Valve Finally Responds To Team Fortress 2 Fan Outcry
Very few multiplayer games have stood the test of time quite like Valve's "Team Fortress 2." Although it's over a decade old and has had a turbulent development cycle, "TF2" has no shortage of concurrent players. Recently, the game saw something of a resurgence in the summer of 2021, reaching a peak player count of 150k (Steam Charts). However, not all is as it seems. Anyone that has booted up "TF2" within the last few years has noticed that not everyone who occupies a "TF2" server is a real player. Instead, servers are often flooded with bots equipped with aimbot mods and wallhacks that kill legit players within seconds of spotting them.
On May 26th, "TF2" players decided enough was enough and organized a peaceful protest employing the hashtag #Savetf2. It worked. The hashtag spread like wildfire among the community, with many using it in conjunction with personal stories about how much the game meant to them. The movement became so popular that even a "TF2" voice actor got involved. Now, finally, it looks like Valve is going to do something about the bots.
Valve is listening
Shortly after the May 26th protest, the official "Team Fortress 2" Twitter account posted, "TF2 community, we hear you! We love this game and know you do, too." The post explained, "we see how large this issue has become and are working to improve things." There are a few reasons some have speculated about why Valve has not solved the bot problem already. Firstly, in terms of income, Valve's massive 30% cut from most games sold on Steam likely dwarfs its "TF2" profits in comparison. So financially, investing a lot of time and money into "TF2" might not be worth it for Valve. Secondly, "TF2" is estimated to have only a handful of employees working on the game at any given time (per Rockpapershotgun). Any skilled programmer knows that solving the botting crisis with such a small team won't be easy, especially when the source code of "Team Fortress 2" is in the hands of the public.
Still, players have expressed how delighted they are to hear that Valve has finally acknowledged the issue. Users, such as @ceno02, remain skeptical that Valve will actually do anything about the problem.
Currently, Valve hasn't detailed how or what it will do to combat the bot crisis. In the meantime, players can hit up a community server, where bots are almost nonexistent.