Team Fortress 2 goes free to play on Steam

VIDEOGAME MAKER Valve has announced that its online multiplayer action game Team Fortress 2 is available to download and play for free.

It's been four years and over 200 updates for the extremely popular online multiplayer from Valve. The game is now fully free to play (F2P) for anyone wishing to play on PC or Mac.

Valve said, "The F2P announcement comes as part of the "Über Update". Released today, it is the largest content pack delivered to TF2 since it shipped in 2007."

Valve, the maker of classics such as Half-Life and Portal, has decided to let users play the legendary game for free. New users can play the entire game including all nine character classes, maps and all the games updates.

The firm will only make money from in-game purchases of content such as the infamous hats, though pretty much all of the content is unlockable just by playing.

There are still premium accounts that give users more backpack slots, more items, all blueprints, full trading and the ability to give gifts. Everything else is still the same and users can upgrade to premium if they wish.

If you're a long time player of the game and you're worried about a sudden influx of 'noobs' then Valve will be "increasing our focus on making sure that hostile players can't ruin your fun. Specifically, we'll be keeping a close eye on players exploiting the ability to make infinite free accounts to bypass bans".

If you've already paid for the game then there is also a special ‘Proof of Purchase' hat to wear on any character in-game if you've paid for the title. You can download Team Fortress 2 from gaming client Steam now. µ