Payday DLC Isn’t Part of Left 4 Dead Canon, Valve Says

The upcoming Payday: No Mercy DLC for Payday: The Heist takes place in the hospital from the Left 4 Dead series, but this doesn’t make the experience part of the franchise’s canon, at least according to one of Valve’s writers.

Valve’s Left 4 Dead franchise has impressed millions of players with top-notch gameplay and an interconnecting story.

Over the weekend, a report arrived saying that a special prequel to the events from the first game would be launched in the form of a downloadable expansion for Payday: The Heist, made by Overkill studios in partnership with Valve.

Now, Valve has released a statement about the report, saying that, while the Payday: No Mercy DLC takes place in the hospital from Left 4 Dead 1, this doesn’t make its events canon.

"This is a 100 per cent Overkill-made mission for Payday: Heist simply set in No Mercy hospital from the Left 4 Dead series," Valve’s Chet Faliszek told Kotaku about the DLC.

"It is not telling the origins of the Infection and is not canon," he added. "There is a little cameo from one of the L4D characters and a fun little Easter-egg with a payoff later in Left 4 Dead. Just us having some fun with a studio we are friends with and who have also made a great co-op game."

What’s more, Faliszek also revealed that the blurb which accompanied the report ("Have you ever wondered how the Left 4 Dead series began? It started with a heist!") was written "just by some over-excited marketing guys."

Even if the whole DLC for Payday: The Heist isn’t a part of the Left 4 Dead canon, it’s going to be interesting to see what kind of things are included in the add-on that’s expected to appear later this year for the co-op game.