You underestimate Freeman. Maybe he hasn't had any official releases since 2007, but he's gained plenty of power regardless. Steam's users just keep on increasing, and with how often every HL game is on sale for like, 10 bucks there, that's new fans happening all the time. Especially since I'm of the opinion that Valve games overall get a larger fanbase spillover than most other developers thanks to Steam, meaning all those free Portal giveaways and whatnot bring a lot of attention to HL inevitably.
--
http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/ron-dancing-animated.gif