Valve, the company behind Steam and classic games like Half-Life, Dota, and Counter-Strike, are not in the habit of releasing many new games, but a new trademark has sparked rumors of a new release finally on the horizon.
Despite having bona fide classics under their belt, Valve is not the type of developer to push out new releases every year. Their last AAA launch was Half-Life: Alyx, released solely as a VR experience, in March 2020.
With the success of the Steam platform, and the enduring popularity of Dota2 and CS:GO, Valve is in the enviable position of not needing to release brand new games to keep revenue coming in. But, they often assure fans that they are developing new games.
A new Valve trademark application, filed under the category of computer game software, though, has sparked speculation that a new release could be close at hand.
Valve trademarks NEON PRIME
On October 10, 2022, Valve filed an application for the trademark ‘NEON PRIME’, stylized in all caps. It is filed under the following categories: “Computer game software, electronic game software, video game software, computer game programs downloadable via the internet.”
At this stage, it’s worth noting that the trademark application is still awaiting examination, and hasn’t been granted yet.
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But, after being spotted by ‘Gabe Follower’ on Twitter, it has unsurprisingly got the rumor mill in motion.
Valve just registered new trademark called NEON PRIME, based on description, this might be a new game franchise 😳https://t.co/ocOwEZLohX pic.twitter.com/VYV2DbSkpd
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) October 14, 2022
If not a new game entirely, there are other possibilities too. CS:GO players will recognize the word ‘prime’ as Prime matchmaking – the paid version of CS that provides access to things like skill ranks and in-game drops.
Others also speculated that it could be game-adjacent software, for example, an anti-cheat system.
The fact is that for now, we really have no idea what this trademark could be for exactly, only that it relates to some kind of game software.
Countless trademarks are also filed and granted and then never even used, so while it’s fun to speculate, it would be advisable not to get your hopes up too much for a new fully-fledged Valve release.