Lets think something just for a minute. Think back to when Quake was released in 1996, and the number of modifications that were released shortly after.  Then lets consider what Valve software did with Left 4 Dead, and Left 4 Dead 2, and the lack of modifications.

Valve software releases l4d, almost exactly a year later, l4d2 is released. This should have been when the modifications started to come out. Lets not pick on Valve, but they might be setting a poor example for other game companies to follow.

Lets go back and take a look at Quake:

Quake was released in June 1996
Team Fortress was released in August 1996
Threewave Capture the Flag was released sometime in 1996 – 1997, can not find an exact date
Rocket Arena was released sometime in 1997
Quake II was released in December 1997

Just with Quake alone we had 3 major modifications within about a year.

Now lets look at Left 4 Dead:

Left 4 Dead was released November 17, 2008
Left 4 Dead modifications?
Left 4 Dead 2 was released November 17, 2009

Where are the modifications for left 4 dead? Sure we have maps, but “where” are the total modifications? Am I missing something here?

With the quick release of left 4 dead 2 there is little need to develop full blown modifications.

My opinion, releasing a sequel so fast is going to have long term affects on the modding community – and not for the good either. In the long run we are probably going to see less modifications made, and those that are made are probably going to be of low quality.

Just in the past 5 – 6 years I have seen a massive downturn in the amount of fan based modifications that have been released.

Please post your comments in the fan based game modifications thread of the forums.

Tags: gaming modifications, left 4 dead modifications, quake modifications