Valve sure knows how to keep its audience guessing. Company co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell recently sat down with the UK’s PC Gamer magazine and discussed what’s on the horizon for the Half-Life developer.

“I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn’t going to stop any time soon,” Newell told PC Gamer (via CVG). “I’m just laughing because… people will be shocked again.”

He continued, “We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least.”

Valve spent much of the last year defying expectations. The traditionally slow-moving developer released a sequel to Left 4 Dead exactly one year after the original debuted, announced a Steamworks-equipped version of Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3, and gave Black Cat Games’ Alien Swarm remake away for free on Steam.

What sort of surprises do you think Valve has planned for the next year?