Valve Announces L4D2 – Fans Rejoice/Hate

Exciting news for fans of the game for sure!

A sequel so close to the original – (Left 4 Dead launced last November) seems to have the fans of the title confused. Some, who have spent tons of hours in zombie guts glee are extactic that the new game, with new features and improvements, is coming out so quickly.

Others feel ripped off – and that in typical Valve style they would be playing free upgrades and mission packs for a long time from now (a la TF2).

Read the comments in this blog announcement to see the ruckous.

I can understand the fret from an economics point of view, but the fandom in me from a title I logged 100 hours playing for the box (through the single player, co-op, co-op versus and recently free released survival mode) and loved every minute. A game with set play, limited levels, and replayability isn’t going to hold me much longer than that. I am ready for something new.

So it comes as no suprise, that I am pretty excited about the announcement.

In Valve’s defence (if it’s needed) or additional cheering (which camp are you in this announcement?) they haven’t said the pricing structure, future support for L4D1, or anything of that nature. One would suppose that the majority of the fan base of L4D1 will pick up the new title, leaving less games for people who stick with L4D1. You could also make the argument that by next November, a lot of people will be tired of the original title and ready for new anyway.

Will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Whatever Valve has touched lately turns to gold – hopefully that translates into gold zombies, and not upset L4D1 fans.

3 comments / Add your comment below

  1. Hey Chris, Liam here (Effer). I’ve been rolling this left 4 dead 2 controversy around in my head a bit as to why people are upset, and it really just comes down to a number in the title. I imagine the word “stand alone expansion” would be a far easier pill to swallow for gamers than the number 2.

    If valve came out and said “Hey guys, we’re going to be releasing some downloadable content, 4 new characters, campaigns, new special infected, weather, melee weapons etc,” people would have soiled themselves in joy.

    For gamers, the complete package, that is the numeration in the title and a 50 dollar price point, immediately equates to complete replacement of previous tech. It’s the same tech really. They just wanted to put a 2000 square foot addition on their 500 square foot plot of land. Instead they just bought the lot next door.

    Valve could easily have said 20 bucks for the core game and 2 versus maps, and in the following months 10 bucks to download the other versus maps. People would have eaten it up, and still arrived at the same price point.

    Valves success revolves around their community and they know it, there will be no split player base. You only play one map at a time anyway right? Launch 1 and 2 maps from one console and sew the divide. The question then changes from “Do I play L4D1 or L4D2?” to a much more palatable “Do I play a map with these 4 characters or these 4 characters?”

    Call it poor marketing, but I think gamers need to think, calm down, get excited, and mark their calendars.

    take it easy Chris.

  2. @Liam: I agree and think it is a great announcement. Poor marketing is indeed to blame – they could have made the same announcement and packaged it as you said – or even better, emphasized their goals for L4D1 (continued addons, new maps, etc.)

    Valve has a good track record and a lot of the ‘anger’ from the unknown could have been easily avoided.

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