An eagle-eyed Dota 2 player may have accidentally confirmed Left 4 Dead 3.
A group of Dota 2 players recently visited Valve’s office in Bellevue, Washington. They were allowed to use their cameras during the tour, and the photos were compiled into an imgur album . One photo in particular yielded some interesting information.
A picture of a Valve change log history for August 5 showed an entry for “L4D3.” The entry reads, “[Source2] Restored L4D3’s devtest unit test. Ran locally 6 times without an assert.” Source 2 would be the second generation of Valve’s Source engine.
Studio head Gabe Newell confirmed that Valve was developing a Source 2 engine in November 2012. He said they were “waiting for a game to roll it out with.” Left 4 Dead 3 could be that game.
An unofficial Left 4 Dead 3 website shows the game’s logo and a timer, which counts down to Wednesday, August 21. The most likely scenario is that August 21 is the day Valve will officially announce Left 4 Dead 3, but the validity of the website has yet to be confirmed.
The original Left 4 Dead was released on November 18, 2008. The game was well received, although there was criticism about the lack of level selection and a narrative. The Xbox 360 version sold over 629,000 copies, making it the seventh best-selling game of December 2008. According to VG Chartz, the global total of the 360 version as of July 27 was 3.30 million units .
When Left 4 Dead 2 made its premiere at E3 2009, the game received mixed reactions from critics and gamers. Fans of the original called for a boycott and formed the “L4D2 Boycott (No-L4D2)” group on steam. Valve marketer Doug Lombardi promised that Left 4 Dead 2 didn’t mean Valve would no longer support the first game. The studio flew in two of the boycott leaders, who felt the sequel was well done.
Valve was also forced to alter the cover art, which originally depicted the thumb, ring finger, and pinky broken off of the hand. To appease the ESRB, which felt the art was too graphic, Valve changed the cover so that the ring finger and pinky were bent. They were able to leave the torn off thumb, except in Germany and Japan, where it was censored. The game was banned entirely in Australia .
The Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2 sold 3.64 million globally as of July 27. The Left 4 Dead series has sold over 11 million copies.
Are you excited for Left 4 Dead 3?