Though this latest update to Team Fortress 2 has taken a bit longer than Valve originally anticipated, the TF2 Official Blog dropped the news today that it will all have been worth it. In addition to new achievements and unlockable weapons for everyone’s favorite gun-happy lunkhead, Valve will be releasing seven new maps, five of which will be for an all-new game mode. In addition, as we learned in our interview with Erik Johnson last month, Valve will be releasing another of their brilliant animated shorts — though it will be something new, not a “Meet The (Class)” video like we’re used to. The blog mentions a number of community suggestions have gone into this latest update, which is something Valve ought to be used to by now.
Back in our E3 interview, Valve’s Erik Johnson told us, “We knew that we wanted the game to change over time, because we look at a lot of statistics and we play a lot of TF2, and we learned from Counter-Strike over the years that it’s fun to have the game evolve over time, especially based on engagement with your customers. We look at how people are playing, and we try to have our customers get more value, both in new content and in changes to the game rules. The idea came about with those two things in mind. We had a tool, and achievements, and a goal.”
He also said, with regards to Valve’s persistent update plans, “We look at our relationship with our customers as a very long-term thing, not a product-by-product thing. Continuing to give them content, and continuing to give them a reason to tell their friends to buy the product, is something we try to drive. It’s very profitable, it’s something we’re happy to keep doing. It’s very fun work to do, as opposed to a three-year death march on a big huge product.”
The Heavy Update will drop next Tuesday, August 19th, and Valve has put up a new web page here, which will contain daily updates as the rest of the new content is revealed. You can read our in-depth interview with Erik Johnson, here.
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