Team Fortress 2, released in 2007, is widely regarded as a role model for Overwatch – and since the release of the Blizzard game at the latest, Valve has only neglected its own team-based hero shooter. Now, after many years, there should be a first major update – thanks to the modding community.
The community is supposed to tinker an update for summer< /h2>
Valve is promising a “full-on update-sized update” for the summer of 2023; This time, Team Fortress 2 will not only be expanded with items, but also with new maps and cosmetic content. However, Valve will not lend a hand for this purpose, but will commission the active modding community of the game: Mod developers should submit their own visions for the major update in the Steam workshop by May 1st, the developer calls in a blog entry. There is no overall thematic framework (yet).
The last few Team Fortress summer events have only been item updates. But this year, we're planning on shipping a full-on update-sized update – with items, maps, taunts, unusual effects, war paints and who knows what else?! Which means we need Steam Workshop content! YOUR Steam Workshop content!
So get to work! […] Make sure to get your submissions into the Steam Workshop by May 1st, so they can be considered for this as-yet-unnamed, un-themed, but still very exciting summer-situated (but not summer-themed) (unless you wanted to develop summer-themed stuff) update.
Valve
On the one hand, this is good news for the players of the now more than 15-year-old team shooter, since the last major update Jungle Inferno was six years ago. And Valve has been pursuing the strategy of putting the development and future of Team Fortress 2 in the hands of the community for a long time anyway. For example, last December the game received support for the VScript scripting interface known from Left 4 Dead 2, which makes it easier for mod developers to integrate external scripts into the Source Engine.
Question about remuneration for modders remains open
However, with such endeavors there is always a question mark on the other side: Are community members and independent mod developers, who contribute decisively to the development of the game in this way, adequately compensated – or do they only serve as unpaid labor for a publisher? Team Fortress 2 has been funded through an in-game shop and microtransactions since it became a free-to-play game in 2010. And revenue from those same ones will surely increase after a major content update; Valve therefore benefits directly from the work of the community.
An example of a successful integration of former mod content can be found in the next-gen update for The Witcher 3 (test) : With the patch for the Complete Edition, developer CD Projekt Red has, after consultation with the relevant modders, included some popular modifications in the game and paid their developers accordingly and mentioned them in the game's credits.