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THQ Signs Left 4 Dead Developers, Promising to (Guess What?) Change Multiplayer

It's a shooter. It has multiplayer. And you won't be playing it until 2013.

THQ continues to make some interesting moves, spearheaded by former Hollywood producer-turned-gaming exec Danny Bilson. The publisher's signed the next game from Turtle Rock Studios, who used to be cozy with Valve, resulting in Counter-Strike: Source and Left 4 Dead.

All we know about Turtle Rock's latest is a first-person-shooter featuring, uh, multiplayer, with Bilson projecting it will "make a similar impact [as Left 4 Dead] in the multiplayer space."

As for when we'll hear more about it, that's less clear. It won't be at E3, with a "full reveal" coming at a "later date" in the "months ahead." I'm "doing" a lot of "quoting" this "press release."

And even when we hear about the project, playing it's even further off: sometime in 2013.

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patrickklepek

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Edited By patrickklepek

THQ continues to make some interesting moves, spearheaded by former Hollywood producer-turned-gaming exec Danny Bilson. The publisher's signed the next game from Turtle Rock Studios, who used to be cozy with Valve, resulting in Counter-Strike: Source and Left 4 Dead.

All we know about Turtle Rock's latest is a first-person-shooter featuring, uh, multiplayer, with Bilson projecting it will "make a similar impact [as Left 4 Dead] in the multiplayer space."

As for when we'll hear more about it, that's less clear. It won't be at E3, with a "full reveal" coming at a "later date" in the "months ahead." I'm "doing" a lot of "quoting" this "press release."

And even when we hear about the project, playing it's even further off: sometime in 2013.

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novadth

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Edited By novadth

More L4D! 
 
Edit: Not more L4D :(

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

Hopefully it's not more zombies.

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ribeye

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Edited By ribeye

GarageBuddy MMO! ....wait

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wolf_blitzer85

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Edited By wolf_blitzer85

So Left 4 Dead in the Unreal Engine instead?
 
I kid. This is kinda cool. I mean the developers are branching out and trying new things. They did awesome things with the Source Engine, so let's see what they can do with another set of tools.
 
I hope it's not Left 4 Dead UNREALIZED or something of the likes....

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deactivated-5c5cdba6e0b96

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Interesting, wonder what it will be.

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august

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Edited By august

So... I guess Turtle Rock bought their ownership back from Valve?

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JJOR64

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Edited By JJOR64

Curious to see what this thing is.

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datarez

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Edited By datarez

I had thought Valve would have locked these guys down, but I guess not.  Makes me think more and more that Valve is just there for steam sales anymore. Portal 2 was awesome, amazing and fantastic but also another team.

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Gildermershina

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Edited By Gildermershina

I could have sworn Turtle Rock was acquired by Valve and that was that. Apparently I missed the part where they reformed as a separate studio.

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CrimsonNoir

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Edited By CrimsonNoir

i thought valve bought up Turtle Rock Studios.

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MattyFTM

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Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator

I thought Valve owned Turtle Rock? Didn't they buy them a while back?

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Bumpton

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Edited By Bumpton

I thought Valve owned Turtle Rock, but I guess not.
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Cretaceous_Bob

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Edited By Cretaceous_Bob

Valve bought Turtle Rock, then didn't need them, so they shut the studio down, then Turtle Rock made Turtle Rock again and started making games again. 
 
Sounds like Valve really only bought Left 4 Dead.

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zaglis

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Edited By zaglis

Since when Turtle Rock made CSS?
 
Wut

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Edited By bacongames

Keep in mind people that Valve doesn't always self-publish their games.  EA had a partners deal with Valve to publish all their games for retail while Valve obviously puts it out for Steam.  I am curious about this story however for the same reasons.  The name Turtle Rock technically doesn't exist anymore as of 2008 and has become Valve South ever since.  But I bet this wasn't done behind the backs of Valve.  That studio must still consider itself Turtle Rock if it wanted to branch out from under Valve without completely leaving it (because THQ didn't acquire them, just publishing their next game).
 
I too hope it's not more zombies because we've already got two Left 4 Dead games, two Dead Rising games, and Dead Island coming up and we don't need another.

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Edited By natedagr811
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Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

THQ turnin' it up.

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boylie

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Edited By boylie

...what happened between Turtle Rock and Valve I wonder?

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Winternet

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Edited By Winternet

2013! Dude, don't even come out and say it. I can't even count higher than 12. Take it easy.

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deactivated-5f90eabee6bba

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@datarez:  
Half-Life takes a lot of work. Don't get all effin cynical.
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Edited By ajamafalous

Wow, that's crazy.

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the8bitNacho

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Edited By the8bitNacho

I could have sworn that Valve owned Turtle Rock. I suppose that I have been wrong before.

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RandomInternetUser

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Whoa.... What the hell.  I was so sure Turtle Rock was owned by Valve at this point.  Hopefully the next game they make will still be great.
 
Question:  Does Valve own the L4D ip or is that Turtle Rock's?  Really disappointed if Valve doesn't own the rights to L4D.  I want to see a third one at some point.

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Jeffsekai

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Edited By Jeffsekai

I can't wait for perks, xp, ironsights, prone, and every other COD feature to get shoe horned into the next left 4 dead

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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite

I hope it's not zombies related... I've been wanted to get my teeth into some good FPS multiplayer for a while now...

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Creigz

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Edited By Creigz

I would like to see something NOT Left 4 Dead....to be honest. Those two games got old so fast I couldn't play them for more than a few days. Still fun to come back to with a few friends once in a while.

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MariachiMacabre

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Edited By MariachiMacabre
@Meatsim said:
Hopefully it's not more zombies.
Herp. Derp.
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RagingLion

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Edited By RagingLion
@natedagr811 said:
For those wondering regarding Turtle Rock's leaving Valve, Doug Lombardi confirmed it at E3 2009. Technically, Left4Dead 2 wasn't developed under Turtle Rock's name.  
 
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23913
Well I guess that article explains most of it.  Though it states that the position at that time was "No details were offered regarding that group's upcoming project, but Lombardi did confirm it is once again a collaboration with Valve. "  I wonder what changed there?  Did Valve get first look at the project but then decide not to run with it or did THQ come in with a better deal?
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PXAbstraction

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Edited By PXAbstraction

Wait, what? Didn't Valve buy out and integrate Turtle Rock Studios?

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rottendevice

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Edited By rottendevice

I really like THQ as a publisher. It seems like they take so many more risks than the competition, even though it doesn't always work out financially. 
 
I'm very interested in seeing what becomes of this.

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Vexed

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Edited By Vexed

2013?  So never?

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AngriGhandi

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Edited By AngriGhandi

So, they did modern military 
then they did zombies 
clearly their next game will revolutionize multiplayer first person shooting... IN SPACE

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abendlaender

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Edited By abendlaender

Wait, isn't THQ also publishing inSane (the Del Toro Game) in 2013?

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DG991

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Edited By DG991
@zaglis: Yea did they? I didn't know they made CSS.
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Edited By Norusdog

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

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Edited By benjaebe

They worked with Valve on L4D but Valve let them go independent after that and Valve retained the L4D IP. I remember reading about it a year or two ago, before L4D2 was announced. Talented group, and THQ has some pretty solid people internally. Hopefully something good will come out of this.

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hexogen

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Edited By hexogen

I'm interested. The Left 4 Dead games were cool, even if they didn't have much longevity (to me). I'd like to see what they're putting out, even if it turns out to not be my type of game.

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FCKSNAP

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Edited By FCKSNAP
@DG991 said:
@zaglis: Yea did they? I didn't know they made CSS.
They made the Xbox port of CSS which supposedly had the best AI ever or something.
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DG991

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Edited By DG991
@Snapstacle: pfft... fail...  that doesn't count for much. 
 
I am hoping for vavle to release a new CS. It would be cool if they followed blizzards lead and made a game that is designed to be super competitive like sc2. For a while there the CS community was huge. 
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Edited By xpgamer7

After E3? Perhaps...PAX?

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Rolyatkcinmai

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Edited By Rolyatkcinmai
@DG991 said:
@Snapstacle:  For a while there the CS community was huge. 
Both CS 1.6 and CSS are still insanely popular. 11 years later in the former's case. Some of the best shooters ever made.
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jkuc316

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Edited By jkuc316

A Sci-Fi L4D?! and Multiplatform?!

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DG991

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Edited By DG991
@Rolyatkcinmai: Well... when I said huge at one point they were on TV. There were sponsorships that actually mattered. Going to lan parties actually presented a challenge and often times you would find yourself playing actual french people, not just french Canadians, in tournaments that potentially earned you a couple thousand and then some.  Online tournaments also actually lasted more then one season and CAL was awesome till it got bought out by a random Arab company.  
 

Now, not so much... still popular, but not huge. 
The competitive scene is not what it used to be, but thats what I am saying. Valve should do a Blizzard and make the next Counter Strike as ripe for competition as SC2 was.  
I am ready for a CS with no registry problems and fixing some jank on a new engine. And YES I know cs:source got updated to the newest source engine... it's still not good and it broke all my configs and thats when I stopped playing. 
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tebbit

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Edited By tebbit

I thought it was peculiar to refer to Valve as "the makers of Left 4 Dead", but then I realised ...

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AgentofChaos

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Edited By AgentofChaos

Hopefully THQ can get something original out of these guys. I mean, lately they've been publishing competent if unoriginal games (IMO guys :D ).

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Seedofpower

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Edited By Seedofpower

Sweet Good job THQ.

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zaglis

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Edited By zaglis
@Snapstacle said:
@DG991 said:
@zaglis: Yea did they? I didn't know they made CSS.
They made the Xbox port of CSS which supposedly had the best AI ever or something.
WRONG AGAIN.
There is no Xbox version of CSS, all Turtle Rock did was port CZ to Xbox
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FCKSNAP

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Edited By FCKSNAP
@zaglis said:
@Snapstacle said:
@DG991 said:
@zaglis: Yea did they? I didn't know they made CSS.
They made the Xbox port of CSS which supposedly had the best AI ever or something.
WRONG AGAIN. There is no Xbox version of CSS, all Turtle Rock did was port CZ to Xbox
It came packed in with Half Life 2 at some point, that's all I remember.