Valve: Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer demo on its way, pre-order customers get 'advanced access'

by Xav de Matos { Jul 4th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Doug Lombardi has told Joystiq that a multiplayer demo for Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 is planned for both the Xbox 360 and PC. According to Valve's PR guru, users who pre-order the upcoming zombie survival title at "participating retailers or [via] Steam" will gain "advanced access to the demo," which will eventually land on both platforms for all users prior to the game's November 17 launch.

Speaking with OXM at a recent London preview event, Lombardi discussed the strength of Left 4 Dead's "word of mouth," which has presumably fueled the need for a demo to the sequel. With groups calling for a boycott of Left 4 Dead 2 due to lack of content support for the original title, a demo may be the best way for Valve to prove why it believes its sequel warrants a full price tag. Although, strong pre-order numbers tell us the game is already on pace to decimate sales charts like a zombie tank.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2

Tags: braaaaainns, demo, doug-lombardi, ea, electronic-arts, left-4-dead-2, multiplayer, valve

Related From Joystiq

Modders pump L4D1 maps into L4D2
18 days ago
Metareview: Left 4 Dead 2
18 days ago
Valve adds 4 vs 4 competitive matchmaking to Left 4 Dead on Steam
28 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

NintendoJunkie @ Jul 4th 2009 3:08PM

I can't wait to try it out. For some reason I had mixed feelings about L4D (1). The insanity of the game is part of it's appeal, but for me...playing the demo...I got bored quick. I think L4D 2 looks more interesting than the first. Having it set in New Orleans seems like a good choice I think.

Wildside @ Jul 4th 2009 3:14PM

online is where it's at. Single is boring unless u split-screen with a friend for some fun.

cafecito @ Jul 4th 2009 4:02PM

Does the first one have local multiplayer? Thought it didn't.

Puffles @ Jul 4th 2009 4:18PM

It's not set in New Orleans, it's set in the general "deep south" area of the United States. Only one of the five campaigns takes place in New Orleans.

dylan @ Jul 4th 2009 4:19PM

@cafecito, it had 2 player local co-op, which was silly considering it is a 4 player game.

Jono @ Jul 5th 2009 1:32AM

The Demo sucked. Full game is way better, but it's not without it's problems.

Heimbachae @ Jul 6th 2009 11:59AM

is L4D going to be the new madden? did i miss the memo??? i'm not buying this. hit me with an update valve, in this economy i can't be buying a new L4D game every freakin year.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 4th 2009 3:14PM

So you have to preorder to get advanced access to a game that's going to be almost exactly like the first one?

http://www.brainygamer.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/16/brilliant.jpg

Jrinswand @ Jul 4th 2009 3:35PM

It doesn't really matter. Advanced access to a demo is ridiculous any way you look at it.

Matt @ Jul 4th 2009 3:40PM

Isn't the point of having a demo is so that potential buyers can try it out? So if you've already pre-ordered the game you get the demo? So why exactly should I go out and pre-order a game just so I can try it and see if I like it? Because then I'm just down $50 with a game I could potentially not enjoy. Weird.

BTW, loved L4D. Just being the devil's advocate here.

Debikul @ Jul 4th 2009 3:50PM

I'm glad you got to play the game before you came to your opinion.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 4th 2009 3:54PM

Does anyone here REALLY think L4D2 is going to be more or less anything else than 1 in a new location? Not a bad thing, but let's not fool ourselves here.

I Al2x I @ Jul 4th 2009 5:11PM

Left for Dead 2 is actually just two copies of Left for Dead duct-taped together.

The Baron @ Jul 4th 2009 5:42PM

On the other hand, people may be more likely to pre-order it if they get some perceived benefit out of it.

[tre] @ Jul 4th 2009 3:15PM

Great! Now if only Valve would be kind to us non-360 owners and make a PS3 version. That would DEFINITELY be Armadeaddon (Penny Arcade) for real, just without the mall.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/8/8/armadeaddon-dark-genesis/

Puffles @ Jul 4th 2009 4:19PM

Valve is a PC developer. I'm not even sure why this game is on ANY console.

[tre] @ Jul 4th 2009 4:28PM

Money. That's probably why.

As for my downvoting, I'm utterly confused as to why.

Tyler @ Jul 4th 2009 5:13PM

It's just fanboys that don't like to share. Maybe Valve can find a good PS3 team to port this game for you bud.

Damian @ Jul 5th 2009 9:08AM

Didnt Valve say they are looking into getting a devoted ps3 dev team to work for Valve, to make a L4D port, also why shouldnt this game be on anything other than pc, the only thing different is the controls, and last i checked twin analog stick control worked fine.

Wildside @ Jul 4th 2009 3:16PM

remember that Valve did state that they are already looking into crossovering the L4D1 levels to L4D2. That is exactly what i want. If this happens, im getting the game n screw the boycott.

Debikul @ Jul 4th 2009 3:32PM

Well, according the Valve and the pre-order numbers that little boycott thing doesn't seem to be working out too well.

Neuromancer @ Jul 4th 2009 5:17PM

I don't blame people for boycotting to try to get what they want. It may even have worked, since Valve already said now there's DLC on the way for the 1st game.

rubbish usrname @ Jul 6th 2009 3:22AM

i want to write a long gushing post about how good L4D is but i wont.

when i first played this in single player i thought is that it? when i finished but online it comes into its own. even if there was no more support for this game then i have totally got my moneys worth out of this game and could never complain and have this on pre-order.

out of all the 2009 fall/winter releases this is the one im looking forward to most

Husher @ Jul 4th 2009 4:17PM

So instead of lovable bill we get uncle Phil from fresh prince of bell air? :C

NintendoJunkie @ Jul 4th 2009 4:37PM

So in this case would his auntie be the witch?

tuck @ Jul 4th 2009 4:39PM

Are you telling me you would rather have bill than uncle phil? He's phresh. Thats no typo people, the word phresh is in, phat is out.

Husher @ Jul 4th 2009 4:42PM

would have been better if they made a playable character looks like Alfonso Ribeiro

j.howlett @ Jul 4th 2009 6:31PM

uncle phil was the shredder.

Sly @ Jul 4th 2009 6:33PM

agreed with husher. we need a carlton lookalike. with accompanying tom jones singing.

Rob Bourne @ Jul 6th 2009 4:53AM

and dancing.

Monkeys Suck @ Jul 4th 2009 7:18PM

So I have yet to see this preorder stuff on Steam....why?

Hyamzy @ Jul 4th 2009 7:25PM

Would so rather some news on Episode 3, come on Valve what have you been up to?

SunKing @ Jul 4th 2009 7:53PM

I just looks so much like L4D, minus the novelty factor. Please, someone tell me, why should I care?

Also, this: "users who pre-order the upcoming zombie survival title at 'participating retailers or [via] Steam' will gain 'advanced access to the demo,'"

With groups calling for a boycott of Left 4 Dead 2 due to lack of content support for the original title, a demo may be the best way for Valve to prove why it believes its sequel warrants a full price tag."

Given that the audience that are skeptical of a sequel likely won't be pre-ordering, I'm not sure this is going to quell those doubts in any shape or form. Really, companies who offer a demo as part of a pre-order can kiss my arse. What's the point in a demo if you make people pay for it?

Rabish12 @ Jul 4th 2009 8:27PM

Here's an idea, Valve: instead of using early access to the demo to hock pre-order sales of your game and treat your customers like worthless shills, how about you give it to the people who were faithful enough to you company to buy the original Left 4 Dead assuming that you wouldn't spit in their faces by releasing a mostly-the-same sequel within a year of the first release that'll splinter its online community? Or would that be too close to the "friendly pro-gamer" image you're trying to carry and too far removed to the disgusting reality of what greedy dicks you are?

Linkb8s (XBL: Tenku no Link) @ Jul 4th 2009 9:08PM

Jesus, isn't it amazing how a company that has done so much for the gaming community can have it's followers turn on them in an instant. Gamers are such a fickle group of people. What's more is just how quickly everyone turned without all the details released.

I just want to ask you specifically though...what sequel has ever truly been much different from the original, excluding a few changes to the overall mechanics of the game? Much less do what Valve has done an take one of the dynamic features of L4D and give it an overhaul on just what the hell it can do?

Elmhurst676 @ Jul 5th 2009 6:30PM

You want the demo? But you just said it was a boring same-sequel.

Feedback @ Jul 4th 2009 11:07PM

I sure love paying for my demo's.

Who am I kidding, I'm gonna get it anyway.

Xanthonus @ Jul 4th 2009 9:58PM

There is no way I'm putting my money down on this game, too many other games that will give me my monies worth. L4D1 was great one time, after that the game became really boring no matter who you played with. The demo burnt me out and my friends for sure, we all played on the hardest difficulty and so once we ran through the actual game if was like second nature. Before I bought L4D1 I was expecting Valve to do updates on regular bases like TF2 or I would have never bought the first one. L4D1 was not worth $50 when it came out and it's not worth $50 now. Also Valve pissed me off because it was not like 3 months and they had a sell on the game with nothing added to the game in that 3 months of time. I'm not saying this won't be good for the little that they are going to give you, but I'm just going to wait when it goes half price on Steam and laugh at the suckers who bought it at full price with nothing added in the time frame.

? @ Jul 5th 2009 2:37PM

you bitch too much. go make your own faking game. and ill say back everything you just said and you would see how much of a bitchy guy you are.

Rabish12 @ Jul 4th 2009 10:10PM

Honestly, I've never been one of their "followers". The company's practices, from using their online store as DRM so that anyone who buys any of their games is basically having ads for Valve's other products shoved down their throats, to demanding a down payment of one million dollars just for the right to do a Mac port of Half-Life 2 (and then lying and claiming that it was because Apple wasn't willing to bother), right on to this. People seem to think Valve border on being perfect as far as developers go, but they absolutely aren't. They're a horrible company that happens to make excellent games and that happens to be very, very good at making themselves look a lot less greedy and profiteering than they actually are.

And as far as Left 4 Dead being an overhaul... look, I don't expect a sequel to blow me away with changes every time. But when the sequel has graphics that are at best AS GOOD AS the original, when the new features are all mostly embelishments or pointless things, and when they even recycle a large number of art assets from the original (something you can definitely see in this game from the footage - they're using a lot of the same zombie models)... and even worse, when that sequel is being done within only a year?

I'd understand if this was a $30 product or something, but isn't releasing sequels that offer little more than incremental improvement and yet still cost full price one of the reasons people hate EA? Isn't releasing a new game within a year of the previous one that looks more like an expansion than a new product and then treating it as though it were a full release with a proper development cycle something that people frown upon with nearly any other company? Why is it that some people think Valve, and only Valve, deserve a free pass when they pull something like this?

Elmhurst676 @ Jul 5th 2009 5:04PM

I suppose you know what's in the game, considering you've played the game and all.

sedated_poetry @ Aug 10th 2009 6:38PM

To Rabish, who obviously has no clue what a hardware upgrade is, even though he downloads them constantly. Valve has pampered the graphics from the beggining with upgrades to the Source and Havok engines. Now they are getting a full overhaul and being one who has actually played this game at Comic-con, let me tell you--graphics are NICE. Its not the Unreal engine to say the least, but now youll see guts, actually bodies flung around from explosions. Even the flame from molotovs looks beautiful. Idiots like Rabish, who hear boo and jump ship, are whats wrong with the game industries retail market.

We paid this kinda money for games like Mario 3, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy. Im talking about the Nintendo releases, nothing more than tiny pixel sprites walking at a directional command. But now, with industries like Valve practicing true in the art of customer service (people claim the DLC for L4D1 came because of the boycott, when in fact it was announced some time before the boycott began) we are recieving a polished investment or the same money. Minimum inflation, constant hardware advances and technological advances, alot of them coming from Valve and Turtle Rock. I really need to know, how unbelievably stingy are you? Ignorance must be bliss.

The reason they charge for these enhancements is BECAUSE nobody would appreciate them otherwise, Rabish being a great example. Anybody who thinks the first looks like the second must be playing on mommies set from 1955. Rabish, you claim to be mad over the quick release without attention to an inferior beta rough edge release of a game. You want something new? Maybe a new gun? Maybe a new zombie? You want all of these tiny things that your hick ass will buy at 2 bucks a pop, but God forbid you save up for the motherload of new content because "its too soon". Youre probably a Madden fan too...

Jelster @ Jul 5th 2009 12:29AM

I suppose it's a nice pre-order bonus, prefer this to giving some exclusive in game content that penalizes people who chose to buy the game later. Would be nice if they didn't call it a demo though, how about "pre-order preview".

For those who want to try before you buy, well at least you know there will be the usual free weekends when you can play the whole game.

Nadril @ Jul 5th 2009 1:16AM

Valve really can't win, can they? They get bitched at when they take too long to make a sequel, they get bitched at when they do it too fast and currently they are getting bitched at for both at once. (L4D2 and EP3.)

You dudes really need to make up your mind about this.