The online player count for Half-Life 2 on Steam has reached an all-time high, Telegram introduced a full-screen mode for mini-games, and the head of Grove Street Games criticized Rockstar Games for removing mentions of his studio from the GTA trilogy remasters. Here’s a rundown of the major events in the gaming industry this past weekend.
Half-Life 2
- On November 16, Half-Life 2 celebrated its 20th anniversary. In honor of this occasion, Valve released a major update for the game and temporarily made it free on Steam. As a result, according to SteamDB, on Sunday evening, Half-Life 2's peak online player count reached 64,085, marking its best performance at least since 2008, when the service began tracking data. For comparison, Half-Life 2’s previous record was set in August 2021, when 16,100 Steam users launched the game simultaneously.
- In the US, Senator Mark Warner wrote an open letter to Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell, demanding action on a recent study about unacceptable user content on Steam. The Anti-Defamation League found 1.83 million instances of extremist and hate-inciting content on the platform. Warner expressed concern over the situation on Steam and wants Valve to strengthen moderation. He requests a response from Newell by December 13.
- Telegram launched an update they described as the largest in the history of mini-apps. The new features include games, with additions such as full-screen mode, the option to place icons on the device's home screen, the ability to create location-based games, subscriptions with payment for “stars,” screen loading customization, and more.
- Last week, the collection GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition received a major patch. One of the changes was the removal of the Grove Street Games logo from the beginning of the games; this was the studio responsible for developing the remasters. This upset Grove Street Games' head, Thomas Williamson. “Removing the main developers from the credits in a patch is a dick move. Especially when the patch includes hundreds of fixes that these developers worked on for years to reach players,” wrote Williamson on X. It should be noted that while Rockstar Games removed the mention of Grove Street Games from the start of the games, the studio's name still appears in the final credits as indicated.