Fans hoping for another co-op title like Left 4 Dead might be in for a treat, as Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced the partnership between PlayStation, J. J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Games, and Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth for an upcoming four-player cooperative shooter.
Announced via a press release, details surrounding the upcoming title are slim, but it will be the first Bad Robot Games title developed in-house, following its work with other studios such as 2022’s Weird West and the 2023 interactive horror television series Silent Hill: Ascension. The studio is also the gaming division of Bad Robot, the film, television and theatre production company founded by J. J. Abrams, the filmmaker behind the Star Wars franchise and horror films like 2008’s Cloverfield and 2011’s Super 8.
Most notably, however, is the involvement of Booth, who will be directing the upcoming shooter. Apart from being the current chief creative officer of Bad Robot Games, he is perhaps best known for being the creator and lead designer of 2008’s Left 4 Dead, the pioneer of the co-op zombie shooter genre, which would receive a sequel in 2009, with the franchise largely regarded as one of Valve’s finest.
The announcement of this new game follows Booth’s previous comments, which he teased via the Left 4 Dead subreddit three months ago, stating at the time that he was working on a new four-player co-op shooter project “built on the foundations of what made L4D special”. According to Booth, the upcoming title would feature the same emphasis on teamwork, tension and replayability, and “expands on the co-op formula in ways [he] wanted to explore for a long time.”
Following the success of the first two games, many have tried to replicate the formula, but to little success, with attempts including Turtle Rock Studios’ asymmetrical multiplayer shooter Evolve and the 2021 Left 4 Dead spiritual successor, Back 4 Blood. Both titles tried to shake up the formula, with the former’s then-unique 1v4 structure and the latter’s inclusion of a deck-building element, but ultimately failed to capture the same spirit.
With the involvement of Booth himself this time around, perhaps this time the teams can actually do the Left 4 Dead-style shooter genre justice. While the upcoming title is still in its early development, it’s set to be a console exclusive and will launch on the PS5 and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
