Valve Pumps $25 Million Into Left 4 Dead 2 Ad Campaign

[Banter]

Interesting article.
It's set to be one of the largest selling Valve games, which means a LOT by their standard, even though there's the major boycott group.

I've always said though that most of that group will likely be pre-ordering it because regardless of the group's points, arguments and overall solidarity.. it's a game by Valve.

And how does everyone 'know' L4D2 is going to be almost identical to L4D a month before it's even released?
How is it a problem as well? Most Call of Duty(ignoring 4)/Medal of Honour/other shooters that have lots of sequels - seem to me to have at least highly similar gameplay/weapons/goals/voice-acting/etc

 

[Snotnarok]

I'll be buying an actual sequel, Dead Rising 2. Where they actually added a lot new of content, and are using new textures and features. Besides Left 4 Dead 2 doesn't have a moose head for weapon, can you honestly say it's as awesome? I think not.

I love Valves games and all but I've got a lot more fun out of Team Fortress 2 than L4D, and they haven't exactly supported L4D like they have TF2.

Without knowing what the new features are in Dead Rising 2, I can't comment on that.

I will, however, point out that you're wrong about the lack of new features being brought forward for L4D2 -- the primary one for me being the new AI Director which will not only have the power to alter where the zombies come from and how many, but also the weather and the map itself to continually give you a challenge appropriate to your level of skill. Melee weapons, new firearms, new zombies with completely different behavior, new "rolling" climax points, and, not insignificantly, much more story being brought forward through the voices of the characters.. at least according to what Valve's said will be happening.

Whether you want to buy it or not is up to you, but you should at least be making the choice from an informed position.

I already had this argument with 2 other people, I'll keep it short.

I've watched every video there is for L4D2, I've read all of valves news, and I just don't want a sequel, and my[b\] money is spent better in other places, I'm either going to buy Dead Rising 2 or Borderlands. If you would like to buy L4D2 then awesome go ahead I'm not going to call your judgment ignorant and fill you with facts like you and 3 others have to me, it's your money you do what you want with it as will I be doing what I want with my money.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I'm just wishing the Xbox 360 version will not be a port like the Orange Box.

I mean I love my Orange Box to death, I just know I will never really experience Team Fortress 2 until I play the PC version.

 

[Fortesque]

Banking on the idea that upcoming zombie apocalypse simulator Left 4 Dead 2 will be its MOST PROFITABLE GAME EVER, Half-Life creator Valve Software today announced plans to sink $25 million into a complementary ad campaign for the title.

Hmm... I know its only 1 country. But good luck with no sales in Australia

EDIT: I still refuse to buy a Valve game until Ep3 comes out.

 

[AgentChunk]

*yawn* And how about Episode 3? Big deal that this game sold a ton of pre-orders.

Do you have to ***** about Episode 3 in every Valve related thread? It's not like Valve even looks at these forums so complaining about it is pointless.

Anyways, I thought it came out on November 7th, not 17th? Oh well, it doesn't make that big of a difference to me. I already pre-ordered anyways.

Yes, I am programmed to do so. It's not pointless because it makes me feel better. And who knows, maybe someone from Valve will stumble onto this site and see this while not working on Episode 3?

... I know you're preprogrammed etc, but they said the reason why Ep 3 was delayed for L4D2 a couple months back.

No-one wants to work on it. People wanted to work on Left 4 Dead 2, and Valve let people work on what they want to. There's a small core of developers who will work on it continuously, but the majority of the workforce will drift around and work on what they want to.

What type of work ethic is that?! I mean I knew most people who work at Valve must spend most of their time jerking it, what I didn't realize however is this is their policy.

 

[Zer_]

*yawn* And how about Episode 3? Big deal that this game sold a ton of pre-orders.

Do you have to ***** about Episode 3 in every Valve related thread? It's not like Valve even looks at these forums so complaining about it is pointless.

Anyways, I thought it came out on November 7th, not 17th? Oh well, it doesn't make that big of a difference to me. I already pre-ordered anyways.

Yes, I am programmed to do so. It's not pointless because it makes me feel better. And who knows, maybe someone from Valve will stumble onto this site and see this while not working on Episode 3?

... I know you're preprogrammed etc, but they said the reason why Ep 3 was delayed for L4D2 a couple months back.

No-one wants to work on it. People wanted to work on Left 4 Dead 2, and Valve let people work on what they want to. There's a small core of developers who will work on it continuously, but the majority of the workforce will drift around and work on what they want to.

What type of work ethic is that?! I mean I knew most people who work at Valve must spend most of their time jerking it, what I didn't realize however is this is their policy.

It's actually a good work ethic that has been working quite well for them thus far. When you're working on a project you'd much rather be working on as opposed to anything else, then you tend to feel better about your work and thus productivity increases. This is something that a lot of corporations have forgotten over time.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Holy dear Lord, that's a heckofa lotta cash for a video game ad campaign. 100k per national tv ad+or- and that's still a very large campaign. I don't quite see the need for it though, most people already know of it though, so I would think. It seems a smaller budget would be better. who knows.

 

[Doug]

Nice, but I bet Valve STILL won't allow pre-release downloads over Steam like they used to. No, everyone will have to be in a mad dash to try and get any bandwidth from there servers... *sigh* Steam used to be nice to pre-order on.

 

[myogaman]

Yeah! Everyone who bought the L4D2 beta (aka L4D1) will be thrilled that they have to pay another $50 to $60 for the same game only it works and is actually supported!

If only they really did put all that energy of making a sequel in one year, into Ep3. L4D is dead to me. I think this is a Valve exploratory method to see how much they can milk for releasing the same product with slightly different mechanics (see every Madden or CoD or MoO).

On the other side of the spectrum. I'm glad they're blowing $25 million excessively.

 

[Shadow Law]

just give the 25 mill to microsoft so they can give us free DLC.

 

[Poopie McGhee]

Wow... 25 million?
Couldn't they have bought a small country for that much?

I Probably won't get this though... AC2 comes out on the same day.

 

[Georgeman]

25 million dollars just for the marketing? Why do I have a nagging little feeling that this is actually more than the game's budget itself?

 

[VanityGirl]

I'm excited. I'd like to see a Left 4 Dead 2 commercial. Still, 25mill is a lot of dough for an ad campaign.

 

[MrGFunk]

It feels to me their preaching to the choir. Especially for a sequel. Word of mouth has propelled the original, it will advertise the sequel enough for the sales. All Valve needed to do was announce a date.

Wouldn't this money, maybe even just some of this money have been better spent widening their audience and coding this for PS3. What's their beef?
Have they made a feature film of the game?