Despite numerous rumors over the years, Half-Life and Team Fortress creators Valve have failed to produce a third installment to any of their major franchises (not counting non-"3" titles like Half-Life 2: Episode 1.) A new rumor states that this might be changing, though, as a new report suggests Left 4 Dead 3 is being fast tracked for release in 2017.

Citing undisclosed "reports," Gaming Express appears to have broken the story on Left 4 Dead 3 and its impending release next year. According to the rumor, the game will feature four characters and six campaigns at launch. Though only Katherine, the token L4D female, was revealed at first, an update to the story also included information on the other three characters: a gangster named Irvin, a famous Kenpo fighter named Garrett Jr., and a comic book nerd named Keenan. The game is rumored to be a prequel, though it's unknown whether it will provide any information about why the world is overrun with zombies.

This isn't the first time that Left 4 Dead 3 rumors have cropped up; a number of rumors started back in 2013 when pictures of a PowerPoint presentation, showing what appeared to be Left 4 Dead 2's Plantation map reworked and rendered in the Source 2.0 game engine, made its way online. No official announcements were made after that supposed leak, however, and the Plantation map doesn't appear on the list of campaigns currently rumored for the new game (though fan-favorite map No Mercy does.)

As with most rumors of this sort, it pays to be skeptical until something more concrete shows up. It was just weeks ago rumors were circulating that Half-Life 3 was going to be announced based on additions to the Steam database, but this rumor claims Half-Life 3 has been indefinitely shelved and Left 4 Dead 3 is being pushed forward as a result. Highly anticipated games generate a lot of rumors, especially when they're from Valve and have the number "3" in the title. More often than not, a rumor is just a rumor.

That being said, it's entirely possible that a third Left 4 Dead game is in the works at Valve. Left 4 Dead 2 was released in 2009, meaning that it's only a couple of years newer than the most recent Half-Life release. If there is a Left 4 Dead 3 in development, we likely won't hear anything official about it until a little later in the year -- possibly around E3 or some other industry event.

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For now, the development of Left 4 Dead 3 is considered a rumor and should be treated as such. If or when this changes, we'll let you know.

Source: Gaming Express