After 17 years, Valve was fed up with censorship and leaked the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer - they couldn't make it soft enough

It wasn't exactly legal marketing, but the plan worked well.

Recently, former Valve writer Chet Faliszek recalled Left 4 Dead. The creators of the cooperative shooter once faced a problem — they couldn't meet the requirements of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board).

The Left 4 Dead 2 trailer prepared by Valve was rejected. Censors demanded to soften the video — to cut out a number of harsh scenes, but the game's creators were not satisfied with this approach, as then the promo video would not be able to convey the atmosphere of L4D 2.

The team would have had to prepare a cut-down trailer for the ESRB to approve such a publication, but they found another way out — they simply leaked the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. As a result, players were still able to see the "forbidden promotional material."

Since this was a leak, and not an official Valve publication, the ESRB could not have any complaints against the creators of Left 4 Dead 2.

Left 4 Dead 2 still attracts many players to this day. Recently, the cooperative shooter has had a peak online presence on Steam of about 30 thousand players. Various modifications continue to be released for the game.