Gabe Newell, Head of Valve Software, creators of thefranchise,that the apparent Half-Life 2 source code leaked today to the Internet is indeed not a hoax, or just a leaked HL2 SDK (Software Developer Kit) which would contain only tools, documentation and some sample code. Valve was able to determine that the code was apparently stolen by someone hacking into their email system and installing keystroke recorders on some systems through an apparent buffer overflow in Outlook's preview pane.

Mr. Newell adds, "What I'd appreciate is the assistance of the community in tracking this down. I have a special email address for people to send information to,. If you have information about the denial of service attacks or the infiltration of our network, please send the details...We at Valve have always thought of ourselves as being part of a community, and I can't imagine a better group of people to help us take care of these problems than this community."It is unclear at this moment how the leak will affect the release of the game, and no suspects have been named.