It’s been almost a decade since the last Left 4 Dead game came out, and fans have been clamoring for a third installment ever since. So what happened to Left 4 Dead 3?
The simple answer is that development on the game has been cancelled – but the story behind why is a bit more complicated.
What Went Wrong?
There are a few different factors that contributed to the cancellation of Left 4 Dead 3. The first is that the game’s development studio, Turtle Rock Studios, was acquired by 2K Games in January of 2014.
This acquisition put the development of Left 4 Dead 3 on hold, as 2K Games wanted to focus on their other properties, such as Bioshock and the Borderlands series.
In addition, the team working on Left 4 Dead 3 was dispersed to work on other projects, including Evolve, which was also published by 2K Games.
The final nail in the coffin for Left 4 Dead 3 was the release of Valve’s own zombie game, Left 4 Dead 2: Unturned. This free-to-play game was seen as a direct competitor to Left 4 Dead 3, and with Valve’s considerable resources behind it, there was little chance that Left 4 Dead 3 could have competed.
So, unfortunately, it seems that we’ll never get to see Left 4 Dead 3. However, there is some good news for fans of the series.
Back 4 Blood
In June of 2020, it was announced that Turtle Rock Studios was working on a new game called Back 4 Blood. This game is being described as a "spiritual successor" to Left 4 Dead, so it’s likely that we’ll see many similar elements.
While we don’t know much about Back 4 Blood yet, it’s safe to say that fans of Left 4 Dead will want to keep an eye on this one.