Valve celebrates one year of Mann Co. with 'Manniversary' sale, new features
Little over a year ago, Valve introduced a store into Team Fortress 2 that allowed players to purchase in-game goods with real-world cash -- heck, even the more creative can prosper from this storefront by selling their own goods. Or players could simply engage in bartering through item trades. But it's those item creators that are the focus of the latest update for the game.
Today, Valve has announced that in celebration of a year of capitalism and these creators who have taken advantage of it, collectively earning a total of $2 million over the last year, some new features will be added in a "Manniversary Update." Steam Workshop is one key new feature, which sports "an improved item submission system that allows community item-creators to test, share and track the status of their creations." The community can even browse submitted creations now and even rate and offer feedback.
30 new hats and other cosmetic items will also be added, plus an item decal system, a "try before you buy" item tryout feature spanning a week, loadout presets, miscellaneous item slots, and some gameplay tweaks. There's also a new taunt, if you're one of those types of people who enjoy humiliating your fellow man. Hey, no judgment here!
Finally, in addition to all of that, everything in the Mann Co. store will be on sale until Monday, October 17.
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Team Fortress 2's Mann Co. Store Celebrates One-Year "Manniversary"
Item Creators Make Over $2,000,000 Selling Digital Creations
October 13, 2011 -- Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first annual "Manniversary Update and Sale" celebrating the fourth year of TF2, the first full year of the in-game "Mann Co. Store" and $2 mil earned by community item creators.
Team Fortress 2 was first released as part of The Orange Box in October 2007 and has earned numerous awards and become one of the most popular online action games of all time. One year ago, Valve introduced the "Mann Co. Store" to TF2 which allows community members to design, buy, sell and trade items wearable by the game's characters. During the past year, community item-creators have made over $2,000,000 selling their digital creations through the Mann Co. Store.
"The 'Mann Co. Store' represents an important new direction for games and game makers," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "By leveraging and extending the platform features of Steam, Team Fortress 2 has enabled a viable marketplace for independent content creators and significantly extended the gameplay experience in an incredibly short amount of time."
The Manniversary Update includes several new features, including Steam Workshop, an improved item submission system that allows community item-creators to test, share and track the status of their creations. The entire TF2 community will also be allowed to participate by browsing, rating and offering feedback on all submitted items. The Steam Workshop will be fully integrated with the Steam community.
In addition to the Workshop, the Manniversary Update will also ship 30 new hats and cosmetic items, an item decal system, weeklong "try before you buy" item tryouts, loadout presets, multiple miscellaneous items slots, improved game performance, and a new taunt. The Update is one of the largest and most ambitious in TF2's four-year history.
As part of the Manniversary celebration, almost everything in the Mann Co. in-game store will be on sale until Monday, October 17th.
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter that PC Gamer called "the most fun you can have online." With a growing community of players and item-creators, TF2 is more popular now than ever. For more information visit http://www.teamfortress.com.
