Team Fortress 2 now free-to-play

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 24 June, 2011

Über Update unleashed.

Valve has made its cartoon online shooter Team Fortress 2 free-to-play for PC and Mac.

The switch comes some four years after release.

The game changes alongside the “Über Update”, the largest of the 200-odd updates given to the game over its lifetime.

It provides new players with training and offline practice modes so they, Valve hopes, will find the online arena less intimidating.

Team Fortress 2 launched in 2007 as part of the superb The Orange Box compilation.

Eurogamer's Team Fortress 2 review fired a point blank 9/10.

TF2 now F2P.

Team Fortress 2 - Meet the medic.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Mkwone #1 11 months ago

    I've not laughed at a trailer so much as i have for the medic one.

  • kenichi-san #2 11 months ago

    So awsome game :D and +1 to Mkwone

  • Mister-Wario #3 11 months ago

    If you can, download this game. Seriously. Don't even think about it, just download it.

  • TexMurphy01 #4 11 months ago

    Great decision... but I'm going to have to make the obligatory comment. Episode 3 please!

  • X201 #5 11 months ago

    Haven't played since I accidentally lost my beloved Flare Gun in the crafting system and couldn't work out how to get it back :(

  • magicpanda #6 11 months ago

    Simply the greatest team FPS ever created. Bar none.

  • Mazrim_Taim #7 11 months ago

    @X201 I can trade you one if I have a spare :) let me know and I'll check when I get back from work.
    Edited by Mazrim_Taim at 24/06/11 @ 08:59

  • mortiz666 #8 11 months ago

    I love TF2, but now it's going to be filled with more idiots than usual :(

  • Toothball #9 11 months ago

    I keep thinking I should play this sometimes. Got it with the launch of Orange Box, but have only fired it up a couple of times. Generally with multiplayer FPS I end up getting shot in the face until I give up and play something else.

  • X201 #10 11 months ago

    @Mazrim_Taim
    Thanks for the offer, I want to try and get it back myself if I can but the crafting system does my head in. It doesn't make any sense and before you know it you've trashed items and they've seemingly gone forever.

    Edit: Wahey!! negged for expressing a non-trolling opinion.
    That person obviously thinks I'm wrong about the crafting system, but can't be bothered to help me understand it.
    Edited by X201 at 24/06/11 @ 09:28

  • Toasty #11 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:57:53 12-12-2011

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #12 11 months ago

    @mortiz it may be more idiots but for a while its more easier to kill idiots.

  • magicpanda #13 11 months ago

    Screw the crafting system. Shoot people in the face.

    People coming into this fresh I recommend you play it as Valve intended. 24 players, look for servers with Vanilla no mods in the title.

  • uknortherner2000 #14 11 months ago

    So no free hats for those of us who've bought the game? I am disappoint.

    Also, one way to make sure you never go up against morons and arseholes is to run your own password-protected server. Just give out the password to people you trust. PC, obviously, unless the server client's available for Mac too?
    Edited by uknortherner2000 at 24/06/11 @ 09:45

  • nuanimal #15 11 months ago

    Anyone buy this last week?

  • Genyus #16 11 months ago

    @uknortherner2000
    You already got enough years of awesome gameplay and service with enough updates anyone who bought a 60 dollar game would be overjoyed with. Stop asking for more when you've got enough.

    Great move Valve, I hope this doesn't mean the end of TF2 though (with that I mean no more big updates and slowly degrading service).

  • uknortherner2000 #17 11 months ago

    @Genyus:

    Maybe I should have used one of these: ";)" It was meant to be an attempt at humour.

  • DisgustedOfEngland #18 11 months ago

    @Gen & uknor: logged on today to look at the new items and my Soldier has a new hat (can't remember the name) with the description "from a different era" which seems to be a "I actually bought the game" hat. So even with your joke we get new hats!!! :)

  • jamielfc25 #19 11 months ago

    Its not intimidating online anyway, its a fun not a serious game!

  • barkertron #20 11 months ago

    Gah! I actually bought this last week! Shitty timing there - I guess it's still decent value for £7 though

  • Mazrim_Taim #21 11 months ago

    @X201 afaik the only way to get it back is either buy it from the shop, get it in trade from another player, or hope you get it as a random drop, and yes I dont go anywhere near the crafting system without studying the wiki, although according to the update notes the process may have just been made easier with this f2p update.

  • Futaba #22 11 months ago

    Woot! I've had this for a while on 360 but I've wanted to play it on PC too. Hopefully I can join the EG guys if they still play.

  • RageRiot #23 11 months ago

    Next... CS:Source?

  • kinky_mong #24 11 months ago

    "FREE HAT! FREE HAT! FREE HAT!"

    I've really got no excuse not to download this now. Really need to get a decent mouse for my laptop though before that.

  • Trafford #25 11 months ago

    Nice, I always meant to pick this up on Pc.

  • dsmx #26 11 months ago

    I have to admire people who still hold out the hope that these updates are ever going to come to the consoles, valve have already said they looked into it on the xbox 360 and it doesn't have enough RAM to support the changes they've made.

    Also at this point even a cheap laptop will run TF2, hell even netbooks are bordering on having enough grunt to run the game.
    Edited by dsmx at 24/06/11 @ 12:45

  • Phishfood #27 11 months ago

    No way these updates will come to console, last time I downloaded TF2 it came to 16GB, I'm sure valve will have to fork out a large sum of money to Microsoft to allow that. Plus it sucks on consoles because there are no dedicated servers.

  • rottingyoda #28 11 months ago

    Never really gave TF2 much of a chance. I suppose the only real complaint I had about it was that it wasn't TFC.

    TFC. My first real multiplayer love and addiction

  • OxWearingSocks #29 11 months ago

    Perfect timing for me to get back into PC gaming. Played it on Xbox and it was a bit pap I thought. Not as pap as my 360 giving me its second RROD in it's life. The same day that happens TF2 becomes F2P. Happy days.

  • kevin32 #30 11 months ago

    Not everyone's happy.

    For those who bought TF2 before it became free, check this out:

    http://www.cafepress.com/stupidhats

  • ASsoftgun #31 11 months ago

    love the game. spy