Valve's anti-consumer tendencies aren't contained to the Half-Life franchise. By 2011, Valve had sold more than 12 million copies of Half-Life 2 and Steam had a stranglehold on the PC gaming market.

Half-Life 2 was the first title that made Steam a requirement even with physical discs, players had to install Valve's client in order to play the game. Forced adoption is exactly how the company got so many people happily hooked on Steam in 2004. The company restocked on March 9th and sold out that same day. Valve sold 103,000 Index kits and depleted its stock in the final three months of 2019, amid the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, according to SuperData Research. It's being hailed as the software savior of the VR industry, driving an increase in headset sales across the board, but particularly for the Valve Index.

In fact, most players are expressing excitement for this VR-only, prohibitively expensive Half-Life prequel, and online hubs are buzzing with praise and intrigue. Shockingly, this strategy hasn't alienated Valve's fans.

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