L4D2 pre-orders twice that of original

By Robert Purchese Published 3 July, 2009

Some fans evidently not cheesed off.

Valve has told Eurogamer that pre-orders for Left 4 Dead 2 are twice what they were at this stage last time, despite the internet backlash and boycott threats.

"Our pre-orders are currently double what they were for Left 4 Dead 1 at this point in time away from launch," said Valve marketeer Doug Lombardi. "We're like 20 weeks out or something like that."

"We're seeing great enthusiasm from retailers," he added, "from EA, [and] the press called it multiplayer game of E3."

The furore surrounding Left 4 Dead 2 was based on allegations that Valve had forgotten its promise to create extra content for Left 4 Dead 1. Fans feared that the developer had decided to bunch those ideas together to make a quick sequel instead.

"I think there was a little bit of confusion that we created unintentionally, by announcing a sequel and not having the complete story ready: announcing it and not saying, there's still a lot of stuff being worked on for Left 4 Dead 1, and the mod tools will work with both games," explained Lombardi in our recent interview.

"I think that, over time, folks will see what we're up to, and there's more of this story to be told in terms of what's to come for both games."

Left 4 Dead 2 arrives on 17th November for PC and Xbox 360.

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.

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

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Comments (22) 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    I recall pre-ordering the original about 5 minutes before it was released on Steam.

  • zuljin #2 3 years ago

    I wasn't too interested in the first, but seeing the sheer number of people play this at work I'm tempted to preorder number 2!

  • sneetch #3 3 years ago

    I'm kinda confused here, do they mean pre-orders as in "retailer X has ordered 50,000 copies" or pre-orders as in "retailer X has 50,000 customers who have pre-ordered"?

    You can't pre-order it on Steam yet.

  • kangarootoo #4 3 years ago

    "Some fans evidently not cheesed off."

    Of course they bloody aren't. Since when was the vocal and angry internet minority representative of the rest of the world.

  • kangarootoo #5 3 years ago

    P.s. I'm going to shut up about this particular subject now :)

  • Hunam #6 3 years ago

    It's understandable, sequels always pre-order better than the original innit. I've not, because I've barely played the first one.

  • Yossarian #7 3 years ago

    "You can't pre-order it on Steam yet."

    But you can pre-order it on 360...

    *whistles*

  • skillian #8 3 years ago

    I've no doubt it will be a smash hit, and I hope it is.

    I do wonder if this will be the first Valve game in history to sell better on consoles than on PCs - that would be a significant milestone for the company.

  • Toothball #9 3 years ago

    I don't often pre-order, but I'm definitely picking this one up.

  • muscleblade #10 3 years ago

    I dont understand why some people say the first was lacking in any way. It was just amazing as a 4 player coop game, and the VS mode was even better. As a social game it was fantastic. Of course it wasnt meant to be played by yourself. Its games with a good multiplayer that get played the most so basing a game like this on multiplayer was the right decision.

  • the_dudefather #11 3 years ago

    I'll do my usual thing and pre-buy it on steam 5 mins before the offer runs out

    @Mappman
    agreed, what I think probobly happened is that after they started early work on new L4D content they decided they could do more with it as it's own game (while they did say before the release of L4D there would be new chapters and characters in L4D, it probobly wouldn't have been as developed as a full on retail product), so hopefully this will be a deeper experience than the original (personally I didn't see the appeal of replaying the levels too many times as there was little variation, although verses helped a bit)

    oh well, my 2 cents, I'll leave people to whine about whiners now ;)

  • General_Zod #12 3 years ago

    I will just wait for the inevitable sale on Steam, felt much better about paying £15 for L4D instead of £30.

  • systems #13 3 years ago

    It doesn't really mean anything.

    With L4D there wasn't a definite release date for quite some time (and it was delayed over a year) so people wouldn't bother pre-ordering until there was a definite date. Plus there were no reviews to gauge it off so most people waited until the month before to pre-order when the reviews and previews were coming out.

    With L4D2 there is a definite release date (a year after the original) and there are reviews to base opinion off (it's going to be the same as before, only with extra bits, so let's predict a metacritic score of 90 vs the original's 89). It's a lot more likely that people will pre-order it than they would the original because you can predict what you're getting.

    How many people here with L4D pre-ordered it 5 months in advance (i.e. last July) without a definite release date? Not that many I bet. And how many of those knew they were only getting half a game until they did the other two campaigns for versus mode?

    @muscleblade - no-one was saying L4D is lacking in any way - it isn't. It's an absolutely cracking game (so cracking I bought it on 360 and steam). The objections are to releasing it as a whole new game instead of a lovely big expansion pack (like Shivering Isles for Oblivion, for example). It's possible that they can't assume every 360 owner has a hard drive so they want it running off disc, but why not allow it as DLC for PC owners?

  • muscleblade #14 3 years ago

    "no-one was saying L4D is lacking in any way - it isn't"

    People are complaining about the lack of content. I think the replay value of L4D is outstanding. I admit its a little strange that the sequel is due out only a year after the original, but i dont care as long as the quality isnt lacking.

  • skillian #15 3 years ago

    why not allow it as DLC for PC owners?

    Left 4 Dead 2 will have the biggest marketing budget any Valve game has ever had. It would be pretty tough trying to hype Left 4 Dead 1 DLC at the same time as explaining that Left 4 dead 2 is actually the same content but with a different name and sold as a new game.

    You'd also have weird pricing issues if you were selling the same content as DLC for 1 platform and a whole new game for another.

    It's easier just to make Xbox and PC releases the same, and all these issues go away (but do create a few new ones admittedly).

  • StooMonster #16 3 years ago

    When can I pre-order on Steam?

    Valves games are definitely PC version preference IMO.

  • Collymilad #17 3 years ago

    Good to see, cannot wait.

  • smelly #18 3 years ago

    Proof that internet forum nerd logic is NOT something that developers should ever listen to.

  • trooperdx3117 #19 3 years ago

    All I care is that those idiotic boycotters have gotten they're face stoved in by this news

  • Spekingur #20 3 years ago

    Twice as many as L4D1. Are these numbers for X360 or PC? Or both? How many pre-orders were there for the first one?

  • Dezm0nd #21 3 years ago

    Not exactly surprising news really, just because nerds on the steampowered forums wet their nappy with hatred that doesn't take away that the general Xbox and PC fanbase is now established.

    L4D1 was a new IP.

    Fin

  • penhalion #22 3 years ago

    So basically what they are saying is that RETAILERS have doubled their pre-orders and not that the so called fans have. As someone pointed out earlier in this thread. The game isn't actually available for pre-order yet.

    I suspect, as any savvy gamer does, that this is an exercise in damage control as the likes of EA and Game, gamestop etc. etc have probably voiced their concerns over the fan backlash and want to try and counter it with tales of higher pre-orders. The only problem is that these pre-orders can't have actually come from the fans so what's their game?