Class-based multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 has made the switch to the free-to-play model, developer Valve has announced.
Valve recently opened up its Steam platform to free-to-play games, and just this week admitted it was at work on a free-to-play title of its own. Few expected, however, that an announcement was just around the corner, or that Valve's first free-to-play project would be one of the most popular multiplayer shooters around.
Speaking to Develop, Valve's Robin Walker explained that the firm had been considering making the switch ever since the release of the Mann-conomy update last September, which added an in-game store and support for microtransactions using Steam Wallet. Valve's experimentation with game pricing on Steam - at one point selling Team Fortress 2 for just $2.49 - led it to the belief that: "The more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer."
"The more players, the more available servers in your area, the wider variety of other players you'll find, the greater the opportunity for new experiences, and so on," Walker explains. He is adamant that little will change in terms of gameplay - item drops will be as frequent as before, content updates will continue apace, and he promises that "we [won't] force players to pay to win."
The first free-to-play games to arrive on Steam ten days ago included Global Agenda and Champions Online, with Valve's Jason Holtman describing the move as "another example of the constant evolution of Steam." Walker hopes that players of Team Fortress 2 will become more comfortable with the notion of microtransactions through the Steam Wallet and try out other free-to-play games on the service.
Team Fortress 2 is just the latest game to switch to the increasingly popular model, as developers and publishers continue to see the appeal in a large userbase monetised through microtransactions. Just this week City Of Heroes, Lego Universe and even Chair Entertainment's iOS title Infinity Blade have done much the same, with ArmA 2 and Ghost Recon also set to make the switch.
Last week Andrew Eades of Relentless Software told us free-to-play was "the way digital should work"; the week before, Phil Harrison told us his belief that it would "become the defining business model of the next twenty years." Satoru Iwata, however, disagrees, saying earlier this month: "We have no intention of making [games] available in a mode that does not require customers to pay at all...Nintendo is not interested."
Source: Develop