Valve has officially cancelled Half-Life 2: The Black Box for the PC, according to a report from IGN. Originally scheduled to ship alongside the more complete Orange Box at a reduced price, it would have contained Half-Life 2 Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2. The company will now focus on a single SKU for the PC when it ships this fall.

Of course, those products will also be available via the company's Steam platform, meaning users won't need to buy any boxed product at all.

However, if you're attached to holding a physical product, Doug Lombardi of Valve told IGN's PC group that:

Those who purchase the PC version of The Orange Box will get three separate Steam product codes: One for the three new games, one for HL2, and one for Episode One. This way a PC Orange Box owner can give away their Half-Life 2 or Episode One unused Steam product codes if they don't need a copy of those games.

Lombardi didn't provide explanation for the decision, but I'm going to chalk it up to avoiding customer confusion. Shipping and marketing a single product across three platforms is going to make this much easier for the general public to wrap their noodles 'round. Michael McWhertor

Black Box in a Pine Box [IGN]

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