Valve releases Team Fortress 2 for free, for good

Julio Franco

Posts: 9,092   +2,043
Staff member

Valve has released Team Fortress 2 for free, and has announced that it is staying that way forever. Of course, the company hasn't entirely given up on making money from Team Fortress 2: gamers can still buy virtual goods in-game "to improve their gameplay experience."

There are two accounts types for the game. If you have downloaded it for free and have not made a purchase in the in-game Mann Co. store, you have a free account. If you've ever spent money on the game (including purchasing it before it was Free-to-Play, activating a retail version, or making a purchase in the Mann Co. in-game store), you have a premium account. Premium accounts have a few extra features, including access to rare and cosmetic items through random item drops, the ability to store more items in your backpack, and more powerful trading and crafting abilities.

Otherwise, the gameplay experience is pretty much identical for both types of accounts. The entire game can be played without making a purchase; all game modes, classes, and maps are available. Nearly every weapon is available through achievements, drops, or crafting.

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based first-person shooter (FPS) multiplayer video game. It was released on October 10, 2007. The game is considered a major success and has garnered hundreds of thousands of dedicated players.

Many believe it is one of the best FPS games currently available. It is praised for its graphical style, balanced gameplay, comedic value, and for its use of full character personalities in a dedicated multiplayer game.

One of the reasons for its success is that it has received multiple updates over the years. Although it was labeled as vaporware for a long time (the game was originally announced in 1998), once it launched, Valve made sure to keep development going.

In order to play Team Fortress 2, gamers need to download it via Valve's Steam digital-game-distribution service. It's available on both PC and Mac: Team Fortress 2.

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Now I have a third free game to play!

Already playing Alliance Of Valliant Arms and Battlefield Play 4 Free.

It's awesome that TF2 is now free, double awesome I don't need Reactor anymore and can play AVA through Steam, now if Valve could just add Battlefield P4F to Steam then I'll have a central game launcher / updater. :)
 
Cool i'll have to check this game out. Does it have LAN support? I host 12-16 player LAN parties every 4 months and I think this would be great to play on LAN. But trying to shove all these players through my 1.5mbit connection isn't going to fly well.
 
IAMTHESTIG said:
Cool i'll have to check this game out. Does it have LAN support? I host 12-16 player LAN parties every 4 months and I think this would be great to play on LAN. But trying to shove all these players through my 1.5mbit connection isn't going to fly well.
Yes it has lan
 
Have countless hours logged in TF2 and would recommend everyone give it at least a try, especially since it's free now :) .
 
thatguyandrew92 said:
IAMTHESTIG said:
Cool i'll have to check this game out. Does it have LAN support? I host 12-16 player LAN parties every 4 months and I think this would be great to play on LAN. But trying to shove all these players through my 1.5mbit connection isn't going to fly well.
Yes it has lan

Sweeeeet.... downloading now. :)
 
Nice to see valve show their amazingness again. They own 80 to 85 percent of digital game sales for a reason yea!!
 
This is so awesome! Now all I have to do is make a new account every time I get caught hacking, and since VAC doesn't do **** for 1-3 weeks, I don't have to worry about it!

Actually, just kidding. Good job ruining the game.

EDIT: First Valve and now CCP with EVE Online. Good thing I stopped having faith in game developers early on, I don't think my little heart could have taken the knife or 12 to my back.
 
@ramonsterns

You actually think that VAC exploit would ruin the game? what planet are you from?

/facepalm
 
Guest said:
@ramonsterns

You actually think that VAC exploit would ruin the game? what planet are you from?

/facepalm

The planet where VAC doesn't ban your IP and even if it did a persistent hacker can simply change it.
 
This games always been to cartoony for me. They announce this a week after DNF comes out ouch.
 
tried the game this morning and hated everything about it. L4D2 is just so much better.
 
All the ****ing servers I used to play on are full of F2P'ers and they're completely full all the time. **** this.
 
If I had to pick between Duke Nukem Forever and Team Fortress 2, I'd pick TF2 every time. DNF is a piece of crap.

Too bad I have this game already.
 
You're doing it wrong, Valve. You charge money for a game then give away the miscellaneous crap like hats for free, not the other way round.
 
The planet where VAC doesn't ban your IP and even if it did a persistent hacker can simply change it.

Well the planet your in stinks. VAC works just fine. Its meant to run with server admins as well as auto kick/auto ban. If your basing your claims on CSS or Modern Warfare 2 then yea it works like crap But VAC run games Generally do their work well. As for simply changing your ip, IP's do "not" work that way. Masking Your ip is possible, fully changing your ip is not. Your given a IP by your ISP...Most Video Game Hackers are inexperienced fools..Change ip? Please don't make me laugh so hard lol...

PS: If you wanted to troll you Probably should back your claims better : 3.
 
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