Valve promises access to Team Fortress 2 today, takes money, screws gamers

Valve Fails to Deliver Team Fortress 2 Beta to Paying Customers
This is not good. Last week Valve made the announcement on the Steam page that if you pre-purchased The Orange Box - which includes the full version of Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and 10 levels of Peggle Extreme - for $45 you'd get to play the Team Fortress 2 beta "next week". That's great but the announcement specifically said Monday September 17th. It's almost 11pm EST Monday night and my Team Fortress 2 still says, "Pre-load complete; unreleased".

[img]http://www.tomsgames.com/us/fringedrinking/steam2.jpg[/img]

At midnight on Sunday the forum posts started on the Team Fortress 2 section of the Steam page. Gamers were sitting at their computers waiting... Waiting for that first opportunity to play one of the most infamous vaporware titles in PC gaming history. Of course nothing happened and no official word from Valve on when they were planning to unlock it. Time went on. The hardcore Valve fans grew anxious. Forget the fact that a Team Fortress 2 title has been in development and available for pre-purchase through several game retailers since around 1999, Valve had asked for money in exchange for the open beta and promised it on a date.

[img]http://www.tomsgames.com/us/fringedrinking/orangebox2.jpg[/img]

The hours grew late with no official word from Valve, no news update on the site, and the forum was responding with spirit-crushing dial-up slowness. People were getting angry. Forum posters talked about how they had taken the day off to play, canceled plans, and skipped school just to get on the TF2 servers as soon as possible. I realize that those are the postings of the Valve acolytes and that Valve can't be blamed for how their customers opt to spend their days but if it wasn't going to be ready by Monday why post the actual date? "Next week" was the headline and it could have been clarified once everything was in the "go" category. I didn't troll the forums all day constantly refreshing so I could have missed an official post here or there - perhaps a moderator update - but throughout the day I never saw anyone reference it and I never saw a sticky thread hit the page with that information. Besides this is not something you bury in a forum. If you could take the time to post the story about the pre-purchase then you can take the time to post something on the Steam news page that the TF2 beta isn't happening as planned.

The Steam client is up and it's even been updated today (as has the website detailing the changes). No mention of Team Fortress 2. I'm not infuriated like a lot of the people out there, but I do see a problem. Unfortunately a great deal of the shooter fans are straight blowing up right now. These are Valve's biggest supporters - the Disciples, the missionaries, the guys who carry the banner of Steam, Half-Life, and CounterStrike into the perilous corners of the globe. Gamers are not particularly patient in any case but promise them something, take some money, and then not deliver? Ouch... I would not want to moderate that forum.

This isn't the first time Steam has been slow to unlock a purchase. I bought BioShock through Steam as well. I wasn't expecting it to unlock at midnight the day it was available but it was late in the afternoon when it finally unlocked. Was I able to play it? No. Despite the fact that the entire game was pre-loaded I had to wait another hour or so for the files to all unlock on my computer. Bad form, Valve. I could have - perhaps should have - gone to a store at lunchtime and bought it. I'd have been playing it sooner (DRM issues aside).

I worked in IT so I know that things come up at the last minute that can destroy any planned launch. However I also know that when that happens the first thing - the VERY first thing - you do is communicate with the customers that there is a problem and it is being worked on. If the problem isn't fixed in a matter of hours you give them an update. You keep them in the loop. Valve not communicating anything about why their hardcore fans are being denied Team Fortress 2 today is tantamount to a slap in the face. I am only mildly inconvenienced by it but the ravenous animals snarling at the gate will not be placated so easily. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "It'll probably go up tomorrow. What's one day?" To these guys it's being 10 years old and having to wait until the 26th to open your presents. I wonder how many people will go back to Valve for a refund.