Puzzle, ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share