Valve Spending $25 Million on ‘Left 4 Dead 2′ Campaign

Valve announced that they will be spending about $25 Million dollars into ‘Left 4 Dead 2′ marketing campaign. The first game had about $10 Million dollars in its advertising which means the sequel’s budget doubled since the first ‘Left 4 Dead’ came out.
“Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the fastest-selling product in Valve’s history,” says Gabe Newell and also added “Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300 percent of Left 4 Dead’s numbers.”
Zombie Blockbuster On Track To Top Valve’s All Time Sales Oct 5, 2009
– Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises and leading technologies, today announced a $25 Mil consumer advertising plan for its upcoming action thriller, Left 4 Dead 2.
“Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the fastest-selling product in Valve’s history,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300% of Left 4 Dead’s numbers.” Last year, Left 4 Dead was the top selling new property for both the Xbox 360 and PC. Sales were driven by strong word of mouth, top reviews, and a $10 million advertising campaign. “We’ll be supporting Left 4 Dead 2’s launch with a $25 million campaign,” said Doug Lombardi, Valve’s vice-president of Marketing. “Left 4 Dead 2 has already set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in our company’s history, and we’re still over a month out from shipping.”
In the USA, the campaign will include Monday Night Football and UFC television broadcasts, roadside billboards, and popular lifestyle and gaming sites. This year’s European plan is also more aggressive than last year’s, with television advertising in all the major markets appearing during sports and lifestyle programming, plus strong outdoor investments in more cities, as well as online and print advertising.
“Left 4 Dead 2 is expected to once again exceed everyone’s expectations and be an industry best title on PC and Xbox 360 for the year,” said David DeMartini, General Manager of EA Partners. “With Left 4 Dead and now Left 4 Dead 2, Valve has created one of today’s most compelling video game experiences and leading entertainment franchises.”
Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009’s marquee titles. Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more. Introducing the AI Director 2.0, L4D’s dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played. Finally, with new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and a brand new competitive mode all available at launch.
Related posts:
- Guess Who’s Back? Valve Brings Back Bill, Francis, Zoey & Louis to Left 4 Dead 2
- Valve Confirms Continued Left 4 Dead Support
- Valve Defends Left 4 Dead 2 Release Among 20,000 Member Boycott
- Valve Announces Left 4 Dead 2 Release Date – Trailer
- Valve Has Carebear Version of ‘Left 4 Dead 2′ for Australia



I’m excited for Left 4 Dead 2, though I think it could have been handled as an expansion of the first game. All these marketing dollars though mean more exposure for the new girl character who I’m sure will be drawn naked or modded with Gary’s mod having sex with boomers when released. I’m sure Left4Nude will have ‘em all on the first day. Sheesh.