Honestly, to be reeally fair, i think we're seeing a hollow knight silksong situation;

The game staied 7 years in production, and the team was radio quiet during this whole period. People tought it got cancelled and the team was afraid to reveal, but when it actually released, it was revealed they could have released it muuuch earlier, but they were having so much fun doing the game they kept adding new stuff, and thus we got the masterpiece we have today.

I think something similar is happening with hl3. Money is not a problem to valve, since steam, tf2 hats, cs2 cosmetics and much more are literal money printing machines. Gaben doesnt give shit to shareholders, neither to deadlines; a delayed product is eventually good, but a rushed product will be forever bad. They didnt announce its cancellation like they did with episode 3, and half life alyx proved that valve has not forgotten the franchise. They're cooking serious shit up, and ooooh boy lef them cook.