Team Fortress 2 May Be Going F2P
A registry entry for Team Fortress 2 indicates that the game my go free-to-play.
Last week we reported that Valve Software added several free-to-play titles to its Steam digital distribution platform. These included Spiral Knights, Forsaken World, Champions Online: Free For All, Global Agenda: Free Agent and Alliance of Valiant Arms. In-game transactions in all of the titles will be supported by Steam's micro-transaction backend system that is available to Steamworks partners and currently used in Valve's Team Fortress 2.
Now there's talk that Team Fortress 2 will actually go free-to-play (F2P) as well. "Drkirby" over on NeoGAF was digging through the registry and uncovered what looked to be a test version of the supposed F2P game, listed as "Valve TestApp440 – Test 1" to conceal its real name. Drkirby went on to look up #440 and discovered that it's attached to Team Fortress 2 – the number is even shown in the game's product URL.
According to the registry entry, the TestApp440 is check-marked under the "Subscriptions" tab as having no cost, but that could also mean that the current test doesn't require a fee. There's also indication that there will be a "low violence" version, slapped with a DE tag meaning Deutsch, aka German ("LowViolenceInRestrictedCountries=1").
Team Fortress 2 is a team-based multiplayer game for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 first introduced as part of The Orange Box "bundle" back in Q4 2007. The cartoony, team-oriented game was then released as a standalone PC title on Steam in April 2008. As of Q3 2010, Team Fortress 2 sold over seven million units worldwide, and currently sells for $9.99 on Steam. Given its age and established user-base, Team Fortress 2 could easily slip into F2P mode and reel in potential customers previously not willing to part with ten bucks.
At this point, the F2P Team Fortress 2 is mere speculation but a definite possibility. Stay tuned as more will undoubtedly be unearthed soon.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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reprotected Here's the limitation that SHOULD be set for free players:Reply
1. No hats
2. Limitation of weapons that can be earned -
cloudberry Team Fortress 2 has always been free to play in my eyes. Why, when I bought Portal, I received four free games! TF2 being one of them, naturally.Reply -
alidan i never understood why team fort was so well recieved.Reply
than again i never seen a point to team deathmatch with no rewards (see battlefield bc 2 as an example of rewards) and everything you get seams to also be random...
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reprotectedHere's the limitation that SHOULD be set for free players:1. No hats2. Limitation of weapons that can be earned
with micro transactions, they probably stand to make more money having it free and completely unlocked, because you wont feel like you are gimped, and to everyone who bought it, 10$ in game store credit, giveing everyone who bought it free items, and everyone who didnt wouldnt get @#$%. that would be the best method. -
restatement3dofted neblixGreat, more kids on the servers!Reply
More suckers for me to wreck with a sniper rifle! -
randomizer I've owned this game for about 18 months and have never even installed it. It will be F2P before I ever get around to it I think...Reply