In a move you’d expect from the Umbrella Corporation, Valve is trying to merge two zombie concepts into one multi-headed brain-devouring chimera. Marketing VP Doug Lombardi told totalvideogames.com that Valve was “trying to work out the details” to make it possible for fans of the first game to play alongside their sequel-adopting counterparts.

This decision was likely driven by the L4D2 Boycott community, who recently demanded 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.” However, more interesting is the unprecedented move in game design that adjacent sequels be cross-compatible. As anyone who tried to play the Gears of War multiplayer on the day the sequel released can tell you, sequels decimate the multiplayer base for the first game as everyone adopts the update. In a multiplayer-focused game like Left 4 Dead, this migration would be de devastating to the players left behind.

Valve has not yet committed to cross-integration between the sequels, though they have announced that they’re minimizing the work required to adapt mods from the first game to the second. We’ll keep you posted as Valve’s final decision becomes apparent.

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Tags:   Left 4 Dead · left 4 dead 2 · totalvideogames.com · Valve1 Comment

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