15 Years Ago One of First Mass Boycotts on Steam Took Place, Today Its Reason Is Just Laughable
Traces of this important historical event for the industry can still be found on the Internet.
In theory, video games are meant to bring people together - but no one has specified the exact basis for such a social connection. Some people derive joy from shared fun and discussions about fictional universes built by developers; others find fulfillment in more radical means of human interaction.
In short, this is how you can describe the situation that took place on June 1, 2009, which is 15 years ago. That's when one of the first boycotts in the gaming community started.
Scandalous sequel
Released in 2008, Left 4 Dead can easily be considered one of the modern classics when it comes to combining survival horror with elements of cooperative shooters.Set in the zombie-infested United States, the game received favorable reviews, allowing Valve South (today known as Turtle Rock Studios) to continue developing it.
So the players could have been greatly surprised when the studio announced the sequel's premiere after less than a year. Fans were so outraged by this decision that they decided to boycott the game. A special group was even created on the Steam platform, consisting of over 10,000 players.
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; and Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.
-- L4D2 Boycott
According to those boycotting, the first installment of the series didn't receive the deserved appreciation from the devs, as indicated by the rapid development of a sequel - which also doesn't particularly stand out in terms of mechanics or graphics compared to the 2008 title. The group believed that the sequel should be replaced with updates to Left4Dead; preferably free ones.
The players threatened to withhold purchases until their demands were heard. The manifesto itself was translated into four languages.
How is the boycott going today?
Players have gathered to reminisce about the "scandal" associated with Left 4 Dead 2, which happened fifteen years ago. Today, the great boycott only elicits a smile of pity, because the sequel - contrary to appearances - significantly improved what was lacking in the first installment. And yet one of the main criticisms of those boycotting was the development of "the same game."
Valve's handling of the situation might not have been best in the lead up to L4D2's release, but the moment we laid our hands on the game we understood that they [studio] knew what they were doing and all our fears were unfounded.
-- Arrow156
An additional note of irony here is the fact that most of the group members ultimately decided to buy L4D2. This was therefore a breach of the promise made in the manifesto. It's difficult to believe that every person who was undermined actually decided not to give Valve a chance, even though some of them could have been trolls.
The whole situation is best summed up by one of the fresh comments that appeared under the 2009 manifesto.
I eventually bought the game in a bundle like many years later. I've tried Back 4 Blood and it looks prettier, but its objectively worse than L4D2. Sometimes I think about this group and laugh as I imagine it didnt even hit valves radar. These days companies do way worse and get away with it every day.
-- River
