Valve officially lost its mind when they released a soft sequel to Hl 2 designed from the ground up for a vr headset no one can buy.
idk what you were expecting, it had been speculated for years and years that if there would ever be a half-life 3, it would be either VR or some other new tech that isn't well known yet. the only thing mildly unexpected about it was that it was a prequel rather than a sequel (which also wasn't unexpected since the intended episode 3 / half-life 3 story was already released in a "we're absolutely done with this, it's never happening" kind of way)
idk what you were expecting, it had been speculated for years and years that if there would ever be a half-life 3, it would be either VR or some other new tech that isn't well known yet. the only thing mildly unexpected about it was that it was a prequel rather than a sequel (which also wasn't unexpected since the intended episode 3 / half-life 3 story was already released in a "we're absolutely done with this, it's never happening" kind of way)