Just to prove yet again how much people love killing the undead, Valve's zombie "kill-'em-up" franchise Left 4 Dead has now over 12 million units sold!
This has been revealed by Valve's own Chet Faliszek in an interview with VG247, where he was asked why Valve doesn't feel the need to overhype their products in order to sell. You know what their secret is? Make a damn good game so people will recommend it to their friends! Yep, it's as simple as that.
Telling people a game is great will sell one extra copy. Letting people play the game – Left 4 Dead is a good example – is much better. All of our pre-release stuff is designed to just let people play it…But when a game does really well at pre-release, they’re going to know that you’re not just talking a bunch of PR crap. I mean, the Left 4 Dead series has now sold over 12 million copies.
Faliszek adds that they let the game speak for themselves, because the internet "has made this thing, where you can't pull the wool over people's eyes any more. They're going to know you're hyping."
Not a bad move to sell your games, no? Devs and publishers take note: make a great game so it will sell. Of course, that's easier said than done most of the time, I admit.
Now give us Left 4 Dead 3, Valve!