Wretched Sales & Dangerous Devices

      As with all games, the company's goal is to create a great time for the player and generate as much money as they can through doing so.  Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 did quite a remarkable job with their sales and it still continues to be a great game that still sells well.  Left 4 Dead 1 was released in North America on November 18th, 2008 and Left 4 Dead 2 was released in North America on November 17th, 2009.  I am having trouble finding out how much the games made within their fist weekend / week of release, but I am sure it was enough to be a big deal (although it is no COD Black Ops, which made $350 million within its first 24 hours of release!).  What I have found, however, are statistics on its sales afterwards:  On February 20th, 2009, an article stated that when Valve cut the first Left 4 Dead's price by 50%, their game sales immediately jumped 3,000% in sales!  Apparently these sales were so strong that it dominated the game's opening weekend sales (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/33312/Left-4-Dead-sales-jump-3000).  The second Left 4 Dead ended up selling over two million units throughout the world within two weeks of release.  It had also been played over one million times by X-Box Live Gold members within that first two weeks.  Within these first two weeks, the second installment had already outsold its income from the first game!  Currently Left 4 Dead 1 goes for around $15 - $20, while the second installment goes for $25 - $30...well above the price of a one-year-outdated sports game.
     Left 4 Dead is not only displayed through the television screen, but also in physical forms through all of its merchandise throughout its time of release.  The game had quickly become a big name within the action and horror game fanbase and therefore had merch made after it.  Various t-shirts, action figures, stickers, and much more can be found either through the internet or various stores.  Valve even added a downloadable content comic book.  I actually found out about this game through my friend because he was wearing a shirt advertising the game.