Valve Responds to L4D2 Boycott

[John Funk]

Valve Responds to L4D2 Boycott

Valve president Gabe Newell says that the company will continue to support the first Left 4 Dead even as it works on the surprisingly announced sequel.

I call upon the power of Quick Recap: At last week's E3, Microsoft they will not be buying the game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92078-UPDATE-Microsoft-Announces-Left-4-Dead-2].

Okay, are you with me so far? Good.

Speaking with Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5286185/valve-responds-to-left-4-dead-2-boycott-vows-support-for-original], Valve president Gabe Newell vowed that the company would continue to support and update L4D1 even with the sequel on the horizon: "Doing a sequel in one year is new for Valve. But providing ongoing support for our titles after the initial launch isn't - it has been part of our philosophy since Half-Life was released ten and half years ago ... we see no reason to change that and will continue to support the over three million customers in the L4D community."

"Some in the community are concerned that the announcement of L4D2 implied a change in our plans for L4D1. We aren't changing our plans for L4D1," Newell elaborated. "In addition to the recently released Survival Pack, we are releasing authoring tools for Mod makers, community matchmaking, 4x4 matchmaking, and more new content during the coming months for L4D1 ... We also agree with our customers that there needs to be an interoperability plan for players of L4D1 and L4D2, as multiplayer games are driven by the cohesiveness of their community."

Meanwhile, Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek said that, while he understood the immediate "gut reaction" from fans after the reveal, he was confident that as people learned more about the game, they would understand that "none of the additions [in Left 4 Dead 2] are trivial."

Of course, taking a slightly more cynical bent, in the wake of the false at least one journalist [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92210-Dantes-Inferno-Not-Really-Protested-at-E3] has wondered if the whole boycott might not be one gigantic viral marketing publicity stunt. Personally, I think it's unlikely - if it were a viral marketing scheme, the 25,000 fans who have signed the boycott are certainly genuine; any deception would be coming from the leaders. And those genuinely angry fans, if finding out that they were being used as part of a marketing ploy, would ... well, be genuinely angrier. That potential powderkeg would be waaaay more than anything resulting from the whole L4D2 fiasco as is.

Am I the only one who can't write L4D2 without thinking it sounds like a Star Wars droid?

(Via Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24004])

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[joystickjunki3]

Good, I'm glad they cleared this shit up. I was getting sick of the boycott people (of which I was never a part of).

 

[Shapsters]

I am sick of hearing about this, I mean Christ I dont care! So what if they are boycotting? Let them whine for 6 months. Just... just shut up about it!

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Nice one, Gabe!

 

[Pandalisk]

The boycott was rather pointless anyway.

 

[The Shade]

Good for VALVe. They always know exactly what to say.

Hopefully now we'll see a reduction in the L4D2 boycott population. (Too much to ask?)

 

[FallToYourDeath]

I bet 95% of the boycotters would of bought it anyway

 

[samsonguy920]

I wonder if this might have been milder if Microsoft hadn't shot its wad off and jumped the gun. I can see with E3 being such a dinosaur anymore that something spectacular is needed, but this was probably the wrong thing to announce.
Either way, I'm hopeful with that news about interplayability between the two games, and more content for 1 is always welcome, but 2 is welcome, too. Game on!

 

[teh_gunslinger]

*snip*

Am I the only one who can't write L4D2 without thinking it sounds like a Star Wars droid?

No, you are not the only one.

As for the interview I'm glad that Valve cleared it up a bit. Personally I've been apprehensive and a bit nervous while at the same time kept thinking: 'Man, this is Valve. They wouldn't do that to me. Must be lack of communication.'

It would seem I was right.

Perhaps they should have been a bit quicker to say something and announced the game themselves. I think a lot of confusion and feelings of abandonment also comes from the whole deal with Microsoft announcing it. Though I may be wrong.

EDIT: Dammit! Forgot the not in the first paragraph. Sorry to the guy who quoted me and any confusion that may ensue.

 

[darthzew]

Boycotters have been owned. Thank you, Mr. Newell.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

*snip*

Am I the only one who can't write L4D2 without thinking it sounds like a Star Wars droid?

No, you are the only one.

But now that he HAS mentioned it...
"come along, l4d2! we need to save the princess!"
be-bop-booop-bweeeooop
"yes, l4, she IS working on Episode 3! we must distract her!"

 

[Jumplion]

I swear, I thought that picture was a mix of TF2 and L4D....

I say give us some evidence. VALVe has been saying "we're getting content on the way!" but they've never even told us what exactly this content is. I'll believe them when they give us some tangible evidence.

Besides, nothing can remove the scar that is left behind the atrocity that VALVe have given to us with this monstrosity of a horrible decision of a sequel to Left 4 Dead! Their integrity has been demolished and nothing can ever bring it back!!!#$@!#$
[/sarcasm]

[sup]I hate Gabe Newell anyway...[/sup]

 

[fix-the-spade]

The impossible has happened, someone made the boycotters look like even bigger morons!

That's a bit harsh, they're only voicing their displeasure at paying full price for a game you can beat in four hours. It's an over reaction yes but the thinking behind it is understandable.

Anyway, inter operability sounds intersting, although it'll do nothing to quash fears this was supposed to be an update for L4D until someone changed their mind.

Ah well, all will become clear come release day.

 

[quack35]

I bet 95% of the boycotters would of bought it anyway

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Abedeus]

Wait, how were we owned?

We got what we wanted - a promise of support for the old game, so we don't have to buy L4D2 right away.

Seems to me like people against boycotting got owned - all of you said nobody would notice it and nobody would care. Guess the higher-ups care.

 

[fix-the-spade]

The whole thing with Left 4 Dead is that you can replay it how many times you want to, because it never turns out the same way. So the game won't be "finished" until your attention span runs out, really.

It's something of a gimmick though.

If you've played through once you will know all the crescendo events, all the finales and all the important ammo drops. Having the specials/hordes/guns spawn in slightly different places isn't enough to merit calling every game different. If the director altered the available path through each map depending on your actions, that would be good, or even if different crescendo events took place on different play throughs.
As it stands though if you play through the game once you've still seen all there is to see.

 

[Beltom]

I swear, I thought that picture was a mix of TF2 and L4D....

It's the guy's shirt that does it. Anyway, as long as there is comaptability between the games and they keep updating L4D1 I'll be happy. Kudos to Newell for making the boycotters look like idiots.