Portal writer Erik Wolpaw still works for Valve, sort of

Writer Erik Wolpaw, who worked at Valve on games like Portal, Half-Life 2, and Left 4 Dead, is back working for the developer after leaving the company in 2017, he tells Polygon. Wolpaw says he is not a full-time employee at Valve, however.

Wolpaw’s return to Valve was spotted by a user on Reddit who spied the writer’s name in the credits for Artifact, the recently released Dota 2 card game. That Reddit user said they reached out to Valve founder Gabe Newell, who reportedly said, “He’s back.”

We reached out to Wolpaw today for confirmation. He told us he’s helping Valve in a contractual capacity, working with writers Jay Pinkerton, Steve Jaros, and Sean Vanaman when needed.

“I’ve had a contractor agreement with Valve since the day I stormed out and then immediately timidly stormed back in to ask could I please have my old job back and they said no and I was like good because I’m too busy to work for you anyway and they said but you can be a contractor and I said oh thank god okay I’ll do that,” Wolpaw said via email. “I’ve been helping Pinkerton and Jaros and Vanaman whenever they need it. It’s been busier on that front lately, but I’m not currently a full time employee. My main gig is still delivering juice for my niece Jodi’s vegan juice shop plus an unpaid internship playing Slay the Spire three hours a day.”

Wolpaw’s return to the game maker after nearly two years comes after a spate of writing talent departures that included VR evangelist Chet Faliszek and Half-Life scribe Mark Laidlaw.