Left 4 Dead 2 Controversy

A great furore seems to have erupted regarding the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 at Microsoft’s E3 event yesterday. RPS have seen plenty of action in the comments of their exclusive preview, and also in their forums. So what’s the big deal? Surely fans should be happy with the fact that they are getting more L4D so soon, just a year after the original release?

The problem is one of expectations regarding the original game. L4D launched as a full price release ($50/€50) in November last year, and the common belief was that Valve would continue to support the game with free regular content updates for some time, in a similar vein to their excellent support of Team Fortress 2. TF2, it should be noted, launched as part of the Orange Box ($50/€50), which also included the not insubstantial Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Portal. TF2 is essentially an older game, costing substantially less at release, that has had more content added to it in the last 6 months than L4D has!

The belief that regular free content would be incoming was further supported by the sparsity of content in the original L4D – 4 fairly short campaigns that most players had already experienced once or twice in the first couple of weeks. ‘We can swallow the lack of content’, players said, ‘just as long as we get a new campaign every few months or so’. So far, the only content that has so far been added to L4D is the survivor mode and the enabling of versus mode in the final 2 campaigns. Essentially, the update was just a recycling of existing content.

Of course, Valve have made assurances that they’ll continue to update L4D, but unless they launch some new campaigns as compelling as those in L4D2, who is going to care? Indeed, it seems likely that the original game will be utterly abandoned.

So what is happening here? If L4D2 launches at the expected full price point, it will be very hard to argue that L4D customers haven’t been somewhat misled by Valve here, to put it lightly. Is this a fundamental shift in Valve’s recent business model? Having earned a reputation for quality, professionalism and generosity, and having established a clear dominance in online PC gaming retail with Steam, is this the moment that they start to squeeze the cash cow they’ve created?

Of course, we don’t know anything about L4D2′s pricing yet, and it could well be the assumption of it being a similar price to the original is simply incorrect. It’s not unfeasible that it could launch in the $20-$40 range, though it’s fairly unlikely.

What about a repeat of The Orange Box type package? Half-Life 2: Episode 3 should really be due this year, Portal 2 is strongly expected to be in development, and perhaps L4D2 will take its place alongside them in what would be the truly legendary Lilac Box? It’s a possibility, but then why would Microsoft not have mentioned them at the same press event? L4D2 has been dated for November 17th, HL2: Ep3 and Portal 2 are still locked away somewhere very deep in Valve HQ.

Ultimately, I will buy L4D2, even if it is at the same price point as the original. L4D was one of the high points of my gaming last year, and quality of gaming is much more important to me than quantity. If L4D2 only entertains me for 10 hours, but those 10 hours are as enjoyable as the original game, I’ll be content.

Additionally, I’m happy to keep giving Valve my money, at least for now. They’ve done more to keep PC Gaming relevant than any other publisher/developer, and since they aren’t a public company, I can be pretty confident that much of their profits are going back into development rather than lining shareholder’s pockets. If that means Half-Life 2: Episode 3, Portal 2, or indeed, Half-Life 3, are just that little more awesome when they arrive, it’s money well spent.