Valve's announcement that
Left 4 Dead 2 would be released only a year after the first game has
generated a great deal of controversy among fans of the game. There are concerns that
Left 4 Dead will not get any additional content, the community will be divided, and that the quick development cycle won't do justice to the sequel. Now, Valve devs and execs are going out of their way to address those concerns.
Left 4 Dead project lead Chet Faliszek said, "It just became very clear that this was
a cohesive, singular statement we wanted to make, not a more slow update thing... too much stuff was tied together with too many other things." Developer Tom Leonard was quick to point out that
work wouldn't cease for the first game: "We are doing updates across the summer, adding new matchmaking features, and new features to facilitate user maps after the SDK is out. ... Additionally, those maps can be transported into
Left 4 Dead 2." Doug Lombardi said simply, "
Trust us a little bit," explaining that Gabe Newell is "always talking about providing entertainment as a service — it's not about making a game any more."