Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott Petition Passes 17,000 Signers

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Posted June 8, 2009 - By Jake Gaskill

If you’ve seen any footage of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve’s upcoming sequel to its Game of the Year zombie-fest, then you’re probably more than a little excited to get your hands on it when it’s released in November. That is unless you’ve joined the Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott, a Steam group determined to persuade Valve to make good on its promise to support L4D with free DLC (you know, beyond the free Survival Pack DLC released back in April that included 16 maps, a new Survival Mode, and two new versus campaigns) by offering L4D2 either for free, or at least at a discounted price for L4D owners.

Now before you pass any judgment on the 17,738 people who’ve signed the boycott petition so far, you should probably read the group’s full manifesto first, viewable after the break.

Here it is:

WE RECOGNIZE:

-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.
-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.
-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

WE ARE COMMITTED:

-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.
-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.
-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

WE BELIEVE:

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.
-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.
-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.
-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

WE REQUEST:

-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.
-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.
-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.

Therefore, we - the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott - promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.

Powerful stuff indeed. Of course, this all pre-supposes Valve will abandon all support for L4D once L4D2 comes out, which doesn't seem likely, given Valve's track record when it comes to supporting all of its major franchises, and the fact that Valve's Doug Lombardi recently told Rock, Paper, Shotgun, "We plan to continue updating Left 4 Dead."

Also, based on how absolutely insane L4D2 looks, I find it hard to believe that these people, who are supposedly rabid L4D fans, will be able to control themselves and hold off purchasing the game, especially when all of their non-boycotting friends tell them how incredible it is when it's released later this year.

Anyone out there signed this petition? If so, please explain why.

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