(YOUTUBE / STEAM)

Fans of the science fiction first-person shooter game series "Half-Life" have been waiting for over a decade for the third installment of the universally acclaimed video game series after the release of "Half-Life 2" back in 2004. Since then, Valve has only released an additional level and two expansion sequels for "Half-Life 2".

In a 2006 interview with Eurogamer, Valve's co-founder and managing director, Gabe Newell had revealed that the "Half-Life 2" expansions are essentially "Half-Life 3". He reasoned that rather than having fans wait years for a full sequel, Valve would just release the episodic installments. In a 2011 interview with Develop, Newell had stated that the episodic model had been replaced by even shorter cycles and continuous updates via Steam.

Earlier this month, Newell, had stated in a Gameslice podcast that a "Half Life" sequel would probably never be made. "The only reason we'd go back and do like a super classic kind of product is if a whole bunch of people just internally at Valve said they wanted to do it and had a reasonable explanation for why they did," Newell said.

But Newell's statements seem to have been misleading as Valve's recent update on Steam showed the addition of "App 323900," which featured the logo of "Half Life 3," according to Motoring Crunch. It is not certain if Valve has intentionally leaked the logo or misled fans through the interviews, but gamers are now more excited than ever and are speculating that Valve could announce details about the sequel during the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo this June.

Valve is the video game development company behind the critically acclaimed video game series "Half-Life," "Portal" and "Left 4 Dead." Valve has also created the software distribution platform, "Steam," which has led to the Steam Machine, a line of pre-built gaming computers running SteamOS. Valve is expected to participate in the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 16-18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.