Triple-A becomes free-to-play, but Valve may not push the model to other blockbusters
Valve has once again turned to Team Fortress 2 as the studio’s outlet for experimentation, this time with a daring move to make the triple-A game entirely free to play.
The Orange Box game has undergone a radical transformation since its 2007 release; with more than 200 updates made to the PC edition. But today’s patch is billed as the most daring yet, with PC and Mac customers given the 'full experience' without ever needing to pay anything at all.
And in an exclusive interview with Develop – now live – Valve’s Robin Walker assured that Team Fortress 2 would only be monetised by microtransaction payments.
No advertising model will be pursued, Walker said. No premium subscription model will be used. No cynical “pay-to-win” options will be implemented, he assured.
In-game items will now be the only way Valve gets any money from Team Fortress 2. But again, Walker assured that the number of gratis in-game items – which are released on a daily basis – would not dry up.
Advertisement
“We've been toying with the idea of making Team Fortress free-to-play ever since the Mann-conomy update [in September 2010],” Walker said.
“The data we got back from that update leads us to believe that TF2 would be more successful as a completely free product.”
However, Walker said there was no data yet to suggest that the free-to-play model would be appropriate for other Valve games.
"It seems dangerous to assume that [free-to-play would work] for all our products," he said.
The Washington-based studio, freed from the contraints of retail, has the liberty to experiment with its digital products and its avid Steam community – something that would not be possible to implement across brick and mortar game stores.
“Over the years we've done a bunch of price experimentations with Team Fortress 2,” Walker said, “going all the way down to $2.49 in our random one-hour Halloween sales.
“The more we've experimented, the more we've learned there are fundamentally different kinds of customers, each with their own way of valuing the product.”
He said making a triple-A game completely free to play would teach the studio much more about its customers.
"We'll know a heck of a lot more in a couple of months, and that's the kind of thing that gets us excited around the office," he said.
The wider hope is that Team Fortress 2 going free will help allure the customers that aren’t willing to pay a flat fee for the game – a move that ties in well with Valve’s “games as a service” model.
That well-referenced credo stresses the importance of deeply engaging with a gaming community; to learn everything about the customer and adapt to their tastes and budget.
“We’re always improving on the relationship we have with our customers, and we’re willing to run experiments if we think it will help us learn how to do that better,” Walker said.
He added that a key motivation for making Team Fortress 2 free is the desire to get as many people as possible playing online.
“It's a belief of ours that in multiplayer games it's generally true 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.”
>Implying this is a real news source
I don't understand where these complaints are stemming from. If TF2 really IS going to go F2P, the game's not going to be any different, save for the fact that expert players will have more people to knock over.
If this is true, and they are saying ''community first'' then they are full of shit. I love the community. It's part of why I play TF2.
By doing this there's going to be a huge increase in unexperienced players who will create their own perception of TF2. This means that if the community won't die, It will probably change into something... worse.
Hm... VAC can't protect against people registering lots of accounts and just hacking until they're banned and going on to the next one.
it is so dangerous!! it's how lots of Asian (korean cuff') games have been failed!!
I can't understand why you people are complaining
OH NO, I LOST 10 DOLLARS
THE HUMANITY.
Why don't you people complain about the market? You buy items that you can get for free ingame
I remember when this was a respectable industry orientated website, with literate people being the ones who made the comments...
Looks like premium games going free to play is only the start of our problems here...
Hey i never played TFT but now ill be getting this. I dont hack, and look forward to joining you all on the battlefield.
The comments are filled with retards. If you paid for this game, why should they refund you?
You basically paid for at least 4 years of this game exclusively before this happened. Would it make much of a difference to you then and now?
To me, this is one of the most ingenious ideas ever. If only more game companies would actually commit to such innovative methods to preserve games. Very ballsy of you Valve, I applaud you.
I'm not really against the idea of it being free but I am just very concerned about little kids or idiots messing up the game. I used to like TF2 but not lately. I played a game today and it was very stressful because people were just spamming stuff and acting like fools. I remember TF2 being more fun and now its just about who can be the biggest annoyance. I bought the game for $20 about 3 years ago so I think I've gotten my moneys worth. Not really sure if I'm going to keep playing it now that I've seen how the play style has changed for the worse. It just doesn't feel fun anymore. Does anyone agree or am I just imagining it?
I do not see what is wrong, you don't get the full game when you get it for free, you still have to pay for a larger backpack, full trading, etc. Also, hacking is not a problem when you have good server admins, which I see plenty of.
Waaaaaaaah, I paid monies for it and now it's free, I wants mah refundz. I paid 20 bucks for a CD back in 1995 that's now 2 bucks on Amazon. The old games on clearance used to be full price too, you butthurt nerds. This just takes it to the next logical step of "Hey, Mom, if stuff gets cheaper as it get's older, when does it become free?" All the asshole noobs won't get it because it doesn't look like COD or Crysis, it just means Valve nerds with no money finally get to enjoy a great game. They're not selling items that make you better than others. This is the way all the F2P games SHOULD have worked and I commend Valve for setting the right example and nipping this EA-type BS in the bud sooner rather than later. Stop bitching about people doing you a favor.
I don't get the QQing in the comments unless they are just joking. (didn't reat them all so sorry if this was already said.)
I mean really... it was part of orange box which was cheap to begin with I think orange box was 30 around release which is still cheaper then some of the games bought individually, and I had no idea how much the game was on it's own (but I'd assume cheaper).
It's a game from 2007 anyone who really had an intrest has bought, and anyone who didn't wont spend money for it. and the people who didn't originally have an intrest will join and some of those nut balls will buy hats and other items.
This Croves guy really needs to get a life. if your idea of "protecting the community" is starting up some sort of elitist bigoted "team fortress nationalist party" who say immigration into the game is too easy and will lead to an influx of unwelcome foreigners into the community, then you dear nerd really must have a good life if this is all you worry about
This is awesome, I've been trying to get my friends to buy the game and play with me because its an amazing game but they wouldn't listen now it's time to prove them wrong!
I don't really have any problems with having paid and it now being F2P (I mean I've played loads of it so yeah). It's more that I'm afraid for what will happen within the game and what new types of players we can expect. Trolls and morons incoming? :(
Personally, I don't care if it's free. If it's free, there can be more people, and more servers. But now, I'm kind of ashamed to be a part of the TF2 community. All the vets are acting like assholes.
I can understand why more experienced players have a fear of new players coming and messing up the game and community as I feel that way about things that only I kew about but then it did something big or did a lot of marketing but I can assure you I will not.
Okay... It says its free... NOW HOW DO I GET IT?!
The game sold for under a dollar once I think- one special one day thing or something. It's kinda ganna suck now, the game's moving from being the most balanced fps game out there to being a hat trading game... This is only going to make the community worse.
check this out:
Those who are disagreeing with this business model are simply upset because they already had to shell out the money for a game which is now free.
The game will now get better, influxes of new talent will surface, and the game will ultimately take a turn for the better.
I was pretty psyched when I saw that this game became free, but after I waited for almost 2 hours for the game to download and played it, I was a bit dissappointed. I was playing the training and I noticed so many problems. The colors were all wrong, enemies didn't appear unless you looked at the the right way, character's heads weren't attached to their heads, the textures looked bad. Now I'm just wondering if it's because I only have the free version or if it's something wrong with my computer. Any help would be appreciated.
Pretty much anyone who would have bought it has already, and any new users are potential item buyers. Makes sense
I'm not new at this but I play the PS3 version of TF2. I have little experiance with keyboard control in the game because I use to go to my friends house to play TF2. I just never bought the game because I didn't want to buy TF2 for $30 dollars and end up finding that the game doesn't work on my computer. >_> (would of been a waste of money) But now it is free, I downloaded it and tried it. YAY. It works. =)
Now I just got to get use to playing Keyboard control.
Add me on Steam: "Metal123510"
(a.k.a.: Metal)
Hope to play a game with you soon. =D
What about people who bought the game beforehand? Are they gonna repay us/ Give us in-game items of equal exchange, or are they just giving us a big fuck you? I mean seriously, All the people who paid are now gonna have to sit back and watch people play for free? I honestly don't like it. I want my money back so i can keep playin'.
