Retro: The L4D2 Boycott

Here's a capstone for one of the year's biggest stories. Kyle Orland at Crispy Gamer looks at the turbulent history of the L4D2 boycott. "Did Valve change its plans to gain the approval of the masses, or did it effectively pacify the Internet throngs with nothing more than a couple of plane tickets and a hotel reservation? In other words, was the boycott successful? Well, it depends on what you mean by "successful."" Well, obv. Luckily Kyle follows on to do the heavy lifting with a well-balanced piece. It's a little revisionist about their early days - not touching on the initial frenzied nature of the group which lead to the initial press being so negative, rather picking up at the slightly-more-reasonable manifesto stage (Though the "L4D424FREE" point remains - to be polite - somewhat naive). I suspect what the boycott achieved will remain a controversial point. Personally, there was only one question which was never answered satisfactorily. Whole new campaigns was never realistic, ever (As in a standard MP level is a hugely different thing from a Co-op level in terms of resources). Why did Valve, even in an interview setting, imply it was.