TF2 now F2P

romanator0

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/24/breaking-team-fortress-2-is-now-free-to-play-forever/

"Industry trade website Develop-Online has revealed in an interview with Valve’s Robin Walker that Team Fortress 2 is now permanently free to play, and will solely be supported by in-game item purchases."

spookydom

Well I heard the other day that Valve where making a move into the f2p market. Tf2 you could have got from Steam for around £10  anyway and the item mall does some big buisness. Makes sense to me. Can't belive there is anybody out there who hasn't played TF2 yet but if not, get on board. One of the most fun shooters there is imo.

Worstluck

Yeah, if you have not played the game by now, you really owe it to yourself to download it now that it will be free.  Great game, however I just hope lowering the barrier of entry does not allow more people into the game that don't necessarily play by the rules. 

Erstok

Worstluck

Just opened up Steam and they are already advertising it as f2p.  Let the madness begin!

 

EDIT:  and my Steam app is acting funky now, I can't access News of Community, and I am unable to download anything...hmmm

Monfang

When i get a better computer, i'm jumping on this bandwagon.

spookydom

Just posted this on the Mmorpg.com Steam group thread. But I think it's an awsome idear. Imagine some of the forum pvp we get around here and how frustrating it can be sometimes? Think about calling them out for some Tf2 and shooting the crap out of them in Dustbowl. Is that letting off steam or isn't it? (Lol letting off steam...I say funny thing!)

Monfang

That.. might lead to too much personal anger, Spook. People tend not to get mad at people when they are just words, put a physical avatar that they can follow around and kill then things change for the worst.

spookydom

Originally posted by Monfang

That.. might lead to too much personal anger, Spook. People tend not to get mad at people when they are just words, put a physical avatar that they can follow around and kill then things change for the worst.

Lol now that's a very good point.

Papadam

So does this mean that TF2 was a failure and dying?

/sarcasm

rtbbvr

Good move really. They've been basicly giving this game away in as a sale item for 3 years now, and they've really turned it back into a cash cow. Not a bad thing mind you. Servers are nice and full tonight, and I had some great matches already. The loadout system was down for a bit, and everyone was forced to use default weps. Boy was that a fun night  

dageeza

Kind of an odd move for valve being that their excellent fps games are pay once play forever to begin with and it can be purchased for under 10 bucks...But it does show where the industry in general is heading and who the smart companies and publishers are that be planning ahead for the item shop meltdown...

Done right and with a good quality game cash shops can be a very good thing for a game companies bottomline and for gamers choices as well, it can bring in fresh blood that otherwise may have never tried that game and make traffic to help retain existing players in dying or struggling games..

With Wow slowly losing its grip and the quality of f2p mmo games slowly improving there will be an influx of players and the competition for these players is going to be even more vicious in this stagnated genre than it has ever been..

Its only a matter of time before the WoW of f2p is created or released and then everything changes as this will be a decisive blow against the dinosaur model P2P game companies...

With trustworthy companies that produce quality work Im more in favor of the "buy once play forever model" with optional item shop because it gives the devs some much needed cash flow on release for their work and done right this model can best serve both the gamer and developer, this model also allows clever companies like valve or possibly anet the flexibilty to go totally f2p with item shop support once their games are aging and losing playerbase..