Valve Announces $25 Mil Left 4 Dead 2 Ad Campaign

[DigiQ8]

Valve announced today a $25 Million advertising plan for Left 4 Dead 2. [br]

In the USA, the campaign will include Monday Night Football and UFC television broadcasts, roadside billboards, and popular lifestyle and gaming sites.[br]

The European plan is also more aggressive than last year's with television advertising in all the major markets appearing during sports and lifestyle programming, plus strong outdoor investments in more cities, as well as online and print advertising.

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.

According to Lombardi Left 4 Dead 2 has already set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in the company's history, around 300% of Left 4 Dead's pre-orders numbers. Left 4 Dead 2 is coming November 17th on Xbox 360 and PC.

 

[Marler]

Good to see they included Europe in their campaign this year And that's a lot to spend on an advertising plan!

 

[scotland1]

Just read this on the steam news page. I never see a vale ad.

 

[Barnz]

i hope they spend same amount of money to advertise ep3

 

[CyberPitz]

According to Lombardi Left 4 Dead 2 has already set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in the company's history, around 300% of Left 4 Dead's pre-orders numbers.

Looks like that boycott is working out well, eh?

 

[63]

Left 4 Dead 2 is expected to once again exceed everyone's expectations

But... if it is expected to exceed expectations, that's not exceeding, that's meeting expectations... wat.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Good to see they included Europe in their campaign this year And that's a lot to spend on an advertising plan!

It was $10 million for Left 4 Dead, and they did encompass Europe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJy71108K3g

London Liverpool Street Station in central London - L4D ad on the large screen. I recorded it

 

[Kadayi]

That's a lot of cash to spend in this recession. I hope it pays off for them.

 

[Marler]

WOW! Haven't seen that before

 

[Qhartb]

Screw the $25M ad campaign. Release the intro movie and prepare for instant hype.

 

[the cow says moo]

Shweet, I loved seeing the commercials for L4D last year.

 

[Krynn72]

That's a lot of cash to spend in this recession. I hope it pays off for them.

Pre-orders are up 300% from L4D, which was 65% up from the Orange Box.. I think its pretty safe to say they wont be hurting even if this fails. Which it wont.

 

[Warped]

does anyone even remember advertising for the 1st game?? cuz I don't remember any at all

 

[Krynn72]

I do.

 

[swan_song1973]

does anyone even remember advertising for the 1st game?? cuz I don't remember any at all

not TV advertising, though the orange box had a commercial.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

does anyone even remember advertising for the 1st game?? cuz I don't remember any at all

See my post above. Also I saw tv adverts, and the L4D playtest trips all around the globe to raise it's profile. Remember the L4D buses? They were extremely pro-active in getting the L4D brand known.

 

[63]

I saw TV ads.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

I saw the TV ads, interweb ads, those little vans with screens on them and roadside billboards all advertising L4D.


Also: When do the football ads start coming out?

 

[unozero]

can anyone say "casual?"

Valve seems to forget their fanbase so they just wanna attract non gamers that mainly use their Xbox360 for Madden and Fight Night.....great target audience.

 

[kupocake]

lifestyle programming

Loose Women?

Looks like that boycott is working out well, eh?

The names of all have been transferred to the appropriate government lists.

 

[i_liek_shootan]

so this means L4D is a more valuable franchise than HL?

 

[Lucid]

can anyone say "casual?"

Valve seems to forget their fanbase so they just wanna attract non gamers that mainly use their Xbox360 for Madden and Fight Night.....great target audience.

Money.

 

[Barnz]

so this means L4D is a more valuable franchise than HL?

No, it means you're dumb.

 

[Acepilotf14]

No, it means you're dumb.

He's right, though.
When it comes to the value part.

 

[Barnz]

Valve spent more than 40 millions on Half-Life 2.

 

[PvtRyan]

Valve spent more than $40 on Half-Life 2.

It seems likely.

 

[kupocake]

Valve spent more than $40 on Half-Life 2.

So have I.

Where are my kudos?

 

[Barnz]

ohgawd typo

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

.

 

[Lobster]

To be honest I dont think you can really compare the games in terms of budget or release strategy, as Valve as a company has changed allot since 2004.

Steam didn't exist during HL2's development, and you can see the difference in the Orange Box release, it reached a wider audience than the initial PC release of Half-Life 2, and used heavier marketing, they even had a TV ad (albeit a small one). Left 4 Dead a year later took that further, then Left 4 Dead 2 is taking it further still. Its just a natural progression linked to the growth of the company.

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

.

 

[jondy]

The final blow will be the inevitable TV spot for Ep3 - 'From the creators of Left 4 Dead'

 

[i_liek_shootan]

No, it means you're dumb.

why does this guy always have to unnecessarily flame? mods?

 

[Eejit]

Last of all, to add insult to injury, it's hard to ignore that they've pushed the Half-Life franchise on the backburner in favor of other projects that seem to be more lucrative, most noteably Left 4 Dead.

Based on what?

Valve have an established history of developing multiple games concurrently.

 

[kupocake]

Valve have an established history of developing multiple games concurrently.

Established but, let's be honest, ineffective. And they've said time and time again that it's all hands on deck for whatever title is being imminently released.

But this backburner 'Left 4 Dead is the new Half-Life' talk is utter bull anyway, and even if it were true, I see no reason to mess my knickers about the change of regime.

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

.

 

[Eejit]

Hysterical reactionaries? Uh-huh...
It's kinda sad when people can only understand disagreement by dismissing it as being from emotionally unstable wackos. There's a slight chance your logic and arguments aren't as overwhelmingly convincing as you may suppose.

All Valve have said is they aren't talking about Ep3 yet, there's no reason to assume they aren't working on it. In fact given their track record with concurrent development there's every reason to give them the benefit of the doubt.

And they have done it fairly well kupo - HL2 with CS:S and DOD:S, Ep2 with Portal and TF2 were all pretty effective simultaneous releases, not just simultaneous development.

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

.

 

[Eejit]

I think you're overreaching in your willingness to believe the worst.
The sheer size of their ad campaign shows that Valve desire L4D2 to have the media focus for now. Their nearest release is the one that they need to keep in the limelight; for interviews to be about L4D2, for previews to be about L4D2, for everything they announce to be about L4D2.

Good marketing strategy - which the $25m clearly shows Valve take seriously - for the upcoming release says nothing about the development rates of the following releases. To assume otherwise and try to interpret all remarks in such a way is rather silly.



As you clearly had trouble interpreting my previous remarks I'll clarify - when I sarcastically commented on your convincing arguments it was to highlight your resort to ad hominem accusations of hysteria and emotional fragility in those who disagreed with you. Perhaps as if only those with such problems could fail to concede the rightness of your position.

 

[Tee Kyoo Em]

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