14 DAY TRIAL // Star Trek and upcoming Star Wars Director J.J. Abrams has confirmed alongside Valve boss Gabe Newell that they'll work on movie projects based on two of the most popular franchises from the studio – Half-Life and Portal.
Valve has made a name for itself by releasing many high-quality games in all these years, including classics like Half-Life or Team Fortress, but also new properties like Portal or Left 4 Dead.
Speaking at the DICE Summit yesterday, the studio's owner, Gabe Newell, together with noted director J.J. Abrams have confirmed that they're collaborating on movie project based on the Half-Life and Portal franchises.
Abrams, who directed the Star Trek movies and will helm the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, is quite excited and confirmed to Polygon that a writer will be brought in to flesh out the universes of the two games.
"It's as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets," he said about the projects. "Which is that we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas."
Abrams quickly emphasizes that he's aware of the array of not so successful video-game adaptations, but he promises that his team will respect the properties created by Valve.
"We're also aware of the cautionary tales of movies that became games and vice versa. Our goal here to is to treat the world Valve has created in both these properties like anyone would a book or some great story that comes from a pitch or original script - just to treat it with the respect they treat their games and their players with."
The noted director, who was also responsible for films like Super 8 or even the Lost TV show, revealed that both Half-Life and Portal are some of his favorite games.
"We're not looking to make a movie in the gaming world, we're not looking to impose what we do on that, we're looking forward to taking some of our strengths and collaborating with some of these incredible minds that make some of my favorite games," he added.
As of yet, however, both projects are in the early stages of development and, considering Abrams first needs to focus on the new Star Wars movie, it's going to be a while until they become a reality.