Valve has told CVG that it didn't put its "best foot forward" on PS3 with The Orange Box - and that it is working to "get better" on the system.
The PS3 version of The Orange Box - a huge commercial and critical success on Xbox 360 - was criticised by some quarters after Valve outsourced its development to EA.
The game was marked down by reviewers - with frame rate issues becoming a common bugbear.
Valve writer Chet Faliszek told CVG:
"We thought that the Orange Box didn't put our best foot forward with the PS3 community. We don't want to do something like that again on the PS3. We want to give PS3 owners the best possible experience.
"Some of that will come from us learning and getting better. Before we can go onto the PS3 again, we want to make sure we're better at developing for it."
The comments come after Faliszek said that Valve would develop on PS3 "down the road".
He also told CVG that Valve wouldn't be making 'sh*tty party games' for Natal.