This weekend saw the biggest leak from Valve, which included a massive asset dump from game files dating back to 2016.
A leaker has uploaded Valve’s “entire asset repository” online, going by the name Leakerwanderer. The games affected included Portal, CS: Source, Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat, and Half-Life 2: Episodes 1, 2, and Half-Life 2 multiplayer. Leakwanderer explained how they had been holding on to the files for years.
While it did not seem like any of the files were for any upcoming or unannounced games by Valve, it was still concerning how the leaker obtained them for so long. PC Gamer was the first to spot and confirm the leaker’s information from their Twitter. An asset repository could contain anything ranging from a game’s characters, storylines, concept art, music, sound, source code, and even engine files. In this case, nothing as serious as development kits or source codes were leaked.
The leaker said they were “threatened every time” by sources unconfirmed but said they did not “care anymore” when they eventually uploaded the files on Discord. One of the bigger files included 61GB of Valve’s Team Fortress 2 assets, which included cut and modified content collated over many years.
Leakerwanderer stated, “I don’t care anymore. I also did my toying around with it for a few years, did not upload because I was threatened every time. A real shame. I have no legal binding to these files. Not anymore.” They added, “I have held onto these since 2016. Most of the file dates are from when I moved them after my computer blew up in 2019.”
Unfortunately, there was nothing there on Half Life 3 to tease for the Half Life fans out there. With so many game companies facing leaks in some way or another, it was only time for a company like Valve to take its blunt of it—at least it was not as bad as Rockstar Games’ latest leaks for GTA 6. But, it can still be harmful as it contained assets to some things that were decidedly not released or ceased to exist for the games listed above.
There was not any information leaked on the Steam Deck or Steam either. The biggest recent overhaul was with Steam’s Big Picture mode, which replaced the old UI to match the Steam Deck’s interface. Valve explained, “This controller-first interface was designed for Steam Deck in handheld and docked mode, and perfect for all the scenarios Big Picture mode currently handles.”
About a week ago, Valve experienced a similar leak when a prototype of Left 4 Dead called Zombie City or Terror-Strike was released. At first, the idea was to make the counter-terrorists in the game attack players with swarms, and they only attack with knives. Later, it became the foundation for Left 4 Dead’s iconic horde gameplay. The Zombie City map is now available to download from the modding community GameBanana.
