If you were someone who enjoyed Left 4 Dead, you may remember just how fast Left 4 Dead 2 was released which was just a year later. This fast turnaround for a sequel from Valve was not something we had seen before but according to the lead on the original Left 4 Dead, the sequel was released as fast as it was due to the first game being a broken mess that nobody at Valve wanted to continue working on.
You may remember that the original Left 4 Dead was released on November 18th 2008 then almost a whole year later, Valve released a follow-up, Left 4 Dead 2 which was launched on Xbox 360 and PC.
At the time of the release of Left 4 Dead 2, fans of the first game felt that Valve was abandoning the original game rather than supporting the game like they had done in the past with games such as Counter-Strike whilst other fans suggested that Valve were being greedy with the release being so soon.
Neither of these ended up being the reason that Valve released Left 4 Dead 2 as soon as they did but instead, it was because the Left 4 Dead engine was such a broken mess that it more than likely would not have supported new features or big updates. This was also the very reason that Left 4 Dead 2 was released as a standalone game.
Left 4 Dead lead Chet Faliszek recently did an interview in which he spoke about the origins of the first game and how messy the process of the game development was behind the popular co-op shooter.
As quoted by Chet Faliszek:
Valve did have someone working on Left 4 Dead trying to fix some of the issues that were occurring but nothing seemed to work and in an attempt to fix some things it would in turn lead to new and different problems which included survivors disappearing from the game randomly. This was the reason that Left 4 Dead 2 was made a standalone game according to Chet Faliszek and not instead a DLC expansion or big update.
So, why did Valve keep this to themselves and not mention it to the players of the games?
In 2009, Valve had not explained any of the issues they were having with Left 4 Dead and even made a promise to support Left 4 Dead alongside the sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 which they in a sense did before they ported over all the content and maps from Left 4 Dead to Left 4 Dead 2. This, however, did not stop fans of the game from suggesting that players should boycott the game in anger.
When asked why Valve didn't just explain the situation to the players, Faliszek said:
Faliszek in the end wanted to appreciate the developers and all the work that they had poured into the game from the beginning. Not explaining the situation to gamers was a way to prevent players and fans were instead made at those who were higher up in Valve such as Faliszek himself and not the developers who had worked very hard to make the game in the first place.
Quoted by Faliszek:
Quite an eye-opener for sure but also answers a lot of questions that many fans of the Left 4 Dead game may have still had all these years later.
You may remember that the original Left 4 Dead was released on November 18th 2008 then almost a whole year later, Valve released a follow-up, Left 4 Dead 2 which was launched on Xbox 360 and PC.
At the time of the release of Left 4 Dead 2, fans of the first game felt that Valve was abandoning the original game rather than supporting the game like they had done in the past with games such as Counter-Strike whilst other fans suggested that Valve were being greedy with the release being so soon.
Neither of these ended up being the reason that Valve released Left 4 Dead 2 as soon as they did but instead, it was because the Left 4 Dead engine was such a broken mess that it more than likely would not have supported new features or big updates. This was also the very reason that Left 4 Dead 2 was released as a standalone game.
Left 4 Dead lead Chet Faliszek recently did an interview in which he spoke about the origins of the first game and how messy the process of the game development was behind the popular co-op shooter.
As quoted by Chet Faliszek:
Valve did have someone working on Left 4 Dead trying to fix some of the issues that were occurring but nothing seemed to work and in an attempt to fix some things it would in turn lead to new and different problems which included survivors disappearing from the game randomly. This was the reason that Left 4 Dead 2 was made a standalone game according to Chet Faliszek and not instead a DLC expansion or big update.
So, why did Valve keep this to themselves and not mention it to the players of the games?
In 2009, Valve had not explained any of the issues they were having with Left 4 Dead and even made a promise to support Left 4 Dead alongside the sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 which they in a sense did before they ported over all the content and maps from Left 4 Dead to Left 4 Dead 2. This, however, did not stop fans of the game from suggesting that players should boycott the game in anger.
When asked why Valve didn't just explain the situation to the players, Faliszek said:
Faliszek in the end wanted to appreciate the developers and all the work that they had poured into the game from the beginning. Not explaining the situation to gamers was a way to prevent players and fans were instead made at those who were higher up in Valve such as Faliszek himself and not the developers who had worked very hard to make the game in the first place.
Quoted by Faliszek:
Quite an eye-opener for sure but also answers a lot of questions that many fans of the Left 4 Dead game may have still had all these years later.
