The rumor about the backpack system has been met with some skepticism from the community however, as it seems to go against some of the core design principles that Valve have established for this franchise. Specifically, they always try to force players to cooperate – and having someone lagging behind because they like to pick up a lot of stuff might contradict that.
On the other hand, it could create interesting situations of cooperation between players, such as one player collecting items for everyone to use and moving more slowly while other players move ahead and clear the path, with someone running around the slow player to protect him.
That would change the dynamic of the game significantly, but likely in a good way, according to some players. Still, it’s just a rumor and we don’t know if Valve really are planning that or not.
In any case though, if all of this is true, then “Left 4 Dead 3” is going to arrive someone within the next two years, with “Half-Life 3” coming out by the end of 2018, at least according to Valve’s alleged internal plans. Fans of the studio know very well what this could mean though, as Valve aren’t exactly serious when it comes to their release dates, so this should all be taken with a big grain of salt even if the rumors are actually true.