The movie Tetris brought the dramatic tale of the game’s development to the silver screen. It was received with overwhelmingly popular reviews and opened up the possibility for more movies focused on the tumultuous nature of the video game industry and its adaptations. One title that was released at the end of 2004 is a perfect candidate to receive a movie adaptation: Half-Life 2.
Half-Life 2 was immensely popular upon release, but its development had been severely delayed, having been promised to fans a year earlier. Valve, the developer, would soon discover that the game’s source code had been leaked to the public. The company's president would appeal to the community and eventually the FBI for assistance in bringing down the culprit behind the hack. Unfortunately, no one was able to find any leads -- that is, until the hacker, Axel Gembe, revealed himself to the company.
The Half-Life 2 Hacker Was a Fan of the First Game
At the time of the hacking, Axel Gembe was only 21 years old. He was a big fan of video games, particularly the first Half-Life, and unintentionally got into breaking into systems after experiencing it himself and wanting to understand it better. As an aspiring developer, Gembe was interested in knowing as much as he could about the game’s upcoming release. He quickly realized that his experience working on computers meant that he could attempt to get into Valve's systems by searching the AXFR (Asynchronous Full Zone Transfer). Thus, he was able to find the breach in security necessary to sneak in.
What began as simple curiosity escalated to theft and malware production as it would be revealed that Gembe created the Agobot virus, which was responsible for DDoS attacks from 2002 until 2004. Even with his ties to the Agobot virus, Gembe remains adamant that he only hacked into Valve's system to learn more about the much-anticipated game. The exact time he spent on the server is unclear. However, Gembe claims to have been monitoring Half-Life 2’s progress for six months before the leak occurred.
The Severely Delayed Game Was Leaked to the Public
In February 2003, Gabe Newell (Valve's President and co-founder) confidently announced that Half-Life 2 would be ready for release by the end of September of that year. Valve gave a demonstration at E3, but the lack of a playable demo left some fans wondering if it was truly ready. By July, the entire development team realized they could not meet their promised release date. Unfortunately for them, instead of admitting the game needed more time, Newell and the distributor reaffirmed the intended release date.
Aware that an announcement had to be made once September arrived, Newell was hesitant to tell the public that Half-Life 2 was delayed without an expected timeline. His reservations delayed the necessary announcement until September 23, seven days before the title was set to be released. The developers continued their work, but morale would take a significant hit once Half-Life 2’s source code was leaked on October 1 due to Gembe's actions. In the aftermath of the leak, Newell posted to the community forum. He told fans that someone had hacked into his computer, installed keystroke monitors, and downloaded the game's code on September 19. He asked for any help regarding this matter.
The Half-Life 2 Hacker Was Finally Revealed
After several months of no leads from both fans and the FBI, Newell started to give up hope that the hacker would be revealed. Fortunately for him, everything would change after he received an email in February 2004 from Axel Gembe. In the initial email, Gembe apologized for the leak as he never intended for it to happen. After a series of correspondences, wherein Gembe revealed how he got into Valve, he then proceeded to ask Newell for a job.
Since Newell was cooperating with the FBI, he conducted a 40-minute phone interview with Gembe. At the end of the interview, he once again detailed how he got into the Valve systems. An in-person interview in the States was set up for the FBI to catch and arrest him, but issues with his visa and a false arrest by German authorities prevented that from happening. With no genuine job offer, Gembe grew frustrated as the days passed and continued to probe the Valve networks and send threatening emails. In May, German authorities were able to arrest Gembe for creating Agobot and hacking Valve's systems.
Drawing inspiration from the story of Tetris, the hacking of Half-Life 2 would make for an excellent movie. It’s a story of two underdogs: Valve, which needed to overcome delays and hacks to release a game, and Axel Gembe, a young man who crossed the line between fan and criminal during his quest to learn about his favorite game.