Valve: Left 4 Dead 1 Not Being Left for Dead

After Valve announced Left 4 Dead 2’s near-complete status at last week’s E3, L4D 1 players took up their pitchforks. After all, a sequel to any sort of multiplayer game is typically the final nail in the coffin of a developer’s ongoing support for that game, so why should Valve – one of the first major companies to embrace digital downloads, comedic reactions to PR flubs, and portal technology – be any different from everyone else?

Well, looks like you’ve once again underestimated Valve. So guess what you get for that costly mistake? That’s right: everything you wanted.
 
"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 ten and half years ago," said Valve president Gabe Newell in a statement to Kotaku. "We see no reason to change that and will continue to support the over three million customers in the L4D community."

“In addition to the recently released Survival Pack, we are releasing authoring tools for Mod makers, community matchmaking, 4x4 matchmaking, and more new content during the coming months for L4D1," Newell says. "We also agree with our customers that there needs to be an interoperability plan for players of L4D1 and L4D2, as multiplayer games are driven by the cohesiveness of their community."

And so, Valve gives everyone everything they ask for. As usual. Seriously, how can you whine and gripe at that? It’s like screaming at a fireman for not salvaging your favorite family picture after he saved your mom, dad, cat, dog, potted plant, and sister who you didn’t like all that much and would’ve rather had the picture. Cut Valve some slack people. God forbid you have to actually pay for content every once in a while.