Left 4 Dead fans are apparently so angry at Valve Software’s announcement of a sequel that they’re threatening to boycott any purchase of the game. Over 4,000 fans (as of time of posting) have signed up to a group on Valve Software’s Steam game deliver and social networking system called “L4D2 Boycott”.
Why are fans so angry? According to the header at the top of the group, and a post on Steam’s official forum, “significant content for Left 4 Dead was promised, but never delivered”, “Valve put little faith in Left 4 Dead since they almost certainly started working on Left 4 Dead 2 right after release”, “the fact that Left 4 Dead 2 is nearly identical to Left 4 Dead will decimate the community for both games” and “Left 4 Dead 2′s release will result in a drop in quality and frequency for Left 4 Dead content” among several other complaints.
Valve, developer and publisher of iconic games including Left 4 Dead, Half-Life, Team Fortress, Portal and Counter-Strike, are renowned for their relations with the fan community, so this boycott is a serious break from form for them.
Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel, was announced at E3, with improvements including melee weaponry, a greater emphasis on character and story and an improved AI Director that can not only ramp up and down zombie waves, but also weather and the players’ path through levels, as well as a new multi-player mode, new guns, new enemies etc.
Out 17 November | £TBA | Left 4 Dead 2
