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Like other four player cooperative (coop) games, Valve is pushing this functionality as a major selling point in Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2), which launches tonight. This includes a pre-order discount of 10%, and a four pack including its own discount. By planning properly, and some coordination with a few of your gamer friends, you can score a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 for just around $35.

First, let us get a baseline. The game for PC retails for $49.99, so our goal is to shave as much as possible off that. A 10% discount means you only pay $44.99 for pre-ordering it, which will disappear tonight around midnight EST when the game goes live and the price goes to normal retail. So you can save $5 just by buying it ahead of time, so what is the advantage of buying a four pack?

As the name implies, a four pack includes four copies of the game, one for you and three to gift to your friends. The thing worth noting is that Valve discounts the entire four pack 10% as well, bringing it in at $134.99, down from the normal $149.99. Normally though this is effectively a buy three get one free deal. $134.99 divided four ways is $33.75 a copy, which is a sweet deal.

Now, how do your gamer friends get you their payments, assuming you are the “handler” actually making the purchase? More likely than not this will be via PayPal. PayPal has different levels of accounts: Personal, Premier, Business, and Student. Your account level determines what amount PayPal takes out of incoming payments, meaning in short, you need to raise the prices of your friend’s games slightly to cover the PayPal fees. Below $3,000 (gross monthly income), PayPal takes 2.9% + $0.30. This comes out to roughly 3.8% for the amount we are working with. Remember our goal is to have $33.75 in your hands in the end, so let us break this down:

(33.75 * (1.0 + 0.029)) + 0.30 = 35.03

(Price * (1.0 + PayPalPercentageMarkup)) + PayPalAbsoluteMarkup = AmountYourFriendsPay

(Remember, with money you ALWAYS round up. This will skew the numbers some, but this is the general convention and ensures you are not taking a few cents hit for each of your friends.)

So, let us double check ourselves.

(35.03 * (1.0 - 0.029)) - 0.30 = 33.72

(AmountYourFriendsPay * (1.0 - PayPalPercentageMarkup)) - PayPalAbsoluteMarkup = Price

This looks good but is not penny perfect. For example, here you would be taking a small hit per friend because of rounding errors. As I said above, you can calculate this more easily as about 3.8% if you are rounding up, which is the convention with money but not general math. The point is you are covering your costs, and your friends are still walking away with a brand new game for just over $35. Of course, you can adjust your values if you want to be penny precise.

The biggest obstacle is utilizing this deal is actually finding three friends. Not all gamers are PC gamers, not all PC gamers have Steam, and not all PC gamers with Steam care for games like L4D2 or have the money at the time of the pre-order deal to get it, or trust you to send them the game after they send you the money. Trust is a major factor here, so it is a good idea to find people to repeat this deal with in the future.

The trick here is that if you do not already have a lot of trusting Steam friends, spread your net wide. Utilizing any social networks you are on like forums, Twitter, and Facebook to put out a simple message that you are looking for people to go in on the deal with you. Do not be annoying and pressure anyone (do not become “that guy”), but let it be known what you are trying to accomplish. You can also find public forums targeting coop games, like Co-Optimus, which light up with activity just before a big coop games release, including others looking for people to join in on the four pack deal. Another helpful hint is to buy the four pack at least two of three days before the game comes out, so everyone has ample time to pre-load.

Once you find a few people, make sure to make friends with them on Steam. This helps delivering the gifts, and ensures next time a four pack deal comes around you have an easier time finding three others to go in on it. Both the original Left 4 Dead and the recent Borderlands featured this four pack deal, so I have already met several excellent people who I not only game with, but who I have split multiple four pack deals with in the past.

Now, not all is lost here if you cannot come up with three people to go in on a four pack with. Several retailers have been throwing specials around lately, including GameStop’s promotion where you can get many new blockbuster titles for $19.99 by trading in two select games, and Toys’R’Us joining the recent line of retailers who have short but deep sales on video games, theirs being Black Friday and discounting several titles to $35. So, if you do not take advantage of the four pack deal, but are willing to wake up and sit outside Toys’R’Us at three in the morning, you can get the same price.

As you can see, the Valve four pack is a great deal, so grab a few Steam friends with similar tastes and a fluid income and get ready for L4D2 and other future four player cooperative games. If not, keep an eye out for sales and jump on them while you can. Either way, get Left 4 Dead 2 and join me, Steam handle “thehailo”, in defending against the zombie apocalypse.