Since we’re on the topic of leaks involving Valve, you may recall way back in 2009 when the trailer for Left 4 Dead 2 was leaked to the internet. According to a recent interview with former Valve writer Chet Faliszek, the leak was actually planned by Valve themselves.
In a recent interview with Ars Technica, Faliszek was interviewed about lines that were cut from Left 4 Dead 2. Along with discussing the lines, Chet revealed that Valve organized the leak for the game’s 2009 trailer in order to circumvent the ESRB, who wouldn’t let Valve release the trailer.
For those not in the know, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board at the time had strict guidelines for games to be allowed on store shelves. That also included the marketing for the games. Which, if you watch the “leaked” trailer now, you could see how back then it couldn’t get the Mature rating, and that in turn would affect the game being put on sale at Walmart or GameStop.
As a result, Valve decided to get around this by pulling a fast one and “leaking” the trailer to the internet. Which, as expected, did its job of spreading the trailer around and creating buzz for the game.
“You have to remember… Valve was in fights with the ESRB, with Australia, with Germany, with a bunch of countries about the profanity in the game, the violence,” said Faliszek. “I’ll just admit that [we leaked the trailer]. I think we can’t get in trouble for that now. It’s like 20 years ago.”
As Faliszek alludes to, Valve was having to deal with the ESRB over the violence in Left 4 Dead 2, as well as the game’s cover art, which originally had the hand on the cover having all but its index and middle finger torn off. Not to mention the ratings boards in Australia and Germany, which amongst other things, are particularly harsh on violence. In fact, L4D2 was never released uncensored in Germany until 2021.
As one might expect, looking back now at the footage in the trailer and in the game itself, it seems downright tame compared to something like Resident Evil Requiem or Halloween: The Game.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, the ESRB did lighten up and eventually update their advertising principles to now explicitly allow trailers to include more violent content.