At the end of August 2024, long-time video game fans grew excited about the potential development of Portal 3. The anticipation was sparked by posts on X from an account displaying the name Gabe Newell, the co-founder and president of Valve Software, which developed the Portal series. If released, the new installment in the puzzle-platform franchise would serve as a long-awaited follow-up to the award-winning 2011 sequel, Portal 2.
This new rumor began on July 21, when an X user showing the display name Gabe Newell and handle @CEOofValve posted (archived), "500 followers and Portal 3 comes out."
Then, on Aug. 27, the same account reposted (archived) the July 21 post, along with a purported Portal 3 poster and the text, "Working on it." The poster displayed the words, "its been a LooooooooG timE..... yOu MONSTER." As of this writing, that post had received more than 120,000 likes and 8.1 million views.
Users replying under the post asked whether the rumor was true and if Newell — nicknamed "Gaben" by fans — truly managed the @CEOofValve account.
Others joked about Valve Software's supposed incapability of releasing a game with a "3" in the title.
For example, one user posted (archived) of the supposed Portal 3 announcement, "Bull…we all know Gabe can't count that high." Another person chimed in (archived), sarcastically, "There is no way this can be true, because the name has a '3' in it, which means that Valve cannot do it."
These remarks referenced fans' anticipation of the announcement and release not just of a third Portal title but also Half-Life 2: Episode Three, Half-Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3. (The company announced Half-Life: Episode Three in May 2006 but never ended up releasing the expansion.)
Unfortunately for fans, the X user @CEOofValve was a parody account. The end of the user's bio identified the account as posting parody: "REAL Founder & President of Valve. Maker of the Half-Life, Team Fortress, Counter Strike & Portal series. Parody of actual Gabe Newell."
We contacted Valve to ask if they had any comment about this rumor and will update our story if we receive a response.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.