14 DAY TRIAL // Robin Walker, who is the lead designer working on Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer oriented team game from Valve, has said that his company is gathering data on whether the free to play and micro transaction model might be capable of supporting the game in the future.
Talking to PC Gamer in the United Kingdom Walker said, “We’ve considered it, and it’s something we’d love to gather data from, but our main concern is that right now the cost of purchasing again is the main cost that cheaters pay when we catch them.”
Team Fortress 2 is highly competitive and recent changes made by Valve, like the introduction of alternate weapons for all the characters and items, have led to some player creating special cheating environments only suited to getting new content or achievements.
Walker has made the comment while also addressing the new Mann Co Store that has been added to Team Fortress 2.
He said, “In TF2, the time you take to find an item is the cost you pay. Not everyone has time, though, and by allowing customers to purchase items directly, we’re still not allowing them to avoid a cost. It’s just that in this case, the cost is money, not time.”
Gamers will be able to access the store and use the money they have in their Steam Wallet to pick up items that can also be earned through gameplay and some cosmetic enhancements that are only available to those willing to pay.
The average price of items is around 1.97 dollars and some of the offerings have been put together by the community itself.
It's not clear whether Team Fortress 2 currently has the player base to be supported entirely through micro transactions.
Of course, giving up of the fee for picking up a copy of the game could enlarge the player base enormously if Valve chose the free to play path.