Depending on gamer feedback, Half-Life 2: Episode Three's release may be the last episodic update for the Half-Life franchise, or so Valve's Gabe Newell said.

"OK, so what do you want?" is the question that Newell wants to pose to Half-Life fans regarding the continuation of it's current episodic method of updating the franchise.

Newell said that doling out episodic releases lets Valve update their games much faster than building full-scale game sequels. However, they're going to have a chat with gamers once the third episode is out, and letting them decide to either keep or junk the episodic scheme based on how they liked the three Half Life 2 episodes. Newell asked:

Do you want us to do more episodes? Do you want us to really tighten down the time frames and look at the scope of what we're doing so that that's possible, for us to go back to the large monolithic projects?