The impact of a huge, well thought out marketing campaign should not be underestimated. Last year, Valve spent $10 million on advertising for Left 4 Dead. Thanks to a solid campaign and great word of mouth, this new intellectual property quickly became a top selling new IP on Xbox 360 and PC. The game has sold close to 3 million copies worldwide.
Clearly, Valve expects Left 4 Dead 2 to fare much better, and the company is really upping the ante on marketing, laying out $25 million on a campaign that will include Monday Night Football and UFC television broadcasts, roadside billboards, and popular lifestyle and gaming sites. Addtionally, Valve said its European marketing will be more "aggressive." Beyond traditional online and print advertising, the company will have television advertising in "all the major markets" appearing during sports and lifestyle programming, along with strong outdoor investments in more cities.
Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice-president of Marketing, commented, "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."
"Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the fastest-selling product in Valve's history," added Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300% of Left 4 Dead's numbers."
This zombie's clearly upset about his recent portrayal in the film Zombieland...
Electronic Arts, which works with Valve to distribute the game at retail (apart from Valve's own digital delivery on Steam), is naturally quite excited about the release. "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."
Left 4 Dead 2 will launch on November 17, exclusively for Xbox 360 and PC. The sequel is adding in melee combat "to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more." The game will offer new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and a brand new competitive mode.
