What Boycott? Left 4 Dead 2 Sales Rule

Panicked zombie slaughter never gets old, as proven by the overwhelming success of Left 4 Dead 2. In a press release, Valve said that over 2 million copies of the game were sold since its November 17 debut for the Xbox 360 and PC. The publisher didn’t break down the sales by hardware, but said that over 1 million people had signed into Xbox Live to play the game, so it seems that the Xbox 360 accounts for at least half those numbers. Sales to date are more than double those of the original Left 4 Dead, which was released exactly one year before the sequel.

Valve attributed much of the game’s success to Black Friday, which saw discounts of up to $20 off the usual $60 price. But as USA Today points out, Valve also spent $25 on a marketing campaign (I spotted a few billboards here in Los Angeles). The success comes despite a Boycott from some avid Left 4 Dead fans, who felt that the sequel shouldn’t preclude Valve from supporting the original game with patches and downloadable content (the original members dropped the boycott after being flown to Valve headquarters to discuss the issue in person). There’s no word on new Left 4 Dead 1 DLC beyond the existing “Survival Pack” and “Crash Course,” but Valve did say in its press release that DLC news for the sequel is coming soon. [via VG247 and USA Today]