What you need to know
- Steam publisher and Team Fortress 2 creator Valve has announced that it plans to give the 2007 class shooter an "update-sized update" in the summer of 2023.
- The update will feature items, maps, taunts, unusual effects, war paints and "who knows what else?!"
- Valve is looking to the Steam Workshop community for assistance with making content for the update.
- Content submissions are due by May 1, with Valve noting that they don't have to be summer-themed.
It's nearly been nine full months since Valve posted about its popular 2007 class shooter Team Fortress 2 (TF2) from the game's Twitter account, and since then, next to nothing about it has gotten a meaningful update. However, according to a new blog post on the official Team Fortress website, that's finally going to change in 2023.
"The last few Team Fortress summer events have only been item updates," the TF2 team wrote in the post. "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?!"
This news is incredibly exciting for fans, especially since TF2 hasn't gotten a large update since the Jungle Inferno patch in October 2017. It's been almost six years since then, but despite the lack of updates and consistent support from Valve, the game has maintained a stable and healthy player count. At the time of writing, it's the seventh most-played game on Steam with 101,902 players according to Steam Charts.
Notably, Valve says that it's looking to the Steam Workshop — a section of the Steam platform that's home to many talented modders, modelers, and mapmakers — to help it create content for the update. Content submissions for the update end on May 1, with the TF2 team noting that creations don't have to be summer-themed to be considered.
"We need Steam Workshop content! YOUR Steam Workshop content! So get to work!" it added humorously. "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."
Overall, it's fantastic to see TF2 finally get some love from Valve, especially after how rough the last few years have been with the lack of content and the game's devastating cheater problem. Speaking as a veteran of the shooter, I'm incredibly excited to get a full-sized update for the first time in over five years. The TF2 community has made tons of excellent content for the game in the past, so I have no doubt that what it will produce for this update will be awesome.
Team Fortress 2 is free-to-play on Steam, and is widely considered to be one of the best PC games ever made. If you're a fan of class/hero shooters and you're looking for something new to play, don't hesitate to try it out.
