Take with a big grain of salt.
Left 4 Dead 2

As far as rumors go, this one really isn't all that out of left field. Earlier today, Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network, suggested that a VR version of Left 4 Dead is real.

That's pretty much it. That's all he has to say on this particular matter: "Left 4 Dead is real." Oh, ok. Unsurprisingly, he dared not share anything additional to back up his claim.

Of course, saying that Left 4 Dead VR exists really isn't that big of a leap to make, be it real or made up for attention. It would not be completely unreasonable to think that Valve turned whatever Left 4 Dead 3 may have been into a VR only title. In fact, it was initially suggested that Left 4 Dead 3 would be both a VR and non-VR title.

Of course, with there never being anything concrete about Left 4 Dead 3, it's kind of hard to say with any certainty. We've heard nothing but hearsay for years now. The most "definitive" pieces of information over the years came from various data mining leaks that provided only the smallest of hints, a few details gleaned from Counter-Strike co-creator Minh Le in 2014, and a bit more from an interview with Gabe Newell in 2017. We also got a little hint of Left 4 Dead 3 back in 2013 when a fan took a tour of Valve and snapped some photos.

With the recent announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, we know that Valve is not against crafting AAA quality experiences using their most well-known IPs. So they have Half-Life for those craving a single-player experience, but what about multiplayer? Despite the rise in popularity of VR, it's still very much a luxury purchase. Team Fortress VR could work, provided adjustments were made for things like rocket jumping and getting bounced around everywhere.

In fact, a VR version of Team Fortress 2 actually existed way back when Oculus Development Kit 1 was the only real VR hardware available. This was around before SteamVR became a thing and before the first consumer oriented VR hardware from Oculus was released. Sadly, as time went on new hardware and APIs were developed. The project quietly faded away into obsolescence and no longer works.

There's also the issue of getting tons of people in to regularly play a VR multiplayer title. With servers that can take up to 32 players, that could be asking a lot, especially if the game isn't free to download. At least with a Left 4 Dead VR, you don't need to have a large number of people together in a game to make it fun. At max, four players would be all you would need. It can still be a fun experience with just 3, 2, or even going at it solo if you want. You can't very well say that about a round of Team Fortress. I would assume that something like a Team Fortress VR is still at least a few years away and only if the VR market share continues to grow. Again, this is just an assumption based on whatever I pull out of thin air here.

Dota VR? Naw. While there is a neat VR Dota spectator experience, a game like Dota just wouldn't translate well to VR. The game is played from a top-down perspective. While they could translate that to VR as sort of a virtual tabletop game, it would be a waste of VR's capabilities. And if they made a Dota VR that played in first-person, Dota fans wouldn't like it because of how fundamentally different a game like that would play compared to what they want out of a Dota game.

What about a Counter-Strike VR? What about it? It could work, in theory. You can often get games going with just a handful of players. However, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is still going very strong for Valve. To introduce another Counter-Strike into the mix now would do nothing but cannibalize themselves. I'm sure Valve also has seen the numbers (or has a rough idea) when it comes to how many Counter-Strike players actually own and use VR. It seems possible that the two gaming worlds just don't overlap enough for them to consider it for now.

Besides, a VR version of Counter-Strike kind of already exists with Pavlov VR.

Portal VR would also be another possibility for Valve. Just like the case with Team Fortress VR, a VR version of Portal technically already existed years back.


However, the main hurdle for Portal VR would be how to handle the extreme motion sickness that most players would undoubtedly encounter. Motion sickness in VR is something that gets less and less the more you use VR, and can even come back if you don't use VR for a while. Valve has probably made some big strides in ways to minimize motion sickness in a Portal-like game, but I feel like they would rather ease players into the world of VR with games that don't have you falling at terminal velocity and flinging your avatar all around.

The above all seems to paint a pretty clear idea of why it makes sense for Left 4 Dead VR to be the next to get the VR treatment. As it's multiplayer focused, this will appease those that prefer multiplayer experiences over single player. Single player fans are already getting Half-Life: Alyx. Left 4 Dead VR wouldn't need a lot of people in a server to have a good time. In general, the actions you do in Left 4 Dead aren't as prone to motion sickness as with Portal.

We know that Valve was working on "building three full (VR) games" as of early 2017. Half-Life: Alyx is one of those three games. And with the reasons above outlined, the process of elimination suggests that the second game is probably Left 4 Dead VR. The third game? If it still holds true that Valve is still working on the same three titles that they were in 2017, the third game could be any of their existing IPs or an entirely new experience. My money would be on Portal VR, assuming they're just making VR games based off of their old IPs. It could also be an entirely new IP that nobody has yet seen.

Hey, maybe it's Ricochet VR! Be right back, starting up a new rumor on social media to get fans all worked up.

Anyway, that's how easy it is to start a rumor, back it up with loosely held together evidence, and justify its existence. So take the VNN rumor of Left 4 Dead VR with a grain of salt for now until we have tangible evidence that it is really a thing.