Team Fortress 2: Will Updates Continue to Draw 50,000 Players Daily?

Will the popular FPS continue to draw in players and compete against its competition?

Updated:

10 Jun 2017

Will the Steady Stream of Content Keep Players Interested in TF2?

Comparisons have been made between Team Fortress 2 and Blizzard’s new MMOFPS Overwatch since before the latter was released. Overwatch’s dedication to releasing new content such as characters and maps has some players wondering TF2’s fanbase will switch to the newer game. Still, Team Fortress 2 continues to draw in around 50,000 players daily, will the updates it’s been releasing allow it to maintain those numbers?

New Gameplay Mechanics

Mannpower mode features the addition of grappling hooks, providing players with a greater level of mobility and increasing the pace of combat. The update that implemented Mannpower also featured several maps that would allow players to take full advantage of the new mechanic.

Team Fortress has been receiving updates regularly since it was first released nearly ten years ago, giving players access to a tremendous amount of content. While most of these updates have merely added new weapons and cosmetic items, others added entirely new game modes for players to take advantage of.

The recent Mannpower mode has introduced a number of new mechanics for players to use in new maps. The most noticeable of these additions is the grappling hook, which allows players to reach areas their characters couldn’t previously access, as well as allowing them to move faster to control points and intel briefcases. There are also a number of power ups that can be found throughout the new maps, giving increased speed, damage, or other abilities to players.

New Animations for Entering Matches

The Meet Your Match update was released to help players of similar skill and experience meet in matches, allowing for better team balance.

The recent Meet Your Match update added a number of features that were intended to help balance the game, placing players in matches based on their skills. The update also added a number of animations that play as you enter a match or transition between rounds. Some players have had issues with these animations, with them taking so long to load that the matches are already in progress or even finished by the time they finally sign in.

Slow release of Background Content

The cover of the first issue of TF’s Official comic, which was released back in 2013. The comics were meant to advance the story of Team Fortress 2 following the Mann vs Machine update.

One aspect of the Team Fortress franchise that fans particularly enjoy is the official comics Valve releases. It’s been a tradition of Valve to use comics to broaden the story of their games and to shed light on its characters and settings. Previous games to do this were Portal and Left 4 Dead, though Team Fortress 2 has been praised for maintaining the humorous atmosphere of the game, which contrasts with those previous titles.

However, the release of comics for Team Fortress has been very sporadic at best. The latest, and presumably last, issue of the TF Comics series was released in January 2017, with the previous issue being released in August of 2015. While the comics have always been ancillary to the actual game, this wide gulf between releases might mean that additional story and content heavy updates will continue to be rare.

Source Links:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/440/Team_Fortress_2/

http://www.teamfortress.com/comics.php

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/