Shacknews has an
explanation from Valve writer Chet Faliszek that Valve actually intended to
release the "Crash Course" DLC for the original
Left 4 Dead prior to E3,
which might have tempered the unhappy reaction to the
Left 4 Dead 2
announcement, "but some things held us up." The L4D2 brouhaha might have also
been lessened had they mentioned this at the time, but Chet says: "We just
didn't think to mention it, we were focusing on other stuff," which he
acknowledges was a mistake: "I think if we had that out before the Left 4 Dead 2
announcement, then it would have been clearer for our intentions. Losing the
opportunity to get that right hurt us, but I think we made the right choices
otherwise."