Valve has shut down any rumors regarding a new Left 4 Dead game. The acclaimed developer has also confirmed that the studio hasn’t been working on any Left 4 Dead projects for years and won’t be in the foreseeable future.
“We’ve seen rumors to this effect for the last couple of months,” Valve said in a statement to IGN. “We did briefly explore some Left 4 Dead next-gen opportunities a few years ago. But we are absolutely not working on anything L4D related now, and haven’t for years. It’s clear some people are having fun creating misinformation to spin up the community and other outlets. Unfortunately, for now, a new L4D game is not something we’re working on.”
Serious rumors concerning Left 4 Dead 3 first came to light when YouTube channel Valve News Network released a video claiming that they have exclusive screenshots of the game. Additionally, during a presentation, HTC China President Alvin Wang Graylin referenced a L4D3 VR Game in one of the slides. The slide had a bullet point stating “Valve HL Alyx/L4D3 will drive consumer and AAA studio interest.” Mention of “L4D3” alongside an already confirmed Half-Life VR Game (Half-Life: Alyx) was seen as confirmation that Valve was, in fact, developing a new L4D game for virtual reality.
Left 4 Dead 2 was a fan-favorite game at the time of the release and has since garnered a cult following similar to other Valve games such as Half-Life and Portal.
According to Valve, a next-gen Left 4 Dead game was discussed, but never actually developed. The first game in the series was released in 2008 and the sequel, L4D2, hit store shelves in 2009. It has been a generation since we have received a new game in the series and the chances of one in the next generation are looking grim.