One of the bigger announcements Microsoft made last week during their annual E3 press briefing, was the sequel to the highly praised game Left 4 Dead, was coming out this fall. Generally speaking, when a second installment for a popular game like Left 4 Dead is revealed, fans of the first title are over excited. However, this isn’t the case for Left 4 Dead 2.

Since it was shown to the public for the first time, Valve has received a bit of a backlash — especially in the Steam Community. The group, who named themselves NO-L4D2, have created a protest and are calling for a boycott of the release for Left 4 Dead 2. “The Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott is a group of individuals who have pledged to boycott Valve’s upcoming release of Left 4 Dead 2 on November 17th, 2009,” the protest group wrote. “We have assembled a manifesto outlining the basic consensus of many members of our community.” If you want to read their manifesto, check it out after the jump.

Heading into the weekend, the group had about 11,000 potential customers who are committed not to purchase Left 4 Dead 2, until their needs were met. Now, that the number of individuals has considerably grown and the count is up to 21,000+.

We should also note, another group who call themselves Pro-L4D2, are individuals who support the release of Left 4 Dead 2. Although, their numbers have yet to exceed 10, and only have 8 currently committed.

WE RECOGNIZE:

-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.

-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.

-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

WE ARE COMMITTED:

-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.

-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.

-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

WE BELIEVE:

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.

-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.

-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

WE REQUEST:

-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.

-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.

-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.

Therefore, we – the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott – promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.