Valve hopes to keep TF2 content free

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 March, 2008

But admits it doesn't "have full say".

Valve has reiterated that it hopes to release extra maps for Team Fortress 2 as free downloads for PS3 and 360 owners.

"The maps will come to the console versions," VP of marketing Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer at a recent Left 4 Dead event. "There's a bit of work that makes sense for us to bundle them up and release them as packs."

Asked whether that still meant for free, Lombardi said: "Oh, for free, definitely, as much as we can. You know, we don't have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works.

"So, for us, for free is the way to go. The gamers play the game, they want to keep playing the game, so we've collected their fifty bucks at the start, and once they're in the park, they can ride any ride they want in the park. So, for us that's been the philosophy."

Extra content for Valve games is generally free on the PC, and the company said that would extend to console games when we spoke last May.

Lombardi says that while some "bigger companies" find it difficult to understand that, given the time, effort and money that goes into its DLC, it's all about keeping the customer happy.

"For us, we see it as an investment on our next product," he said. "Gamers won't hesitate when they see a game coming out from Valve. They'll think 'I've heard of this but will it be worth my money?' We want to take that off the table."

The most recent addition to Team Fortress 2 on PC is the Badlands map.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (13) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Triggerhappytel #1 4 years ago

    They don't have the full say? Then who the Hell does? Surely not EA?!

  • Micro_Explosion #2 4 years ago

    No, Microsoft and/or Sony have a say.

  • Davemanz #3 4 years ago

    "For us, we see it as an investment on our next product," he said. "Gamers won't hesitate when they see a game coming out from Valve. They'll think 'I've heard of this but will it be worth my money?' We want to take that off the table."

    Well, they've certainly done that as far as I'm concerned. I preordered the Orange Box, and I got my TF2 beta just like I was promised, and now I'm getting lots of great balance tweaks and gameplay additions. I don't even question whether the updates will be effective anymore because I know they playtest the hell out of everything and aren't afraid to drop what doesn't work, even if it means losing a lot of work.

    Valve are a great bunch of developers, and they can afford to be because they make so much damn money that free content isn't hard to do.

  • rodge020679 #4 4 years ago

    Praise the sweet baby jesus! oh yeah and valve!

  • BrokenSymmetry #5 4 years ago

    The problem is of course in Doug Lombardi's statement: "For us, we see it as an investment on our next product. Gamers won't hesitate when they see a game coming out from Valve." Free content is great advertisement for Valve itself, but the other companies involved in publishing and distributing that content (EA, Microsoft) don't get that advantage (at least, they don't see it). That's why the extra content will not be free on consoles.

  • Katsumoto #6 4 years ago

    Console gaming is dead?

  • bdc #7 4 years ago

    It won't happen - see Gears of War.

  • Brogan #8 4 years ago

    It won't happen - see Gears of War"

    may, game not exclusive, valve could sit there and say stuff like "we believe Sony (for example) are close to agreeing to release it for free” and that would put the other in a tricky position. But probably not.

  • Diomedes117 #9 4 years ago

    Hail Valve! I just ordered Half-Life 2 for the 360!

  • ZeroAX #10 4 years ago

  • brainbird #11 4 years ago

    Valve is great. They already gave us five games in one box where others would have charged extra for every single game. And they continue supporting Counter-Strike. Can't other developers see Valve's secret to success?
    DLC is customer support. Nice to see that some people understand this. As long as your content is not a great addition to the game experience it should be free. But you're welcome to charge for a stupid airplane skin, Ace Combat. Way to go, Namco, and what about the Katamari Katastrophe (tm)?
    I know it's all about supply and demand. But happy customer = returning customer, too, right?

  • crozon #12 4 years ago

    hehehe valve probably the best devs around...........

  • DFawkes #13 4 years ago

    There's plenty of free stuff out already, so I don't see why it wouldn't be free, although it's likely to cost something at first.

    I like the analogy about having paid to get in, so you can ride anything - I wish other devs thought the same.