Valve scale down expectations for Team Fortress 2's upcoming update

Last week Valve announced a “full-on update-sized update” would be coming to Team Fortress 2 this summer, getting us all excited at the thought of new content after years in maintenance mode. Valve have now quietly edited their original announcement blog post, walking back the hype while emphasising the community-developed aspects of the update.

Much of Valve’s “bleeding-edge” blog post is the same, but they’ve rephrased some key parts, like the mention of a “full-on update-sized update” is now referred to as a “full-on holiday-sized update.” Many fans were excited that “update-sized” pointed to more Valve-developed content, like new maps and skins, akin to the Jungle Inferno update or something similar.

Originally, the blog post teased additions like items and maps along with “who knows what else?!” Well, we now know what else, as Valve replaced the tease with “and other community-contributed fixes for the game,” clarifying the update would be mainly community sourced, par for the course when it comes to TF2 updates. The Team Fortress 2 community are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to exciting additions to the hero shooter - if these Titanfall 2 parkour mods are any indication - and they’ll likely continue when this update drops in the summer.

Valve don’t usually make announcements of this sort for their seasonal Halloween and Christmas updates, and players have been starved for new updates - aside from ones that fight exploits - so excitement from TF2 fans was inevitable. A recent TF2 asset leak did reveal dozens of unused maps, new modes, mechs, and… witches? So, maybe Valve will circle back and use some of those ideas in the future, although I wouldn’t hold my breath for too long.

At least expectations are in check now, but if you’re feeling down about the state of Team Fortress 2, I’d recommend this video of the voice cast parodying ABBA’s Mamma Mia - it’s wholesome eyebleach, but I guess it’s hard to mess up an ABBA classic anyway.

For now, Steam Workshop creators have until May 1st to enter their submissions and potentially be included in the “holiday-sized” summer update. Team Fortress 2 is currently a free-to-play download on Steam.