Gabe Newell Would Rather Have Fan Films of HALF-LIFE Than Hollywood Attempt One

Valve's Co-founder and manager of game development Gabe Newell treats the Half-Life series like a child whom he's raised since infancy, and he expresses that love and protection to Jamie Russel, the author of the book Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood, in an interview seen in the pages of that written work.

Speaking on the subject of why Valve hasn't signed off on any Half-Life movie deals:

"Mostly people were just trying to vampire off of the success and popularity of the property, without any real understanding of what made it an interesting or successful property in the first place. The sense that we had was that if we went down the traditional route of licensing a property to a Hollywood studio, we would be losing control at that point. The fans were going to be ill-served 90% of the time."

The father-like figure said that with the all weird ideas pitched his way about a proposed film he would rather see it be put in the hands of the fans themselves. He event went on to comment about how if Lucasfilm had given their fans all the assets to make such a movie then they would come up with something better than even Lucas did. 

I myself honestly believe what he's saying here, considering that fans who have been touched by the experiences with the game and the interactions they've also run into from that same community only garners true respect for the property. Movies made out of love and reverance are far better stories than those made for profit, especially when compared to novelty summer blockbusters who simply offer big named actors and explosions.

Newell continues that he thinks Hollywood will eventually see the bigger picture and may one day consider funding the projects of fans themselves:

"What's going to happen is that the Hollywood guys will start to realise that the creation of entertainment isn't a one-way experience where they have all the professional tools and giant budgets and everything flows downhill from there to the consumers. If they're collaborating and co-operating with their fanbases to create these entertainment experiences, you will see the same kinds of things occurring - most of it will be terrible but some of it will be brilliant." 

Do you think that fan films are better than their licensed property major motion picture counterparts?