Edit: reader research suggests this is free – see comments – but still no official response from Valve. We’ll let you know, but assume it is free!
Valve say: “The first L4D DLC – dubbed the L4D Survival Pack — is due for release this spring and introduces a new multiplayer game mode entitled, Survival, plus two complete campaigns for Versus Mode.” They also say: “In addition, for PC gamers and aspiring developers, the first Left 4 Dead release for the Source Software Development Kit (Source SDK) will allow the creation of custom Left 4 Dead campaigns that will be discoverable via L4D’s matchmaking system. The SDK update is also due for release this spring, and is free of charge to all owners of L4D on the PC.”
There’s also a new retail version of the game also due in the spring, called “Critic’s Choice”, with all that stuff to be included.
Related Stories:
From EDGE:
“Update: Due to a miscommunication, we had updated the original piece saying that PC and Xbox 360 Survival Packs would be paid. However, Valve has since told Edge that it hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the price being “$0.00.” Sorry for any confusion.”
There’s an update at the bottom of the edge piece (links that mention “paid” to edge will just go to their article listing) that says they’ve been contacted by valve who said that they’ve not ruled out a price point of $0.00.
Wow, double scooped!
haha, that’ll teach me for not refreshing… or even logging into the forum so I can edit (assuming that still works).
Oh, god damn it. Sounds like all parties involved are on Edge about this.
Badum-Kssssh!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Its all too much! RPS SAVE US
@yns88
Pun intended?
Edit: Bah, we’re all talking over the top of one another.
DAMN YOU ALL
DAMN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
I’M GOING HOME.
Cute. Much as I love to see someone acquainted with word roots, it may be wise to work on the branches before trying pedant-fu.
Free or tits says I!
Most of people that bought L4D did expecting that Valve will continue to enrich and improve the game for free. Just like they did with TF2. Otherwise – although its a good game, L4D is not really worth 50$.
If Valve decides to charge for L4D DLC , they will be making huge negative blow to their reputation. And it will be the last game i bought from them…
But all in all game industry is gone the way of greed and its slowly sinking. So i can not say , i am to much suprised
I’m more worried by the fact that anyone that doesn’t know the meanings of sanguine hasn’t watched Firefly.
There are people that haven’t watched Firefly? Valve charging for stuff is bad, but a life without Firefly? My diaphragm is shivering.
I get a sneaking suspicion that people who think of TF2 and L4D as incomplete games are playing something different than me.
Quoted from that edge article:
“Update: Due to a miscommunication, we had updated the original piece, stating that PC and Xbox 360 Survival Packs would be paid. However, Valve again contacted Edge to say that it hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the price being “$0.00.” Sorry for any confusion.”
@Heliocentric
FREE TITS?! WHERE
But really, if the “two new maps” turn out to be death toll and dead air, i’ll be sorely disappointed. Survival sounds like it’ll be “hide in a house from a billion zombies” which is awesome.
Oh, apparently there’s been an update to the edge article… if anyone else wants to post it for the 5 or 6th time?
Left4Dead obviously shipped unfinished, as 2 of the 4 maps can’t be used in versus (who knows why?). TF2 shipped completed, but it still needed a lot of tweaking, and also suffered from a lack of maps. I think we’re used to games shipping with tons of levels, like MOHAA did. At least more than 4.
“I’m more worried by the fact that anyone that doesn’t know the meanings of sanguine hasn’t watched Firefly.
There are people that haven’t watched Firefly? Valve charging for stuff is bad, but a life without Firefly? My diaphragm is shivering.”
Quoted for truth.
Firefly just depresses me now. How did it get only 13 episodes? COME ON!
@Fumarole
I’m with you on this one. People get into this whole deal about lack of content, not enough maps, only a few weapons, entirely multiplayer, etc.
Ummm, I don’t know what to say about that. I have played more L4D and TF2 (in their apparently incomplete forms) than I have of any game since Baldur’s Gate 2 (with the possible exception of Super Smash Bros Melee). I have bought a good number of games in the intervening period for the mythical price point of $50 and I wish all of them were as polished as TF2 and L4D. Sure, a lot of them had more “content,” but at the end of the day isn’t how much you play the game the only think that matters?
I think that a lot of the problem stems from Valve releasing the Orange Box. I don’t mean to say that it wasn’t a good decision, far from it. But I think it led to people expecting a lot more value from Valve than they do from other companies.
@A-Scale
You want to talk about unfinished games? Try looking at the MMO market. The whole point is that you’re making an investment in a game that exists in various states of incompleteness, especially at launch (when you’ll pay $50 for them). And those ones make you pay a monthly fee.
As for the tweaks that TF2 required: I don’t know a single good multiplayer game that has not gone through a substantial series of patches and tweaks. Take a look at the Blizzard games for an example of that. I think Valve is doing a fantastic job of keeping TF2 interesting and balanced (for the most part). How long did GoW2 go with absolutely game-breaking bugs in multiplayer? To their credit Epic has fixed most of them, but it sure took a while.
I would be as upset as anyone else if they charged for DLC for L4D just because I’m used to it coming free in TF2, but I think I’m just spoiled.
So is this a bad time to link this? http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/08/30/stardock-gamers-bill-of-rights/
Point of information: Josh Whedon tends to overuse rules of order. Anyway, you guys have no sense of humour.
Choleric: Hunter/Tank
Melancholy: Witch/Smoker
Phlegmatic: Boomer
Sanguine: Hunter
As soon as I saw the Edge article, I, in what can only be a drunken mistake, sent this sorta hurtful email to Gabe Newell.
Dear Mr Newell,
When I learned the the Left 4 Dead “Survival Pack” would not be free on PC, this is the moment my faith in democracy died.
Living in Australia, the retail version of Left 4 Dead is and always has been AU$100. On Steam, the current price (including conversion rates) tips around AU$80 – AU$90.
So, assuming this “Survival Pack” is around US$10, I (and many other Australian and probably UK fans) will be paying at least twice this price.
So I guess what I’m really saying is, why? Why not give the “Survival Pack” stuff away for free? The SDK is nice ‘n’ all, but it seems a right and royal kick to the nuts that I should have to spend AU$120 on a game that people in America are getting for $60.
It reminds me a lot of Fallout 3’s “Operation Anchorage” expansion. I was lucky enough to have a friend send me the Installer, but for people who have paid the full AU$20 for ONE NEW QUEST… it’s just awful, really.
And same with this “Survival Pack”. One new game mode? 2 new maps? Valve has always provided Free Updates… Day of Defeat: Source underwent an engine change, practically changing the whole face of the game… for free. Team Fortress 2 has had more the 50 new achievements added… also for free. Left 4 Dead should be continuing this tradition.
Maybe by Spring my mind would have changed on this issue. But for now, I feel I need some consolance… and if you, or Valve’s marketing guys, or Doug “Episode 2’s ending was My Idea” Lombardi can’t do it… then no-one can.
Thanks for your time,
Enraged Fan
And I got this reply from Gabe:
It’s free as it’s always been.
Needless to say, he showed me.
http://img6.imageshack.us/my.php?image=33530180dg5.jpg
Zoe didn’t quite get the nuance: humor medicine associates blood with excitement thanks partly to where it turns up when people are …aroused in various ways. Take blushing… and other things (an angry belligerent person’s “blood is” often “up”, just hopefully not.. there. or maybe that would provide a handicap in a fight, I don’t know)
er..Anyway, back to that sweet sexy violence talk (oh, it’s about money isn’t it..)
Why does RPS still have the reference to Edge’s completely false info in the article? That’s clearly a health risk to people who don’t read the entire comments section.
Because we have to sleep?
I hope we can put all the crying to rest now? Or are people going to try and misinterpret something else and spew about how Valve betrayed them?
Grief.
Am I the only one who is no impressed, even if it’s free on the PC? Survival mode sounds interesting but no new campaigns for L4D teamplay? The Versus mode for the other two campaigns should have been in the release version.
Yay for Valve!
This seems like a good contender for “RPS article that has caused most drama ever”. Sheesh, even if Valve do make you pay for it, it’s not the end of the world.
So now we know that Valve still wuv us, anyone want to make uninformed speculation about Survival mode?
Even the most ardent fan will agree 4 campaigns isnt enough. Crossing my fingers for a new campaign with a shopping mall. Please, please Valve!
@Jockel: The updates always come incrementally. They’re not immediately huge expansion packs but over time the amount of stuff that gets changed and added increases drastically. Just look at Team Fortress 2.
I also think you underestimate how much effort needs to be put into properly tailoring maps (especially two whole campaigns ) for proper multiplayer play, and balancing a whole new game mode.
Then there’s also all the background changes that need to take place, all the work done to bring the SDK to the public, and tailoring the multiplayer and matchmaking code so that it can adequately and effectively cope with new multiplayer maps that are going to be coming in.
None of this is a small task.
Survival mode will be one of the following:
A. a Time- or Zombie-kill-based mode in a static environment (Think: Hold out in a shopping mall for one hour); or making the current maps static. (opening the city up, for example)
B. A mode of playing with no player respawns and tweaks to the damage/health/weapons available.
Fuck yes SDK. Bout bloomin’ time.
Time to dust off my .SMD compiler.
i feel the need to say i told you so and i don’t hate it i like it, my precognition is becoming an issue, i’ve got too much smug
Am I alone in thinking 35 euros (the price I paid with the l4d pack) was more than fair for the quality content and the through-the-roof replayability value?
More free content is only going to add value to those 35 euros.
@subedii: I can’t really say anything about TF2. I own the Orange Box but never played it that much so I didn’t follow the updates.
It’s just that I play simple co-op L4D most of the time so I hoped for more content there. I guess for Versus players it’s great but the content (assuming they enable the two old campaigns now) was already there so it could not have been that much work.
The more I think about “Survivor” the more interesting it becomes. So I hope for that. And better matchmaking is always welcome.
And how are custom maps handled nowadays in Steam? Do they automatically download if I want to join a game with custom maps or do I have download and install them manually?
What the hell? Why was everyone wildly assuming it wouldn’t free?
I am curious about the SDK.
Since this game was rushed and release uncomplete to cash into XMax territory. I expect the code to be a “crazy mesh”. Hard to mantain, hard to understand, hart to make modifications.
But I could be wrong, the Valve programmers are very good, in several ways (one of then is quality of code) so maybe is am wrong.
What this mean for the normal player? nothing, or maybe small problems… say… maybe creating maps for L4D will be a more buggy process than most people expect.
I don’t remenber other game with more bugs and exploits than L4D.
A interesting tool to be distributed with the SDK, is the nodes compiler. With the current tools we can’t play any random map with L4D, because L4D need special navigation nodes generated for then. If this tool is released, any, and all Source games (even the other Zombie mods maps) will be playabla with L4D instantly.
Also, the way L4D, new maps can mean different gameplays setups. Imagine maps with more than one saferoom…. Or maps with lots of destructible doors/movible cars.
I would love to see a “parking loft” map, where you have to climb to the top, while tanks spawn everywhere trowing cars around.
This game is special, the demo was removed, or people would have played this 1.5 levels to death. Once there are like moar than 9000 levels the world will be crazy.
I only see a problem. QuakeWorld, HalfLife1, Unreal, etc.. these engines autodownload maps that the client lack. This is very nice way to get new maps you don’t have. Will L4D support that system? You can think, of course, It will… but I have my doubts. Why? no idea.
‘it would be bad form to go ‘and this will be availible for purchase on the xBox market place, or is free to PC users.’
Infinity Ward put up extra maps for free on PC and not on XBL. Don’t remember a great deal of outcry.
Plus console users should pay extra for Valve to grace their machines. They don’t deserve their love! They weren’t there in the beginning! etc. etc…
Pray tell what exactly felt rushed about Left 4 Dead? If you say that two campaigns weren’t playable in versus you’re going to be banned from the internet for a week because you’ve obviously no experience with rushed/incomplete/buggy games.
“Infinity Ward put up extra maps for free on PC and not on XBL.”
Payed by Nvidia if I recall correctly.
@Fumarole:
– Content removed/unlock, not ready for release.
– Lots of trivial bugs and map bugs, that show not enough testing. ( Like the ability to clone yourself. Imagine TF2 with the ability of the Spy to spawn a infinite ammount of clones of himself.)
– Small errors on i18n packaging: If you change from spanish to english, the client needs to redownload things. This show some names are shared, and sould not, so files are overwritten.
– Basic gameplay broken. If survivors are intelligent, rushing or closet defense are “I win” buttons. Imagine Starcraft with one side having a weapon that is easy to get from the start and is “I win” button.
– Uncompatibility with some popular hardware, some 8800 nvidia cars (fortunally enough, I am not affected).
– Remeved cut scenes
– Comments of the authors limited to one campaing.
For a more complete and better list, use the search option on the steam forums.
Sure, the game is awesome, was already awesome with 1.5 maps on pre-release, but is in some ways more broken that how was KOTOR2 (a popular rushed title)
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3346/33530180dg5.jpg
I LOVE how this screenshot has an ad in big letters telling Gabe “THAT WASEN’T SO HARD WAS IT!”
I LOVE how this screenshot has an ad in big letters telling Gabe “THAT WASEN’T SO HARD WAS IT!”
ahahahah that’s brilliant.
There have been plenty of map-packs released for free on XBLA – Gears and Rainbow Six both had them, Halo too?
Other than that: is PC gamers’ inherent cheapness at all related to the prevalence of piracy on the platform?
“The SDK update is also due for release this spring, and is free of charge to all owners of L4D on the PC.”
I’m unsure how so many people seem to interpret that line as meaning Valve are going to be charging for DLC in the future. The game is multi-platform and everyone well knows MS aren’t into the idea of there being free 360 DLC. If anything it’s simply clarifying to whom it will be free, namely PC users. No doubt as and when there is a 360 release a DLC charge will be applicable.
As for future L4D DLC on PC, personally if Valve released a couple more campaigns/movies I wouldn’t have a problem with forking over the requisite £5 – £10 such content might be pitched at, esp given the sheer amount of man hours of enjoyment such DLC is likely provide. People think nothing of blowing a fiver on a coffee and a cake at Starbucks, but god forbid a developer tries to make some money on future content……..
@Tei
-I’m a 8800 user and never had any problem. I’m sure it is a minority.
-They made a choice about the cutscenes long ago. It is probably they never had anything more than animated storyboards.
-Comments on the autor limited to one campaign? Maybe that was all they wanted to tell, I don’t see that as a sing of haste.
-In the others you’re right, but calling the gameplay ‘broken’ is argueable.
-There’s a lot of whining on the Steam forums.
Le sigh.
Alright, since you’re so freaking insistent on how clearly and badly Valve botched up, let’s review.