Recent Dota 2 Update Leaks Suggest New VR Games From Valve

Valve’s Dota 2 is among those games uttered by gamers and non-gamers alike and is a worldwide spectacle. What started as a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment‘s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos has wholly altered the world of esports.

The alluring game has long-dominated the MOBA genre and has now spread its branches across all forms of popular media, ranging from animations to famous rage compilations. Data mining is a powerful way of squeezing leaks and secret information out of video games.

However, no one would have expected a casual Dota 2 update to contain “secret strings” of leaks regarding Valve’s future endeavors. A well-renowned data miner and XR hardware analyst reportedly dug up intriguing details out of Dota 2’s recent patch notes.

Brad Lynch elaborated about the strings of leaks in a series of tweets, reportedly named “Citadel” and “HL:X.” The leaks suggest that multiple VR titles are in development, or at least titles that incorporate VR in one way or another. Interestingly, “HL:X” could be referring to Half-Life, but nothing has been confirmed despite such hard rumors.

Valve VR alert! In today's Dota 2 update, a lot of strings "leaked" for their next games. Which are dubbed as Citadel and HL:X

The big thing to point out is these new protobufs detail sending finger pose data over networking which includes Finger Curl and Finger Splay pic.twitter.com/CeSiAP6Zr6

— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) June 9, 2022

A weird factor about this leak is that the strings supposedly refer to features like finger splaying, which is not supported in the current Valve’s Index. Brad noted, “The big thing to point out is these new protobufs detail sending finger pose data over networking, including Finger Curl and Finger Splay.”

Finger Splay is the act of spreading your fingers apart. Index controllers do not support tracking of this aspect

These protobufs suggest that their next VR game(s) also will have a multiplayer/social aspect to it. You will be able to see an opposing players finger gestures pic.twitter.com/irD61wG56C

— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) June 9, 2022

These details also point out that these VR titles will have a multiplayer/social element, and we will be able to see other players’ finger gestures, according to Brad Lynch. Brad iterated, “These protobufs suggest that their next VR game(s) also will have a multiplayer/social aspect to it. You will be able to see an opposing player’s finger gestures.”

Another prospect about these leaks, as a commenter pointed out, is that the “Citadel” word has already whirred around the community for five years. These strings may have been used for old projects in the past.

Brad replied with a picture that states the following interesting tidbits, “Maybe there will be surprises as well, including a top-secret new project that another small team at Valve has been working on since the first part of 2018.” These leaks could be referring to that top-secret project.

There are rumors concerning Valve possibly working on a new Half-Life, which the community has called “Half-Life: Citadel.” There is a chance these leaks could be hinting toward a new Half-Life installment for VR. All in all, we suggest taking this with a grain of salt. Data mines tend to be accurate often but can be misleading altogether.

What do you think about this? Do tell us your opinions in the comments below!

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