Tag Archives: doug lombardi

Valve’s Portal 2 DLC is still heading your way this summer, and according to spokesman Doug Lombardi, it will be released sometime in mid-September. No further information was revealed about the content, but we’ve previously been told by the firm it will contain new test chambers, new challenge modes, and other nice nuggets for Mac, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Thanks, Kotaku.

Now that Steam has opened its doors to the freemium world, Valve has apparently admitted it has its own free-to-play games inbound.

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Valve is starting to look at bringing Steam functionality to mobile phones, according to the firms Doug Lombardi and Jason Holtman.

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Jonesing for more Portal 2? Valve has said the puzzler will see its first downloadable content over the next few months.

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“We are not done with Gordon Freeman’s adventures. I have nothing other than that to tell you today, but hang in there with us.” – Doug Lombardi, Valve Software, speaking to Ausgamers.

Doug Lombardi has revealed Valve chose to make its own Portal 2 commercials after bad experiences with advertising agencies. See the ad for yourself through the break.

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Valve programmer Jeep Barnett and the firm’s head of marketing, Doug Lombardi are featured in a new video interview with Games on Net, and not only chat about Jeep’s move from work on Narbacular Drop to Portal 2, but the game’s cross-platform play and how puzzles are included in the game.

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Valve has said its release line-up is not as random or “schizophrenic” as it appears to be, but is, in fact, a properly planned out affair. Who knew?

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Anyone up for Left 4 Dead on PS3? After the Portal 2 E3 megaton, “who knows?”

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Just in case you needed more clarification, Valve’s E3 event in Los Angeles next week is officially off. No more.  “Completely cancelled”.

Just so we make it clear to you.

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Wondering where the just-announced Portal 2 is heading to when it releases this holiday? Spoiler: not PlayStation 3. Surprise!

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Valve just announced 2 million Left 4 Dead 2 sales in just two weeks at retail.

Sales-to-date are more than double those of the first game; the company claims the numbers will put the 360 and PC title up as “one of” the biggest games on the formats for November.

More than 1 million Gold Live subs have now played the shooter.

“Left 4 Dead 2 is off to a great start with strong support at retail and great reviews from the press,” said Valve marketing boss Doug Lombardi.

He added: “News regarding L4D2 DLC 1 is coming very soon.”

PR after the break.

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Valve’s Doug Lombardi has revealed that, out of the $25 million being spent for the ad campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 worldwide, over $10 million will be used for the European ad campaign. Thats £6 million in sterling.

“$25m is being spent on the game’s launch globally. Half is set aside for Europe, with the lion’s share being spent on the UK release,” revealed Valve’s Doug Lombardi.

“Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the fastest-selling product in Valve’s history,” said the head of the studio Gabe Newell.

“Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300 per cent of Left 4 Dead’s numbers.”

The game is out on November 20 in the UK for the Xbox 360 and PC. Find more at MCV.

The rumor is rumor no more. The final pair of Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns – known as “Hard Rain” and “Dead Center” – are real. How do we know? Because Valve told us so.

“They’re legit,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told VG247.

On top of that, the game’s Achievement list – recently rescued from a storage closet by Xbox360Achievements.org – lists the two new campaigns, along with a slew of other unannounced odds and ends. Standouts include the defibrilator, which probably brings allies back to life,  and the “bile bomb,” which both intrigues and disgusts us. In a good way.

Click through the link to see the full list for yourself.

Valve’s Doug Lombardi has told Destructoid that the best way to combat used game sales and piracy, is to make good games and offer continued support.

“We always see these overall numbers, like how much money GameStop’s making per year off of used game sales, but we really don’t have a breakdown of details for those,” he told the site. “I don’t personally know, after being at Valve since Half-Life 1, how many copies of our games per year are sold used, and on the PC versus the 360, so I think there’s a certain amount of information that’s missing, sort of like piracy. I think a lot of folks cry piracy when a game fails to hit their forecast and it may or may not be part of the problem, and it may or may not be all of the problem, but I think to throw any one reason at any problem is probably a mistake, considering the lack of information on both fronts.

“Having said all that, though, I think that it’s probably true to say that gamers tend to have affinity for the games that they like, so if you’re doing your job and making a good game, and providing a high level of service for that game at the time of release and post-release, I’m guessing you’re probably less of a victim of piracy and trade, because people want to have the full copy, the legal copy, and have all the updates.

“I think there are ways of curbing both piracy and used game sales by providing a higher level of service at the time of launch and post-launch. And I think what we’re seeing, as platforms become more and more connected, that this problem will become less and less an issue as the idea of offering a service post-launch becomes more and more en vogue.”

More through the link.

Doug Lombardi has said that “free weekend” sales on Steam assist retail and online game stores.

“When we do our free weekends on Steam for our products we see an increase in player numbers, obviously, and then we’ll see a spike in sales at the end of the weekend on Steam and at retail,” he told Gi.biz. “Recently we’ve seen data that shows Left 4 Dead free weekends increase the sales of Left 4 Dead on Steam, at retail and on the Xbox 360, which we would never have guessed could have happened, but it’s just that word of mouth.

“A lot of the ‘Steam is there to compete with retail’ stuff is sort of sensationalized. We spent more money at GameStop in the US promoting Left For Dead than we did at any other chain. We sold more copies of Left 4 Dead at Gamestop than we did at any other chain.

“[Steam is] about making the games better. It’s currently a great marketing and promotions channel, and yeah we sell games over it and that’s great, but whether people buy games at GameStop, or GAME UK, or on Steam, we get paid. So for us, whichever cash register you want to pay at, that’s fine.”

More through the link.

Valve doesn’t want to make PlayStation games. End of.

“If we were customers of that product on PlayStation, we’d feel like we sort of got the stepchild version of the product while the guys on the PC and the 360 got the sweet version of it,” Valve marketing boss Doug Lombardi told CVG in London yesterday.

And why are Valve’s PC and 360 games better than Valve’s PlayStation games? Because Valve isn’t very good at PlayStation games. End of.

“If you look at it as a matter of Valve doing it, Valve did the 360 and the PC version of the Orange Box and they both go 96 on Metacritic – The PS3 version was nowhere close to that. Left 4 Dead got a 89 or a 90 on 360 and PC,” Lombardi said.

He added: “Until we have the ability to get a PS3 team together, until we find the people who want to come to Valve or who are at Valve who want to work on that, I don’t really see us moving to that platform.”

End of. Please.

Despite nearly 40,000 people signing a petition against the apparently overly early announcement of Left 4 Dead, Valve told CVG in London yesterday that it didn’t make a jot of difference.

“It really didn’t change our plans at all,” said Valve marketing boss Doug Lombardi.

“As I mentioned we had plans to keep releasing stuff [for L4D1]. We put the Survival Pack out for free which I thought was pretty cool on 360 as well as PC – it’s sort of uncommon to be able to get new stuff out that way.”

That’s where petitions get you, kids. There’s more through there.

Valve’s told EG that Left 4 Dead 2 pre-orders are double those taken for the original game.

“Our pre-orders are currently double what they were for Left 4 Dead 1 at this point in time away from launch,” said Valve’s Doug Lombardi. “We’re like 20 weeks out or something like that.”

He added: “We’re seeing great enthusiasm from retailers, from EA, [and] the press called it multiplayer game of E3.”

The zombie shooter’s out later this year for PC and 360.

Valve told EG in London yesterday that it didn’t expect such an adverse reaction to Left 4 Dead 2, and put “confusion” surrounding a perceived dropping of the first game down to E3′s format.

“We obviously listen to the community a lot,” said Doug Lombardi. “That’s one of our staples. Did we anticipate it? No, we didn’t, but I think that one of the key things is: announcing Left 4 Dead 2 doesn’t mean we’re abandoning Left 4 Dead 1.

“Another thing is it’s important to remember that E3 is where you go to announce new titles, specifically titles that are coming to retail. We do press there, but it’s not really a venue for announcing DLC or mod tools.

“So I think there was a little bit of confusion that we created unintentionally, by announcing a sequel and not having the complete story ready: announcing it and not saying, there’s still a lot of stuff being worked on for Left 4 Dead 1, and the mod tools will work with both games.”

So calm down, internet. Everything’s fine, apparently. Hit the link for the full thing.