Fri, Feb 22, 2008 | 21:47 GMT
GDC: Valve confirms Left 4 Dead left off PS3, moots Source for Wii
Speaking to videogaming247 at GDC today, Valve’s Doug Lombardi has confirmed that highly anticipated zombie shooter Left 4 Dead is definitely not planned for release on PlayStation 3, and said that if the company were to tool up for a format outside PC and Xbox 360 it would be Wii.
“We were really crappy at bringing games to consoles,” he said. He cited the time it took to move the original Half-Life games to console formats as an example of how the company had come “really late” to console development. He said that while the focus had always been on PC, the company had now moved up a gear to produce games simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PC, but that it had limited interest in developing for Playstation 3.
“EA wanted to do Orange Box on PS3 and they handled it,” said Lombardi. “Left 4 Dead isn’t coming out on PS3 because we’ve not had that call. If the phone rang we would have the conversation, certainly, but it hasn’t happened.”
Lombardi suggested that Left 4 Dead’s Counter-Strike origins might have made it less appealing to PlayStation audiences and the publishers trying to serve them.
“They saw Portal and Team Fortress 2 and said ‘Oh wow’, so I guess that sold it,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see on Left 4 Dead.”
Lombardi also revealed that, “If Valve were to develop in-house for another format, it would be the Wii. It’s growing, there’s already a huge user-base, and it’s fun. Source is really scaleable. We can do that.”
Left 4 Dead is being developed by Valve-owned Turtle Rock Studios and has no specific release date as yet.
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Posted in: GDC 2008, PC, PS3, Shooter, Valve, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
Tags: left 4 dead, turtle rock studios
23 comments
#1
Zumi
21/02/08, 11:07 pm
The guy comes off as having a genuine fanboy hate for Sony, it’s rather bizarre.
#2
Tiger Walts
22/02/08, 12:01 am
I think it’s endemic to the culture of Valve. Gabe Newell rarely has good things to say about the PS3. Also getting Source onto Wii would be like blowing a raspberry at Epic who have said they’d look at doing it with UE3 (possibly with a little mirth) but have so far done nothing. And thinking about it, Dark Messiah, a Source engine game would work well with a Wiimote.
#3
XDamage
22/02/08, 3:08 am
For the things Gabe Newell has said about the PS3, as a representative of Valve, I think Sony will let them wait by that phone for an eternity.
I can’t believe the arrogance of that guy. Just because they haven’t yet fully understood how to develop games for the PS3, doesn’t give them the right to smack-talk it like they have.
Many other developers clearly had no problem mastering the PS3 development, and will even continue to improve upon their work in the future, so I say good riddance to Valve and their unbelievably crappy ports!
Anyways, thanks Videogaming247 for a kick ass gaming news site!
#4
patlike
22/02/08, 6:21 am
You’re welcome!
#5
Blerk
22/02/08, 9:44 am
“We’re not bringing any more games to PS3, because Gabe threatened to sit on us if we did”, shuddered Lombardi.