Gabe Newell: Left 4 Dead Half-price Sale Saw 3000% Increase, Beat Launch Numbers

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell announced during a DICE keynote today that last weekend's half-price sale of Left 4 Dead resulted in a 3000% increase in sales of the game, posting overall sales that beat the title's original launch performance.

Newell also mentioned that new Steam customers jumped 1600% over the same weekend, according to G4TV. Retail sales remained constant.

Sales of Team Fortress 2 went up 106% following a free update to the game. Retail wasn't left out in this case, with sales jumping 28%.

The massive Steam holiday sale was also a big win for Valve and its partners. The following holiday sales data was released, showing the sales breakdown organized by price reduction:

• 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
• 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
• 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
• 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales

Furthermore, Valve has hired an experimental psychologist to maximize the excitement of Steam sales and other marketing opportunities. According to Newell, one suggestion by the psychologist was to provide one free copy of a Valve game to every 25th buyer of Left 4 Dead.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57308

All I can say is "HOLY S#!T Valve!!"

So how much has L4D sold on pc then?

That psychologist has a death wish. Does he realize how many pissed off people there would be if this happened?

who knows... lets just say loads as it represents a large number of sales without stating any numbers which would actually be useful.

Just figure this, the 360 version sold like ass compared to the PC version.

And Left4Dead is at 1.6M in the 360, so do the math... It's like i said in another thread, Valve is PC first, 360 if they feel like it, and PS3 if Neptune crosses orbit with Jupiter... I have it on PC but the retail version, i don't trust Steam...

So valve hasn't released any figures? Wasn't NPD supposed to start tracking digital distribution, have they started yet? I have no doubt it sold well but I'm doubting it sold so much as to make the 360 version sales look like ass. Afterall its selling amazingly on the 360, it sold more than COD:WaW last month according to NPD and that is amazing. Although with the 50% off deal maybe the PC version got a big boost ahead of the 360 version.

1. The NPD will never be able to track DD sales as companies wont release figures.

2. 1.6 million sales is not much when you consider its Valve's game. So your last sentence makes no sense if your looking at it as if your meaning the 360 version has sold more than the PC becasue I have shocking news for you. It hasnt and never will unless every L4D compatible PC on this planet blows up in the next 10 seconds and every L4D PC user buys a 360 and L4D.

3. This brings me to my final point. If the PC version of L4D sales have reached, which isnt hard to believe, between 3 - 4 million copies then how can you say that the 360 version has sold even close to that? you can't.

Furthermore, The PC version of L4D will keep selling for years, long after this console gen ends.

And I do remember Gabe Newell saying something like "Half the sales of Valve games are from Steam" last year, which makes that 3000% increase of L4D sales all the more impressive.

Those are amazing numbers for sales. I bet that there are few sales that increase sales by 30 times.

And the steam holiday sales figures were also quite amazing. I think this all points to a maybe overlooked fact in today's gaming climate:

Many people tend to view games as overpriced. We don't buy them because it's too much of an investment. Especially in the current climate where all three consoles have downloadable gaming services where the prices run between $5-$15, $60 for a game seems like not enough bang for the buck.

Or it could just be people loving sales, and the amazing and evil function on Steam that tells you how much money you just saved.

go VALVE long live digital distribution!!!