Gamers pissed at Valve, boycotting Left 4 Dead 2

When was the last time you ever heard of anyone wanting to boycott a company because they wanted to bring a new product to market?

Well apparently this is the situation that Valve is finding itself in with some pretty serious gamers who are really angry that the company is bringing the next version of the popular game to market only a year after the original Left 4 Dead was released. They have even set up a Steam Group within the Steam (Valve’s game store and community) Store community pages.

The opening paragraph of their statement to both the gaming community and I would image to Valve itself is this

The Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott is a group of individuals who have pledged to boycott Valve’s upcoming release of Left 4 Dead 2 on November 17th, 2009. We have assembled a manifesto outlining the basic concensus of many members of our community. (Note: this manifesto is a new version, which we have recently posted to keep our manifesto in line with the middle ground of our members. This is the correct group for the boycott)

They go on to list out their whole – for a lack of better words – manifesto.

WE RECOGNIZE:
-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.
-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.
-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

WE ARE COMMITTED:
-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.
-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.
-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

WE BELIEVE:
-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.
-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.
-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.
-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

WE REQUEST:
-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.
-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.
-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.

Therefore, we – the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott – promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.

I got to admit this is the first time I have ever heard of anything like this – especially when it comes to gaming. Talk about passionate.

[hat tip to Technologizer]