Why aren't you playing Team Fortress 2 for FREE yet?

The news has already been out there for a couple of days, but we at NoobFeed would just like to remind you that there's absolutely no excuse not to pick up Team Fortress 2 now that it is free. Valve's lovechild is one of the best examples of how to do a multiplayer shooter properly—dedicated servers, constant updates, and a business model that does not hurt average gamers.

Yes, gamers, after countless useless fads such as overpriced DLC, pre-order exclusives, and subscription services for things that used to be free, finally, a trend seems to be on the rise that will NOT pluck us like the chickens we are. Not too long ago, a free version of ArmA II became available, and Team Fortress 2's becoming free seems to confirm what some of us already suspected: Free 2 Play is the new fad. And everyone knows free things are cool.

There's always a reason to be cynical whenever a private company offers us something for free, however, so let me ask what many of us are probably wondering: what is Valve getting out of this? First of all, Team Fortress 2 becoming free doesn't mean that the game will stop making money for Newell and friends. The game has a microtransaction system that allows more obsessed people to buy in-game items. So, if you make the game available to just about anyone, just about anyone is a potential customer in this microtransaction business. Talk about expanding your market.

Additionally, Team Fortress 2 is often used to promote other games. New titles often come with extra in-game items for TF2 when you buy them on Steam, and while a new hat may seem arbitrary to some of us, it can make the difference when someone doubts whether or not to buy a game on Steam.

Lastly, a big reason to make games free to play on Steam is because it's a damn good reason for people to get Steam if they haven't already. And it is not unlikely that those people will end up spending a lot of money on Steam once they have it.

Overall, it's a smart move by Valve that ultimately benefits us gamers. We get to play one of the best multiplayer shooters of this generation while Valve makes even more money, which they can spend on supporting their games, free of charge, of course.

One detail strikes me as a bit ironic, though: Team Fortress Classic still costs €5—a bunch of vultures.