It seems Valve is bringing back some old faces as it looks to re-strengthen its writing team. After re-hiring Portal 2 writer Jay Pinkerton halfway through last year, it seems acclaimed and renowned writer Erik Wolpaw has now also returned to Valve. While the news hasn’t officially been confirmed by either Valve or Wolpaw himself, there’s been enough evidence pointed out through various sources that indicates that that is indeed the case.
It started with the screencap of an email conversation between Valve chief Gabe Newell and an anonymous source doing the rounds on the internet, where Newell confirmed that Wolpaw had rejoined Valve- and sure, though sources such as the founder of Valve News Network confirmed that the email is indeed legitimate, there were still plenty of doubts about the same. However, as pointed out by Shacknews, it seems like Erik Wolpaw is also mentioned in the credits of Valve’s recently released Artifact.
Wolpaw, in case you don’t know, has had an illustrious career at Valve, where he’s served as co-writer on several major titles, including Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, Portal, Portal 2, and Left 4 Dead. He left Valve in early 2017, and has since then also been credited as co-writer on the upcoming Psychonauts 2 (also having served the same role for its predecessor).
While Valve’s massive fanbase has grown disgruntled over the course of nearly a decade of the legendary publisher releasing practically no games, and having roundly ignored major franchises such as Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Half-Life, Valve has recently noted on multiple occasions that it’s going to get back to development and publishing of games with more frequency, something that seems have been kickstarted with Artifact.