DEC. 1, 2009 • Left 4 Dead 2 more than doubled the sales of its predecessor during its first month in release, according to Valve Software. In that time the game moved more than 2 million copies worldwide. That figure includes retail and direct distribution sales via Valve’s Steam service.

Impact: One factor we would chalk this up to is the power of spending money on marketing.  The marketing campaign for the first title was about $10 million, while Valve claimed they were spending $25 million on Left 4 Dead 2.  This was clearly a factor in driving sales as the title was also forced to compete with the massive launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  This was another November sign that for the right product the market is still hotter than ever.