Valve staged its own Left 4 Dead 2 trailer "leak" to get around an ESRB ban, says former writer
Valve itself "leaked" the 2009 Left 4 Dead 2 trailer. Read more
Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek revealed that the company had leaked the 2009 Left 4 Dead 2 trailer ahead of time to bypass the ESRB's ban on the game's violent and profane content. Faliszek explained that Valve clashed with the ratings board over the game's violence, gore, and profanity, but felt they could not get in trouble for leaking the trailer now, as it was over 20 years ago.
The ESRB had previously objected to an early promotional image of the game, which featured a hand with three fingers gnawed off, and had forced Dark Sector and The Darkness to remove trailers deemed offensive. Valve sidestepped the more restrictive AO rating by seeding the trailer as an unofficial leak, which later became the game's actual intro cinematic and helped the game receive an M rating.
It took until 2021 for Germany to finally approve and release the uncut international version of Left 4 Dead 2.
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