VR comes along. Valve gets creatively interested in it. They work on hardware – the best headsets out there – because they think this stuff is cool. And remember, they have 100% creative freedom to mess around and try new things because Steam ensures their financial security. 9/x

Valve takes the time to build Source 2 b/c they learned on HL2 that building the game and engine at the same time sucks (ign.com/articles/valve-expla…). More time goes by. 10/x

Until finally they start messing around with Half-Life VR & it clicks. It works. You have one of the most talented studios in the world diving in & devoting a full development team (like 90 people) and FOUR YEARS to moving VR *and* Half-Life forward. Probably $50+m dev costs 11/x

I'd be willing to bet that no one's ever spent THAT much money on a VR project before, and while there have been many excellent VR games, none of them have been made by a team as talented as Valve. 12/x

And here's the magic ingredient: Valve can spend that kind of money and time on a AAA VR project because, for Valve and Valve alone, it (financially) DOESN'T MATTER if Alyx only sells 100,000 copies and loses money. Steam bankrolls Valve forever & Alyx moves VR forward. 13/x

In a weird way, the entire industry kind of funded Alyx, really. Every 30% slice Valve takes from each copy of every game sold on Steam. Which means gamers funded it too by buying games on Steam. We ALL funded Half-Life: Alyx. 14/x

VR was never REALLY going to go anywhere without some developer/publisher pulling off something like Alyx. And, as previously explained, NO ONE was gonna take on that mantle of responsibility, mostly for financial reasons. 15/x

And maybe Alyx won't be a catalyst, in the end. But video games are art. They're also a business. Half-Life: Alyx is what happens when the business side is, for all intents and purposes, completely removed from the equation. And it's beautiful to see. 16/x

So while Alyx may be financially out of reach for many gamers due to the cost of PC and VR hardware, a masterpiece like Alyx will hopefully mean that more people buy VR, prices go down, install bases go up, and the NEXT Alyx (figuratively) *is* in more gamers' fiscal reach. 17/x

And not only that, there will be MORE Alyxes (again, figuratively) because the hardware prices have gone down, install base goes up, and more devs and publishers are willing to spend top dollar and top talent on VR. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. Alyx is amazing. /end