It has been almost a decade since Valve has released a new installment on its "Half-Life" franchise, with "Half-Life 2: Episode Two" being released back in October of 2007. Fans have been speculating since then as to when "Half-Life 3" might be announced by the acclaimed video game developer and publisher. That being said, previous reports have cited Gabe Newel vaguely discussing to fans his thoughts on the matter. Moreover, with the recent first-ever Steam Awards announced last month by the company, fans were surprised to see that their suggestion for a user-submitted category was snubbed.

It was recently reported that Valve has given their fans a chance to submit their own category for the Steam Awards, Steamed Kotaku learned. It was said that the company ignored the user-submitted category "The Game Most In Need Of A Sequel," which the source implied on having a "Half-Life 3."

Instead, it was said that Valve went on to pick "The 'Boom Boom' Award," "The 'Love/Hate Relationship' Award," "The 'Sit Back and Relax' Award," and "The 'Better With Friends' Award," which was upsetting to some fans who saw other writ-ins more deserving.

Such would be the "The 'Game That Deserves A Sequel' Award" that fans over at Reddit noticed as one of the more popular user-submitted categories for the Steam Awards.

On different note, previous reports have suggested that Valve hasn't been clear with fans as to whether there will be a "Half-Life 3" in the future or not, Digital Spy cited. In an interview with Gabe Newell, Geoff Keighley asked the developer if fans would eventually see the release of a third installment to the iconic title.

Newell then replied by saying that the only reason for Valve to ever go back and develop on a classic product is if a handful of their team suddenly decides that they want to do it with a reasonable expalantion of doing so.

Without either confirming or denying a possible "Half-Life 3," it seems that fans will have to wait a bit more until Valve announces any news regarding a third installment to the franchise.