Gabe Newell restates L4D1 support

By Robert Purchese Published 11 June, 2009

"We aren't changing our plans."

Valve boss Gabe Newell has told concerned fans that Left 4 Dead support has not been scrapped to focus on the sequel, and promised that mod tools, community matchmaking, 4x4 matchmaking and more content for L4D1 would be released "during the coming months".

"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 10 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," Gabe Newell told Kotaku.

"E3 is a trade event where developers and publishers come to announce new games for the coming year. L4D2, like any new product, requires an appearance at the show.

"Some in the community are concerned that the announcement of L4D2 implied a change in our plans for L4D1," he added. "We aren't changing our plans for L4D1."

Newell assured fans that both the original game and the sequel will be interoperable, as multiplayer games "are driven by the cohesiveness of their community".

Left 4 Dead 2 was unveiled at E3 and appeared to many as a beefed-up expansion pack Valve had simply bundled all promised Left 4 Dead 1 extra content into. Over 20,000 joined a Steam-based group threatening to boycott the release of the game unless demands were met.

Head over to our hands-on impressions of Left 4 Dead 2 from E3 for a fuller picture.

Left 4 Dead 2 will be released for PC and Xbox 360 on 17th November.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Domovoi #1 3 years ago

    Great, great, it'll undoubtedly work out fine. Now what about Episode 3?

  • DFawkes #2 3 years ago

    The article states the community is 3 million strong. The petition is for a boycott, with 20,000 people signing. So screw them, and we all get a new L4D game \o/ That's win win in my book.
    Edited by DFawkes at 11/06/09 @ 09:20

  • Yossarian #3 3 years ago

    Another 200 comments... go!

  • Widge #4 3 years ago

    The good thing is, I reckon L4D will stay established and still have a good user base. I'll be sticking with that until a crazy Steam weekend deal pops up again.

  • Buztafen #5 3 years ago

    I like killing zombies.

  • viper_h #6 3 years ago

    Except we all know most of those 20,000 little whining nerdragers are probably going to buy it anyway on release day because they can't do without the new stuff for 2 seconds.

  • iter #7 3 years ago

    @viper_h: The petition group is on steam right? You are probably correct - they will all end up buying it anyway, so Valve could put up a counter on their home page showing how many changed their mind (that buy via steam obviously). :)

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    "The article states the community is 3 million strong. The petition is for a boycott, with 20,000 people signing."

    Signing an internet petition means nothing for most of those people too. Someone emails you, suggesting you click a link if you want more free stuff. So you click the link. Wow, a committed and powerful act no doubt.

    Truth is, this won't stop hardcore fantasists wingeing on about how the world is treating them badly, but it will at least make them look more pathetic in the eyes of everyone else.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 3 years ago

    It's a 'standalone expansion', isn't it?

    What Valve *could* do is patch L4d1 with the new melee weapons and even enemy types, so your 25 or 30 quid for L4d2 would be effectively for the new levels and player characters.

    On PC, it'd be easy enough to allow both sets of levels to be launched from the same game. On Xbox, though, it's a bit more awkward. Though perhaps they could have an 'insert Left For Dead 2 disc' prompt if you try and join a game for the set of levels you don't have installed.

    Looking at the size of the Left for Dead data on my PC, you could probably fit both games on one DVD, orange Box style - but then there's the 'license' issue. And, of course, what then do they do when they want to make a Left for Dead 3?

  • AphoticCosmos #10 3 years ago

    Episode 3 and Portal 2 please. NOW

    Don't care for L4D really. I've got too many good MP games to play as it is :-/

  • DDevil #11 3 years ago

    Most of those 20,000 signees probably pirated the game to begin with anyway.

  • RedSparrows #12 3 years ago

    Yeah, Ep. 3 news plx.

  • YourMessageHere #13 3 years ago

    Good grief, didn't you all get this out of your system in the other comments thread? People pissed off about unfulfilled promises/announced features in DLC have every right to make a fuss, just as people did when the GTAIV DLC was announced as 360 only, or any time something gets put up for amounts of money that are daft relative to the content you're paying for, or any one of dozens of other times. In fact, it's far more common among console gamers to make fusses about this sort of thing, largely because they get most of the DLC. This is the pot calling the kettle black if ever I saw it.

    Anyone making any sort of comment along the lines of "they probably pirated it anyway" is very obviously ignorant of Steam, if not simply a full-spectrum idiot. Playing L4D, an online-only game, on a multiplayer game download and networking system designed and constantly updated by the game's developers, is not going to work with a pirate copy without the most incredible fuck-on and elaborate workarounds. Most pirates will either stay away or cough up - even the staunchest of my pirate friends buys Steam games, if only to make his life simpler. I dare say it's possible to do it, but anyone who has any idea how Steam works and fancies pirating L4D is on to a losing idea. You'd lose the ability to jump into any old game on any old server, which for MP is kind of important.

  • TOOTR #14 3 years ago

    Have got so much value for money from L4D1 (hmm...sounds like a cousin of R2D2) that , although I understand some of the concerns of the angry internet men, I am astounded they are taking the time to moan about this to the extent of refusing to buy the game. We're talking about Valve. Do people forget the Orange box so soon?


    More Valve releases can only be a good thing - its fantastic not having to wait.


    Give me my TF2 update on the 360 - I signed a petition for that but if they announce TF3 next week I'm certainly not going to boycott buying it - split communities - pah ! Life is a split community(tm).


    'Valve' & 'Value' - one letter apart from each other. Coincidence? I don't think so.

    (well, ok it IS a coincidence but its an apt one ;) )

  • penhalion #15 3 years ago

    Lies, Damned Lies and backpeddling.

    @DFawkes

    20,000 may have signed but, the sentiment is shared by a hell of a lot more people than that. The fact remains that almost every idea in L4D2 was directly stolen from the fan requests for L4D1.

    It's the equivalent of you sharing your lunch with someone only to have them put some mustard on it, turn around and then ask you for money for the sandwich you just gave them! The natural response from anyone would be "Wha!" closely followed by a serious lunch backlash.

  • TOOTR #16 3 years ago

    @Smuggo - I've sent a PM about joining up with some of the L4D Eurogamers for 360 matches - like to get involved with that.

    @penhalion - lol @ 'a serious lunch backlash' :)

    off topic : No school lunch was complete without a Penguin biscuit and an apple that you threw away (probably at a doctor...and all that) as soon as you were out of sight of your mum.

    On topic : I kind of see your point.However, I'd debate whose sandwich it is and, regardless of what ingredients have been suggested by public chefs, who has actually gone out, got them, and put it together. But surely the bigger issue here is that Valve is that, none too common developer who LISTENS to fan requests and moves to implement them (often free).

    So to me it seems that the angry internet men are biting the hand that feeds them (the sandwich).

    /eats lunch
    /throws apple in bin

    Edit: Ah - I see Cragtek agrees with me and has put the point across much more succinctly. :)
    Edited by TOOTR at 11/06/09 @ 11:22

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #17 3 years ago

    In the comment thread of Eurogamer's review of The Orange Box ( http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_oran... ) I cautioned that the value for money represented by The Orange Box could end up skewing gamers' perspectives of what it's reasonable to pay for - and got a fair amount of stick for it, at the time.

    But now it looks very much like it's come true, for Valve themselves, no less!

  • Mart #18 3 years ago

    Anyone want to set up an online petition petitioning against online petitions?

  • bigshot316 #19 3 years ago

    I LOVE Killing zombies.

  • chiz #20 3 years ago

    I'll sign that Mart

  • roz123 #21 3 years ago

    Heres the link to the group:
    [link url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott
    ]http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boy...[/link]

  • penhalion #22 3 years ago

    @cragtek

    I would agree with you if

    A) The fans would not have been able to implement all of their suggestions themselves with the SDK.
    B) Valve had released the SDK before announcing L4D2.

    As it stands, I suspect that a large amount of what is supposed to make L4D2 great is going to be put into L4D1 by the fans once they get their hands on the SDK making the argument largely mute. I also at this point, susupect that the SDK will mysteriously be delayed, cut dow or missing vital features upon it's release.

  • kangarootoo #23 3 years ago

    @penhalion

    "The fact remains that almost every idea in L4D2 was directly stolen from the fan requests for L4D1."

    You've wheeled that one out before, but again I question what it actually means. Just 'cos a fan requests something it doesn't measn they then own it and should be given it for free. Its not the same as putting a towel on a dfeck chair you know.


    "It's the equivalent of you sharing your lunch with someone only to have them put some mustard on it, turn around and then ask you for money for the sandwich you just gave them!"

    No it f*cking isn't. Its like SUGGESTING someone put beef paste in their sandwich, and then demending a free bite just 'cos they agreed it was a good idea.

    Sweet jesus.


    And then...

    "I would agree with you if

    A) The fans would not have been able to implement all of their suggestions themselves with the SDK.
    B) Valve had released the SDK before announcing L4D2. "

    So let me get this right. The fans SUGGEST something, assume ownership of it (including free implementation of said idea by anyone who happens to build it) just because they suggested it.... but THEN say that as an apparent act of genrosity they say they will release Valve from this contractual agreement if Valve make the tools so the fans can build the feature themselves and then supplies said tools for free?!?

    Valve don't owe you a free game. They don't owe you free tools. They don't owe you anything you haven't in fact paid for.

    You have utterly lost your grip on reality.

  • Yossarian #24 3 years ago

    It's the equivalent of you sharing your lunch with someone only to have them put some mustard on it, turn around and then ask you for money for the sandwich you just gave them!

    Just reposting this so I can laugh at it some more.

  • HiredMan #25 3 years ago

    JeSUS. I cant believe people are still whinging about this. If you're not happy, dont buy L4D2 and enjoy the continued support for L4D. The whingers need to shut the fuck up.

  • Freelancepolice #26 3 years ago

    "It's the equivalent of you sharing your lunch with someone only to have them put some mustard on it, turn around and then ask you for money for the sandwich you just gave them!"

    Comedy

  • Optyk #27 3 years ago

    Where is my Half Life 2: Episode 3?

  • bioreit #28 3 years ago

    @penhalion

    To continue your sandwich analogy, I see it like this:

    A sandwich shop opens up and sells 50 different types of sandwiches, with the promise that more sandwich-types are to follow later on. They open with what they have because it's more than enough to get a business going with and they would like to start making some money from their business. In no way do the sandwiches on offer constitute the sum total of sandwich ideas the shop has.

    Said sandwich shop gets very popular and has lots of customers, who after a while start suggesting little alterations and even offering full-blown ideas for their own concoctions. Quite a few of the ideas are pretty bleeding obvious (like "how about rye bread?" or "what if you let people choose extra light mayo?";), others are less obvious but still ones the sandwich shop owners have already thought about - they are, after all, in that business - (maybe like "using speciality meats - like kosher?", or "sandwiches from around the world";). Some other suggestions are pretty unique - with some excellent ideas and others god-awful.

    The sandwich shop announces it is opening a new shop across town, which will have some of the existing range, as well as new sandwiches (maybe all free-range and organic, say). The existing sandwich shop will also get new sandwiches, which will be available BEFORE the new shop opens.

    20,000 of the existing sandwich shop patrons announce that they're going to boycott this new shop, because the owners lied about releasing new sandwiches for the old shop, even though the owners had actually said the old shop would get new sandwiches first.

    Then, people start saying "Hey, all those new sandwiches look like my suggestions! They're just stealing all our idea!" When asked what these new ideas are, most of them turn out to be "offering them as toasted", "letting you specify butter, margarine or plain", "having smoked bacon as well, instead of just unsmoked"; i.e. pretty friggin' obvious ideas that ANYONE could have had and in all likelihood, the owners had already thought of months back.

    Yup, I reckon that pretty much sums up how I see it.
    Edited by bioreit at 11/06/09 @ 16:55

  • Yossarian #29 3 years ago

    Most importantly, the customers keep repeating that all future sandwiches should be free, because they paid for some sandwiches in the first place.

  • Zaltan #30 3 years ago

    WHERE THE FUCK IS HL2 EPISODE 3, BIG GABE!!!

  • ChthonicEcho #31 3 years ago

    @Yossarian

    With half of them being you selectively picking facts in favour of Valve and showing prime examples of logical fallacies. Go, you!

  • kangarootoo #32 3 years ago

    @bioreit

    Well put.