Team Fortress 2 devs finally address community protest over its “unplayable” games
Valve CorporationAfter a lack of updates and communication, Team Fortress 2 fans had enough and decided to protest the game’s current state. It appeared to work as the devs have issued a rare response on the game’s status.
Did you know that Team Fortress 2 is consistently one of Steam’s top 10 most-played games? Well, it is. The team-based online multiplayer game is still clearly revered and much loved 15 years after its release.
Despite this, the game hasn’t actually received a content update since 2017, and a lack of updates and a constant influx of hackers have tainted the core TF2 experience. This was the basis for the “peaceful” community protest on May 26, 2022, that simply wanted the love for the game to be known.
The result? The first response from the dev’s Team Fortress 2 Twitter account in nearly two years.
Let's save TF2 together! (read replies) pic.twitter.com/1t7LXCiUGR
— TF2OutofContext (@TF2OutofContext) May 24, 2022
#SaveTF2 protest gets devs attention
After a calm Team Fortress 2 Tweet suggested players use the hashtag “SaveTF2,” and bombard Twitter with happy sentiments regarding the game with “No direct aggression and harassment towards Valve!”
Lo and behold, the TF2 community did just that and honored the game with tons of great Tweets and votes of support.
As well as incredible Team Fortress 2 memes and fanmade tribute videos, the movement also garnered some support from wider-known content creators and members of the video game industry.
Muselk has nearly 10 million subscribers on YouTube and showed his support for the game.
Wanted to give a shoutout to everyone supporting #SaveTF2 today.
The way Valve treats this legendary game is already disgusting. Even moreso when they CONTINUE to try and sell cosmetics and profit from it.— Muselk (@muselk) May 26, 2022
Yahiamice is a popular Twitch streamer and they offered their two cents on the whole community debate too.
Team Fortress 2 is a game
a game i've played countlessly for over a decade
a game dear to me, with hundreds of memories to share
a game that's been neglected and left to rot for over five years nowand i wish it wasn't the case#savetf2 pic.twitter.com/lfeGl38AV9
— yahiamice. (@Yahiamice) May 26, 2022
Not only that, but even Robin Atkins Downes, the voice actor for TF2’s Medic class, made his thoughts clear through a creative and constructive Team Fortress 2 poem!
Zeres a place in space
Where you can play #TF2
It’s a game from Valve
Zey also made Half Life 2!
It’s got amazing characters and animation too!
It’s a vinderful game you can choose RED or BLU!#SaveTF2 #Medic pic.twitter.com/5F7kvBtrbz— Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) May 26, 2022
After thousands of Tweets of support, it appears that the protest actually had a positive effect and caused the official Team Fortress 2 Twitter to be verified after a nearly two-year absence. The dev account issued an honest and frank response.
TF2 community, we hear you! We love this game and know you do, too. We see how large this issue has become and are working to improve things.
— Team Fortress 2 (@TeamFortress) May 26, 2022
This seems like a pretty positive message from the devs and you’d have to think that maybe Valve have realized that there is plenty of life left in Team Fortress 2. Its popularity can be quantified too as in the last 30 days the game has had an average of 67,111 players still enjoying the game.
We’re not 100% sure if this figure includes bot accounts, but it does seem like TF2 is still alive and well. We’ll monitor the situation to see if any content updates or maintenance fixes are announced.