Valve has registered a mysterious new trademark for "Neon Prime" that may allude to a brand new video game IP from the Half-Life and Portal developer.

The name, registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, was noticed by Reddit user itsairnd (below) and appears to be for a video game, or at least related software. That means, despite Valve's recent success with hardware like the Steam Deck and Index VR headset, this trademark appears to be game related.

"[The] Neon Prime trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of computer game software, electronic game software, video game software, computer game programs downloadable via the internet," the trademark reads.

There's no other information to suggest what Neon Prime could be, but the trademark only being registered now doesn't necessarily mean its years away. Supermassive Games only registered its trademark for The Quarry in February 2022, for example, and the game was released just four months later in June.

Valve is perhaps better known for its game storefront Steam than for making its own games these days, but it still releases the occasional title including 2020's Half-Life Alyx (that IGN said was a masterpiece) and Aperture Desk Job earlier this year.

Its focus recently has been more on hardware than software, however, as Valve released its portable gaming PC the Steam Deck earlier this year, and in October a job listing appeared to reveal that a new virtual reality headset is in development too.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.