This is my own analysis, as a Valve veteran for 20 years and someone who has followed every twist and turns. People will say they made this game to sell VR headsets, but from my vantage point, it's the opposite. They actually created VR mostly for Half-Life.
In one part, HL games were always a place for innovation and pushing the gaming boundary forward. It may have just been fun games to you, but HL1 defined storytelling in FPS games, and HL2 defined physics puzzles and grand landscapes. Each game was better than the previous and eventually they got stuck no being able to make something they were truly happy with.
Valve has always been more satisfied creating something new than more of the same. They experimented with a lot in the past decade. They tried making a horror game with biometric sensors, which did not work but lead to the Steam Controller. They tried a lot more things but VR finally fit the bit. It allowed them to partly sidestep the "perfect game" issue, by switching into a new area that wasn't yet explored and allowed for innovation again.
So yes, they made a VR game because they are once again able to push gaming forward and create a truly unique game, which is the only way they will be satisfied enough to release a game.
In one part, HL games were always a place for innovation and pushing the gaming boundary forward. It may have just been fun games to you, but HL1 defined storytelling in FPS games, and HL2 defined physics puzzles and grand landscapes. Each game was better than the previous and eventually they got stuck no being able to make something they were truly happy with.
Valve has always been more satisfied creating something new than more of the same. They experimented with a lot in the past decade. They tried making a horror game with biometric sensors, which did not work but lead to the Steam Controller. They tried a lot more things but VR finally fit the bit. It allowed them to partly sidestep the "perfect game" issue, by switching into a new area that wasn't yet explored and allowed for innovation again.
So yes, they made a VR game because they are once again able to push gaming forward and create a truly unique game, which is the only way they will be satisfied enough to release a game.