Opening the Valve

    In 2007 Valve released the long awaited squeal to Team Fortress Classic, simply named Team Fortress 2. This online game features two opposing sides (Red vs Blue) in a never ending war with each other. At first launch, Team Fortress 2 was a simple first person shooter that had the standard capture the flag and defense type maps. Soon after Valve began to update the game and started including unique weapons that plays could unlock and use. Each weapon having its own unique abilities, but what Valve did next was expected by no one.

    Valve made Team Fortress 2 free-to-play. Now, not only was it free, but it included all the updates from the initial release and all future updates were free, as well. This was a huge moment for Valve as it allowed players that could not afford the game or had little interest in it to try it out. This move allowed Valve to grow its user base from Team Fortress 2 exponentially. With this new user base, Valve started to implement a system where players could buy different items at a low cost. Most items are cosmetic in nature, but some do offer unique abilities. However, players do not need to purchase these items; they can simply wait it out and see if it randomly drops in their inventory during the course of gameplay.

    Now Valve is using cross marketing to gather new players through other games. Some games being released through Valve’s online store, Steam, are being bundled with Team Fortress 2 items players can redeem and use in came. Valve just does not limit the cross marketing to games they worked with Reddit.com in 2013 for an April Fools prank. Reddit.com was essentially turned into Team Fortress 2 where users were placed on either team Orangered or Periwinkle. The users of the various Reddit forums were given random “weapons” to use against other users. The success of the prank led to Valve releasing an in-game hat based off of Reddit.com’s logo, the Snoo.

    This cross marketing and Valve’s handling of Team Fortress 2 shows a lot about how a company operates. They know players do not like to be forced to buy an item in order to finish a game. Valve lets players choose what to buy and how to play the game. Free-to-Play is by far the best thing to happen to Team Fortress 2 since its release. Valve has a deep understanding of its market and knows what they want. I have had the pleasure of playing Team Fortress 2 since its release, and can not wait to see what new and exciting update they release. I feel that Valve is on the right track to be immortalized in the world of gaming. More companies need to follow in Valve’s footsteps and bring in a new era in gaming entertainment.

Check out the Team Fortress 2 Co-Op Mode Mann vs Machine