Portal: Alive and Kicking, the fan-made Portal remake that was announced in June 2011, is finally ready to launch after more than a decade. But there is a hitch. According to the team, the game is currently pending Valve's approval to publish, and Valve has gone quiet.
“We use the source code Valve. We signed an NDA, but not a non-commercial release form originally,” developer dot operator explained on the Steam forums. “We have now signed the no-com form but they have not responded.”
By the end of June, longtime supporters of Portal: Alive and Kicking were concerned that the project had been abandoned. The dot operator assured that this had not happened, and that the job was indeed finished. “I have not received any update from Valve since filling the non-commercial license template a few months ago,” they alleged. “I'm grateful they gave us that option in the beginning, but now we're not hearing anything. The game is finished, but we don't have the ability to release it on Steam right now.”
The dot operator explained that “the license is needed because we modified the source code of Portal 2 (which already had its own NDA signed to get it),” so there's no way to release the mod outside of Steam without approval. The team reached out through the usual support channels, but heard nothing back. “Steamworks support system do the same as if they bought tickets through Steam O. Don't respond there, as far as I know I don't have anywhere else to send requests.”
Weeks have passed without an update, as the dot operator repeatedly repeats that the project is over – it cannot be shared with players yet. In a last-ditch effort, Livid-Active-3121 posted about the situation on the game's subreddit in hopes of raising awareness. “The developers' hands are tied by the NDA, and Valve is just sitting on the finished game,” they alleged. “Spamming support won't work, but public outcry can. Let's bring some attention to this project so Valve finally notices those forms from March! We've been waiting for this mod for years.”
As with Counter-Strike, Dota, and Team Fortress, some of its biggest hits, Valve has been incredibly open to collaborating with modders in the past, hiring developers and folding their games into its portfolio. As recently as 2020, Valve approved the fan-made Half-Life remake Black Mesa to launch on the Steam store — allowing Crowbar Collective to charge for the game. Portal: Alive and Kicking is an equally ambitious reimagining of the original Portal, but unlike Black Mesa, it's free-to-play, so it's especially odd that the Valve team has gone radio silent.
We've reached out to Valve for clarification.
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October 10, 2007
- ESRB
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t
- Engine
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Source Engine
- Steam Deck compatibility
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proven
