Dave LeClair
Posts: 75 +1
Valve is pushing out its 356th update for its free-to-play Team Fortress 2 since the game shipped in 2007. But this is not just some standard refresh filled with bug fixes and tweaks. Instead, the update brings a slew of new content created entirely by fans of the game. Dubbed Robotic Boogaloo, it will feature 57 virtual items and a comic that ties it all together with the game's constantly expanding story.
In a blog post announcing the release, Valve was quick to point out that the fresh batch of fan-made content does not mean the company is going to stop producing its own new goodies for the game. Valve believes there is room for items from fans and developers to coexist.
Created entirely by the TF2 community, a total of 51 people worked on the content from the latest update, and each of them will share the revenue generated from the $2.49 RoboCrate Keys required to access the new toys. Even all these years after the release, Team Fortress 2 still has a very dedicated player base, and this could end up being quite lucrative for those involved in making Robotic Boogaloo.
Another game where Steam Workshop – Valve's platform for users to create in-game content – has proven quite lucrative is Dota 2. Between these two free-to-play games, players with a bit of creativity can actually make some pretty serious money. In an interview with The Verge earlier this year, Valve's Gabe Newell said that the company has seen people "making $500,000 per year building items for other customers."
The update for Team Fortress 2 is available now on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
