Valve Hops Onto the Free-To-Play Bandwagon

There seems to be a mass rush of MMOs to jump onto the free-to-play bandwagon. Valve is joining those ranks by announcing today that Team Fortress 2 is now also free to play. Those who already have purchased the game have now been upgraded to a premium account. Essentially, nothing changes except that some items and equipment can be purchased in-game with money.

The account comparison is given below (also listed on the Team Fortress 2 website):

	Free	Premium
Backpack:	50 slots	300 slots (expandable up to 1000)
Items:	Standard	Standard, Rare and Cosmetic
Crafting:	Limited blueprints	All blueprints
Trading:	Receive items only	Full trading
Gifting:	Can receive gifts	Can give and receive gifts

The drawback to free to play is that it tends to encourage hackers. Hopefully, Valve will be able to do a good job of keeping the hackers at bay, especially for such a great game as Team Fortress 2.

Source:  Team Fortress 2 Website