Left 4 Dead Gets Lobby Functionality

Seven months after its release, Left 4 Dead on PC gets patched to provide lobbies for matchmaking.

One of the most-requested features for Valve's Left 4 Dead shooter was a functioning lobby system. According to a news post over on Shacknews, things just changed. Yesterday, the developer patched in a brand new lobby browser to the PC version of the game.

"The lobby browser (under Play Online) will show you a list of optimal games available for you to join," writes Valve. "The browser pares down the thousands of lobbies and games currently being played to show you the best list of games available to you."
"This list includes official and add-on campaigns, including add-on campaigns you have not yet installed, making it a great way to discover them. You can filter by difficulty, official and/or add-on campaigns and by lobbies and/or games in progress."

Whether or not the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead will ever receive the same treatment remains to seen. Valve is also cranking away on this year's sequel release, Left 4 Dead 2.

Bryn says: I distinctly remember at the game's launch listening to various PC gamers at work bitch about the lack of a lobby system. Alright, it's quite a long time after the fact, but at least Valve listened and did something about it. And one thing's for sure... Left 4 Dead 2 will most likely have all these tweaks and extra whistles and bells attached from day one.