If you have been living under a rock and had not heard the news yet, TF2 is now free to play. You can download it at the TF2 website for both Macintosh and Windows.
The free to play will now be supported by microtransactions within the steam store. You will be able to purchase new weapons and items. Valve also claims that they will continue to offer free items as well.
Valve also seems to be taking a pragmatic approach to supporting the community:
“It’s a belief of ours that in multiplayer games it’s generally true that the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer.
“The more players, the more available servers in your area, the wider variety of other players you’ll find, the greater the opportunity for new experiences, and so on.”
This would be bucking the trend of AAA titles coming out at $50-$60 range and support disappearing. It also seems to be a lesson that some companies *cough* Epic *cough* could relearn.
According to Steam, I only have 2.8 hours played in TF2. Unfortunately, the Orange Box came out at the same time as CoD4. CoD4 got a bit more playing time. However, if more people pick up on TF2, I could certainly see myself devoting more time to it.