Valve is Returning to Team Fortress 2? Major Update Announcement [UPDATE]

Update

Player enthusiasm has dimmed considerably. This is because it has been noted (via Reddit) that Valve has changed the wording in the announcement of the summer update. It now refers to a "holiday-sized update," and the phrase "and who knows what else" has been changed to "and other fixes from the community." So it looks like we shouldn't expect content from Valve and the company will limit itself to implementing fan-made content.

Original message (February 10)

Fans of Team Fortress 2 have been praying to Gabe Newell for years, and it seems they've finally been heard. Valve promises that the popular free-to-play shooter will receive a major update this summer.

But before the fanfare sounds, let's clarify one point. The company has asked the fans active in the Steam Workshop to prepare content for this update and send in their suggestions by May 1. In other words, it is the players who will prepare the official summer update for TF2.

The last major update for Team Fortress 2 was released in 2017. Source: Valve Software.

So, one could be forgiven for thinking that Valve will not actually put its hand to the creation of this "major update." Nevertheless, few people pay attention to this "minor" detail.

Hardly surprising, bearing in mind the communication with fans of the game so far, even after - as rumored - hiring a programmer to fix the game and releasing many minor patches. The bot invasion (only partially halted by later updates) and the big leak from last year also did not inspire optimism about the future of Team Fortress 2.

That's why most fans are glad that Valve (that is, a janitor and a potted plant, because according to gamers it's the entire "development team" of the game) was even able to publish a post on TF2 blog. The humorous tone and the promise of a "big update" is much more than players have received in the last five years.

More importantly, however, the post mentions that this year's update will be much richer in content than last summer's updates for Team Fortress 2. Not only are new cosmetic items (including taunts and rare Uncommon specimens) to be added to the game, but also maps and "items."

Could it be that Soldier's puppy eyes have finally had an effect? Source: the "End of the Line Update in a Nutshell" animation by Genowhirl70.

It doesn't end there, by the way, as the developers suggest that the update may introduce to TF2 other novelties. What's more, Valve stated that it remains "as of yet unnamed and without a theme." So it looks like it really won't be just the standard "Summer 2023 update."

Some players are even deluding themselves that this is how the mythical Heavy Update will finally be implemented. The Russian lover of big guns (and literature) lost his battle with Pyro in 2016, but was still expected to receive his own update right after the mumbling fire enthusiast. Meanwhile, more than five years have passed since the release of Hell in the Jungle, and Valve hasn't even hinted that it remembers.

So far, there's no indication that it's the Heavy Update that will arrive this summer. Nevertheless, fans are hoping that the summer update will introduce what most fans are hoping for: new weaponry. After all, there's no shortage of ideas for interesting, amusing or - nomen omen - bizarre weapons in the Steam Workshop.

The only question is whether Valve will want to introduce such "complicated" additions to the code of Team Fortress 2, which has made a name for itself over the years as "Source spaghetti" (with a touch of coconut; insiders know what this means)? And whether it will add anything of its own, or limit itself to accepting fan designs?