In a piece of news that could dash hopes of ever getting a Half-Life sequel even further, Marc Laidlaw, famed for penning the game’s apocalyptic plot appears to have left Valve.

For those who might not know, Half-Life is a wildly popular first-person shooter developed by Valve — purveyors of the PC gaming platform Steam. Most recent figures state that Half-Life 2 sold over 12 million copies. Eventually, the game received two episodes of DLC that left the game in a cliffhanger state. Fans have been waiting for almost ten years to find out if Half Life’s story will be continued.

The news of Laidlaw’s retirement emerged from reddit, where a fan sent a frank request for Valve to lay Half-Life 3 speculation to rest. Laidlaw replied with a pre-written list of statements regarding the nature of his retirement, and the reasons why he cannot respond to requests for information on the possibility of a long-rumored Half-Life 3.