Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for Half-Life and was first announced in April 1999. Randy Pitchford, the lead designer on the game, later noted that he believed Gearbox was selected to develop Opposing Force because Valve wanted to concentrate on their future projects. Over the course of development, Gearbox brought in a variety of outside talent from other areas of the video games industry to help bolster various aspects of design. Opposing Force returns to the same setting as Half-Life, but instead portrays the events from the perspective of a U.S. Marine, one of the enemy characters in the original game.