Valve Says No TF2 DLC, No L4D for PS3

Tue, Sep 23, 2008

During a particularly insightful interview regarding the company’s future plans, Valve Software’s Gabe Newell told 1UP that while the company plans to support the PlayStation 3 more and more over time, they “don’t have the bandwidth” to work on bringing either Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress 2’s much-lauded downloadable content and achievements to Sony’s platform.

When 1UP asks Newell about Left 4 Dead on PS3, he floats the idea that that there might be a version at some point, but constant references to bandwidth suggest that Valve has absolutely no plans of creating such a port themselves…

1UP: First off — are you still holding off on a PS3 version of Left 4 Dead?

Gabe Newell: We don’t have the bandwidth. For The Orange Box, EA did the PS3 version. They’re interested in getting a PS3 version done. We just have to figure out where the resources can come from. We don’t have the bandwidth. We’re doing the 360 and PC version ourselves.

…and when the question of who might create such a version is broached, Newell dodges it almost entirely.

1UP: If there is a PS3 version, would you let EA do it, or would you like to actually dabble with the PS3?

GN: I think we need to do a good job with supporting the PS3 with the Source engine. Our engine licensees would like us to do it. I think we need to invest more in getting that in there. So I think that we’ll, over time, be directly more and more supporting the PS3 as our bandwidth allows us to.

It’s good to hear that Source might see greater PS3 support — but again, the question is who might build that support into the engine. When asked about whether PS3 owners of The Orange Box might see DLC for Team Fortress 2, Newell answered in no uncertain terms:

GN: No.

1UP: No?

Lombardi: We don’t have PlayStation developers, so….

Squashing earlier rumors that EA might release the TF2 DLC themselves, Newell told 1UP that EA would not be performing ongoing development of the game. There you have it, folks — PS3 owners are out of luck.

Check out the full in-depth interview with Gabe Newell at 1UP.