Why is TF2 still growing?
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
- This year TF2 hit a new all time high for concurrent players. So why are we seeing the game still grow after 14 years? And in Steam Charts really a reliable source for player numbers? And is this video title clickbaity enough?
00:00 Intro
1:35 How Many People Are Playing TF2?
7:33 Why is TF2 Still Growing?
10:06 Outro
12:20 Bonus Clip
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TL;DR Everyone thinks Steam Charts shows the sum of players over a 1h period but this is probably not true, just a rumour that got spread.
I previously pinned a comment from 'your father' (probably below this one) which I thought to be true but after further investigation from Casperr (another CZcamsr) we're now not so sure. It seems like the '1h interval' thing could be a rumour started by a reddit comment from an unknown user which then got spread around. Casper is investigating further and might make a video about it. If I get an update I'll post it here but in the meantime my understanding is that we can assume that Steam Charts DOES meassure concurrent players.
Hey, my father is no liar!
this makes sense because one day people tried to get as Manny people to play Titanfall 2 as possible and the steam charts were almost always super close to the in game number of people playing and it sometimes was lower than the number of people playing if I remember correctly
Woah really??? Man, I genuinely thought it was over 1 Hour, That's Crazy! Whoever started that rumor must be laughing holy fuck
I think that it actually does. I have been playing battlefield 1 and 4 for the last month Fand I always look at the steamcharts of the gamers I play. And from the looks of it, it looks pretty accurate supprisingly. I tihnk steamcharts does count players who are in just in menus. I think as long as you press that play button it does actually count it. If it is a 1 hour interval thing, I feel the information would be way off in my opinion.
hey did u know the joke u did video to vidya the word vidya actually means education in hindi the actual world should look like this विदया ugh yes i have strugled with spelling since i was very little so check it up in google too of course in hindi words are written as spelled .
That’s a very interesting question Toofty.
*Alexa, search up TF2 Inflation.*
(Boots up computer) I have a good feeling about this.
i have made a severe mistake by searching that
NO WAIT
NO DONT FALL INTO THE DARKLANDS
Hai boss! Long time
I started playing recently because I saw it was free, and that my PC could run it, and that it was popular. I like the characters, the weapons, cosmetics and taunts, and most importantly, it's fun
Enjoy your stay, man! Trust me, you'll be here for a while. Tf2 just sucks you in with all of its little mechanics. Atleast that's how it was for me, but I hope you have fun!
I hope you keep coming back
What class do you play
My computer could run it but it couldn’t “run it” it I mean when I get backstabed it’s most likely going to take one minute for the lag to finish before I realized I got backstabbed
@@arandompersonwhoisrandom3985 ragdolls could be the problem, other than that you should lower your graphics. TF2 is an old game, and the requirements to run it are pretty out of date
TF2 is just built different.
Sometimes, you just need a little more...
Class
you can do silly things without being reported for "griefing"
thats why tf2 is still alive
Nanomachine son
Answer: The game is F2P
Well not fully, but it is a factor, the other fact is that it's still fun and great to play!
The boom of community content creators is probably one of the strongest bonds helping the game push forward, so many creators appeared and grew, contributing to the continued life of the game.
A few old timers even returned in the last year, like SiN and Nate Fox.
That's definately an extremely important contributor to tf2s resilience.
I completely agree and it's beautiful to see new creators and players still coming on! These bots annoying as all hell though....
@@averagamer9222 yea Nate just showed up again with no warning. It was a surprise, but a welcome one
There's been a big boom in a lot of valve games
Heck Gmod animations have gotten a second Renaissance in recent years as well just look at all the Gmod args popping up everywhere
I argue it's because nothing else offers the same experience you get with TF2. Every modern FPS is trying to be a competitive E-Sport, meaning people looking for a casual game just to have fun inevitably turn to TF2.
For sure, i would say tf2 (both tf2) are the only games where all players dont take the game too seriously
Overwatch could've been it but like you said, they found competitive E-Sport more important than a fun casual game so with that completely ruined the game imo only to please those who are in the competitive group.
@@smugplush yeah I really wish quick
-play had its own rules, like no role lock, no barriers, and all around less emphasis on the abilities, while keeping competitive the way the whole game is now
Find another game where someone will watch you fall off the cliff, remove their disguise, taunt you, and then console suicide themselves off of the same cliff
@@smugplush Yeh. Actually why overwatch died. Copy TF2 gamemodes, but don't copy the mainly casual nature of the game. Overwatch 12v12 servers would have been great. Overwatch should have launched with a server browser and should have never implemented a ranked mode. Sure they took moba style abilities like in league, but at the end of the day its an FPS with casual game modes.
valve counts all the players that played during an hour, like 10:00-10:59
and teamwork.tf counts the players playing in one instant, like 10:00
Why is it labelled as concurrent then? It's pretty misleading and they don't mention this anywhere I could find. Thanks for the info though! This supports the theory that a lot of these are bots then. If 60k play in an hour but only 15k at once, that's a lot of people coming and going!
@@Toofty teamwork.tf doesn’t include people waiting in menus, waiting for matches, and also don’t count most bots.
@@Toofty Yes, and bots(in special trading ones) are super easy to make.
He pinned you immediately
@@Toofty tf2 is timeless masterpiece and brings nostoglia
I feel like LazyPurple and the insane amount of attention his videos have generated probably have a part to play in bringing back old players and introducing some new blood as well.
The real elmaxo
I stopped playing like 5 or 6 years ago, and one of Lazy's videos was what brought me back
I started playing mid 2019 because I thought the “how it feels to play spy” video was cool. Somewhat ironically I can’t play spy for sh*t, but I’m good enough at engi, medic and heavy to keep me playing (and getting backstabbed. constantly.)
Fax
@@two_toned_rooster Im ok at demo, scout, a bit of spy, medic, engi and soldier
I started playing tf2 this year.
The fact that I can play it on my toaster is what initially attracted me, but I stayed for the characters and game play among other things. I genuinely think this game is a masterpiece.
It is free and has low system requirements so to be honest it should have more players.
You're forgetting about the ridiculously high skill ceilings and bottoms. Most people don't want to spend 500 hours just to start being somewhat competent at a game
@@M4x_P0w3r Thats true but the true beauty of tf2 is you dont have to take it serious it has something for all types of players.You be a item collector,trader and such plus with the loads of items for players to try its worth the install.
@@M4x_P0w3r then why do people like Dark Souls?
@@presseagainidareyou4704 either because people like pain or want an challenge probably out of their league
@@presseagainidareyou4704 Dark Souls is comparatively much easier. Within a few hours anyone can pick up DS and start fighting the enemies without too much issue. The same is not the case for TF2, where you're going to be fighting much better people during your beginner stage
Also, two different genres. One is a multiplayer fps while the other is a third-person action rpg.
I think for quite a few people that despite the bots and issues that the game has
It has its charm
It's charm that brings people back to TF2
And it's charm that enlightens people to try TF2
That you can do
Stupid shit in the game
And still have a good time
That you can interact with anyone you wish
It's a comedically fun game and it attracts everyone towards it.
2021 and im looking forward to its Halloween update tomorrow. Ive been playing since 2008. Will be playing on to even its days where the only servers are offline servers with bots. Ill play then
What is this slam poetry shit
@@Trovosity-Entertainment I’ve been playing since january this year
I have stopped playing the actual game after meet your match update. But frequently play jump academy and tempus servers and some community 2 fort and hightower. Only community servers keeping game alive for me.
Honestly the Uncletopia servers have gotten me to start playing TF2 regularly again. No bots, little toxicity, and familiar faces really helps and brings the best out of a great game.
the toxicity needs to be there though. just enough to be hilarious but not so much that it's actually toxic.
@@thatguybrody4819 yea i prefer there not to be moderation on peoples' social behavior. nice to have some freedom with banter and the like.
Agreed, generally a good set of servers to play on.
IF ONLY ASIA UNCLETOPIA SERVERS ISNT ALWAYS FULL
@@thatguybrody4819
It's not toxicity if it's enjoyable
Simple: Gaming made full circle and TF2 became relevant.
Same case with Minecraft
Though you have the factor in the fact that Minecraft Is one of the few games with truly endless possibilities which is why it's undoubtedly the no.1 most popular game
Though both Minecraft and Tf2 have their very own charm, games that never or at least struggle to die stand out and bring something special, stuff people have never seen before
Minecraft and Roblox's infinite creativity
Tf2's Cartoony and Silly tone that can also be serious when need be
Among Us being a twist from the average murder mystery game, Rdr2, Don't Starve, so on so forth
TF2 though didn't need a behemoth of a youtuber to make a series on
I wonder what could come to TF2 going forward...
*slowly raises an invitation*
@@jaopao3227 roblox is no.1 most popular game with even more endless possibilities
@@TheGlobal747 Yesn't, TF2 have one of the most creative community but not the same kind as Minecraft.
TF2 is a game that just refuses to die.
Florida man too angry to die
First person shooter refuses to turn off life support
Gentlemen, we do not have permission to die!
Ironic as it sounds, Mercy from Overwatch said it best:
*"Heroes never die."*
TF2 has Ubercharge
It should also be noted the CZcams algorithm loves TF2, like actually loves this game. SFM and GMod are becoming so popular all of the sudden and that's a CZcams thing, not a TF2 thing, and don't even get me started on video essays.
I'm certainly not the most popular guy to make CZcams videos about TF2, but on all my TF2 videos I get comments saying they don't even play TF2, indicating TF2 is just a hot topic on CZcams.
good
CZcams algorithm doing a good thing
I've been thinking though, do you think it has something to do with the popularity of valorant. I'm not sure how the algorithm works but valorant is an fps with a cartoons art style with bright colors. Does CZcams somehow associate tf2 with that and promote it?
This is what happened to me. I was watching HL and Portal content - youtube recommends Antoine Delak - i watch heavy is dead - youtube thinks i like tf2 - youtube keeps recommending expiration date - i get so annoyed by that recommendation, i watch it - i like it - youtube recommends meet the team videos - i like it - youtube recommends lazypurple videos - i fall in love with the game - i install the game - i'm here. even if i don't like shooter genre, but i'll make exception for tf2
hey bean, your videos rock my dude!
i think a big reason of older games are growing is because were kinda in a game drought rn
most companies are opting to support their older games rather then make new ones (largely due to covids work from home policy, that yes, video game devs still have to follow since their job can be done at atleast 60% effectivity from home)
Insert "if only valve supported tf2"
Joke aside it still is a shame no matter how over said it is
Also the fact a lot of new games have not been good for a long time, you mainly have to search the indie market to find a good game anymore, triple A companies don't deliver, gems in the dirt.
@@bucket6988 I'd disagree, I feel like most triple A games were good at launch
But playing the same games for 3 fucking years 99% if the time just gets boring and repetitive
Only exception I've found is Destiny 2
@@flamingscar5263 mmm, to each their own but any game with microtransactions or any paid for DLC just turns me off to games that aren't MMOs and that's only to the DLC, no cosmetics, no PTW, I just want a game to ship complete.
last lines are debatable.
9:35 I’m french, thank you for saying such thing about my country, but anyway great video and I’m happy to see that tf2 is still growing since I’ve been playing it for years (also I feel targeted when you talk about having a potato for a computer)
Love you really
Il m'a énervé, et puis j'ai compris que c'était une blague 🤣
@@saihtama That medic is a spy!
@@diegogironlopez9052 that heavy is a bloody spy!
@@diegogironlopez9052 ugh merde...
I actually live in a third world country and even I can enjoy TF2 to a really good extent- it's been a little more than a year that I have started playing
It's a really good game
I feel like Valve has realized that TF2 isn't going to die soon like they thought it would and are starting to work on it again, or at least putting more than the janitor to work in it.
The janitor and the potted plant
What makes you think that?
@@colbyboucher6391 sounds like EA
@@colbyboucher6391 And are squandering a perfectly good way of making money
Tf2 vets : I'll be back.
Tf2 vets 2 years later when a minor update added : *I'M BACK.*
Fun fact to think about: TF2 is three years older than Minecraft. It may be the oldest still popular game to exist.
Okay, you guys are making some good points. I think I may was wrong about this comment.
Gmod came out a year earlier so it probably beats it.
perhaps in fps, there are many old, very much alive games that come to mind outside of fps
world of warcraft
runescape
@@bigchunguskeanureeveswhole1143 yea good point. Old MMOs stayed alive.
Old school RuneScape is definitely the oldest game that’s still somewhat popular
Started playing a year ago because it was only then that I thought "hold on, my crap PC might actually be able to run this 13 year old game"
I already loved the characters and the shorts (it's difficult not to have watched the meet the team videos back in the day) and if I didn't like it, I could simply uninstall it later.
I mainly joined because of the goofiness. Friendlies dancing the Kazotsky Kick and everyone else joining were what really got me interested in the game; I was really not into first person shooters (hence why I didn't try Half-Life 1 or 2 until 2021), but TF2's charm and goofy players just railed me in.
Apparently a lot of people thought the same, and Scream Fortress 2020 was amazing! One day, a person wanted to get the Merasmus hat (forgot the name), so when the match ended, we ended up kicking all the tryhards and made the server friendly so that no one would die in the hell area before getting the hat. We made a conga line with every single player, and I'm sure we got all achievements related to conga line length. Truly memorable!
Of course, as I got more things to do, I ended up playing less, but I ended up streaming TF2 at least once every month on my CZcams channel, and people seem to like it! Hell, you got people that ONLY tune in for the TF2 stuff. Kinda sad, but it's understandable
This game really is an enigma, and that fact comes through most when I see people say they want Heavy TF2 for Smash, a topic I've been thinking about a bit lately.
On the one hand, this game has so many players, gets so much attention, and while not as popular in Japan, it's definitely got cultural impact overall on the FPS genre, and has the stylization to boot.
But, on the other hand, the game is in a terrible state right now, in so many ways. Bots whose main shticks are racism/transphobia/etc, bugs and glitches GALORE, dangerous lack of attention from the developers, hell, even the game itself, while amazing, isn't exactly kind to newcomers. When I first got into it, I had to learn 99% of the game's know-hows by either asking my friends, reading wiki articles, or watching videos.
Considering this, it's incredible how the game can be getting MORE new players, and it just shows how amazing the game's core is. But despite that, it also fails terribly in the more mainline gaming areas like... good tutorials, good information, polish, and developer activity/interest, so I definitely can't see Nintendo trying to dip their toes in this series with a Smash rep LOL
But man, this game really is something. I have tons of wishes for it (especially in that "more accessible to newcomers" department), but considering how many new(?) players the game gets, that much may not even be as necessary. As long as the bots ACTUALLY get taken care of, at least for the most part, the game'll be just excellent
The game no longer gets major updates, so I doubt a better tutorial would be coming any time soon unfortunately
I didn't know how to rocket jump until around 300 hours
I don't mind the offensive spam. It's a nice break from the incessant social shilling of nearly every content creator
@Jοe Biden go away
@Jοe Bidenyeah whats wrong with that
Hey Toofty, I’m not sure if you’ll ever see this comment, but I want to thank you for this video. Recently, I had a midlife crisis on TF2, as the game is 14 years old and the player base is less isn’t crazy, and I was seriously concerned that I spent too much money on the game for it to be “irrelevant soon.” I was scared to just play TF2 generally, but your video gave me a boost of confidence that this game is amazing, so thank you so much for it
Man hope u get better
Don't worry about it Jayc, as long as third-world country people like myself are still alive tf2 will probably never die, cheers
You’re unhinged if a youtuber is the only thing validation your decision to enjoy a game
@@PoshBeard Im not unhinged. I was worried that the game was finally coming to an end and I thought I wasted all my money. Then he makes this video and I realize that theres more to this game
@@PoshBeard man your jumping to that that fast?
I feel as though that three big reasons as to why TF2 is still relevant. For one, it's a rare example of a game that's popular today where you can load up a modestly sized map and just casually partake in stress-free "de facto" team deathmatch. Doesn't matter whether you're focusing on the objective or not, you can just contribute by idly shooting the enemies, without having to worry about things like ranks, prestige, elo, etc. or even whether you win the round or not. I'm aware that games like Call of Duty might achieve a similar effect (I don't play them, I wouldn't know), but the advantage TF2 has are the two things mentioned in this video: it runs on a potato and it's free, as opposed to being a yearly 80$ release for next gen consoles.
Secondly, perhaps as an extension for the first point, there really is no competitive viability to TF2 as a whole. There are people who play competitively, yes, but you can't tell me with a straight face that the game, with the way it is, without any weapon bans or stipulations or balance changes, has any potential as an eSport. You can look at many multiplayer games in the past decade that tried to strike gold by becoming competitively viable and predictably biting the dust within a year or few (who the fuck even plays Overwatch anymore?), placing hardcore focus on skill-based matchmaking and expecting players to tryhard to play the game "the intended way" (and then act shocked that their communities are toxic). TF2, meanwhile, has lived most of its life with a casual mindset being the default, with F2P newbies, friendlies, people just coming home from work/school and wanting to turn their brain off and destress, wannabe tryhards and actual good players often coexisting within the same servers, each knowing they can just do their thing without the fear of getting a slap on the wrist.
And lastly, the characters. This might seem fairly obvious, but TF2's nine classes are so effortlessly likable as characters that they've stayed in the hearts of gamers for over a decade, and it seems like people have never once stopped finding amusement in their appearances, their personalities, their voicelines or how they play off each other. Them strictly being comedy characters as opposed to being "well-rounded" with deep personalities and dramatic backstories also makes them significantly less boring as you don't need to read any comics just to be able to Truly Appreciate the characters. They make no attempt to be cool or hip or edgy, they're just smug, violent assholes with funny accents.
*TF2 Hits player peak*
XxValve2+1Alyx: Lmao ded game
Holy Gaben, Alyx likes ?
Gaben did it to himself for not releasing *episode 3*
Toofty's family-friendly curse word alternatives are great, I love them.
I believe there are many key reasons but I will focus on just 3 of them.
1. The casualness
Most other Fps games are highly competitive like fortnite, csgo, etc. But tf2 people just have a conga line for 30 minutes, and this makes the game more fun for less skilled players or people who just want to relax.
2. The characters
The characters are so engaging and likely the main reason people get into the game. From the american soldier to Russian heavy, none are bad except maybe pyro but mostly due to its musteriousness. Soldier is an absolute patriot and may be why the game is so infamous in America, and heavy is just hilarious from the hand gun taunt to entire team is babies.
3. Customization
If the characters are why you start, and the casualness is why you play more, the customization is why you stay. There are virtually infinite combos of weapons allowing more match up with 9 classes than overwatch with 30+ characters. Also, the sub classes are a new way to play a class that can be exilerating, like demo knight is fun, battle engie is so much more interactive but requires some skill, and huntsman which changes the range of sniper, they are such a good mix up. I would bet that if not for unlocks, tf2 would be long dead.
hmmmm czcams.com/video/iQq57PxeYh0/video.html
Because we currently are in strange position, when AAA-grade games often end up as overpriced garbage with microtransactions, while costing a lot and demanding expensive hardware.
@@ceu160193 true, the f2p aspect does help it
I got the notification for this video right as I was reinstalling TF2 onto my new laptop.
Because it's a masterpiece.
I wish it was
Bananas
Rotat e
Stonks
Affirmative.
its in a really bad state right now
I had a friend get me into this game just this year. It’s great. I knew about it from pop culture beforehand but I’d never played it.
You know when a bot joins and immediately gets kicked by everyone?
I think that that can account for the less than a minute thing you were talking about
Which means that thats the minimum of the percentage of bots in tf2?
there are bots with over 1.5k hours in the game, so probably not the case
@@functionxd Steam "hours" include hours on menu, try leaving a game open overnight, you'll see the hours go up, despite you literally being asleep
@@thegunnitgamer5716 yeah i know
I wonder if it also works when tabbed out. Cuz if so, a lot of my hours are due to me being a mapper and modifying the map I’m working on and compiling it while still running TF2
@@DrHundTF2 as long as you have the game open, it will count hours, doesnt matter if youre tabbed out
The skill of the game & the sheer amount of loadouts is what keeps people playing. Why play a basic fps like COD or a realistic one like CSGO when u can play something interesting w tons of different ways to play.
Yeah only nine classes but the weapon combinations are like no other game. Not to mention hats 🧢
Edit: I’m not sure what makes tf2 so special but I’ll say this…
I was the overwatch kid who never knew of tf2 until much later and I feel like overwatch was cool but always had way too much going on with aesthetic designs and things. I really love the simplicity but also pure character of tf2. It’s not an over iced cake where it’s too sickly sweet. It’s just right and made the old fashioned way. Haha
@@undeadwerewolves9463 tf2 has a 100x bigger skill ceiling than OW too..
What about the lack of updates that makes the game familiar even years later and makes modding and custom servers easier,is that good?
I’m fantasizing a world where tf2 has 250k players at once. It has the potential to make that happen.
What about 1 million?
All it needs is for Valve to sink some time into it and it'll soar for a long haul.
@@The_Mister_E a remastered tf2 👀
I think it had as much in the Jungle Inferno update...probably
@@Naz0Xtreme nah, it had like 115k
For me personally I used to play it years ago and randomly I had a pretty strong urge to play it again and it was really fun and nostalgic (it's also still a 10/10 game) so im sure I'm not alone for wanting to go back to it. It is interesting how many people randomly spiked and started playing it
i’m getting a pc soon and tf2 is one of the games i’ve been dying to play, the game seems fun and the one thing i want to do is be a pyro shark or hoovy
Before 2021 I hadn't touched TF2 in years but this year I somehow came across some active TF2 content creators like Jowatt and Fatmagic. The amount of fun they had in their videos brought back the joy I had when I played TF2 in the past and made me go back the game this year. And it's still as fun as it was back then, minus the bots of course. I live for the games where you just have a bunch of fun people that are willing to follow a single order and only play battle medic for an entire game for example
I’m still quite proud that TF2 still popular to the point that one of the Hololive members (Vtuber) Playing it and actually enjoys it. That alone alrd told us that this game is timeless masterpiece… and always brings all communities from all factions, coming together and enjoy the time together. I mean what, we have Cosmetics that makes TF2 characters becomes JoJo, Furries, Movie references, TF Classic, ETC.
Oh god, I hoped that v-tuber don't encounter any racist bots.
@@caleb_artzs2533 Rest assured, no bots hopped in and spoiled the fun for that Vtuber. She did however found one of her memes on a Conscientious Objector sign though and actually had a laugh out of it
@@caleb_artzs2533 reason for this is due of lot of people wanted to play with her, and joined servers in attempt to met with Pekoro, more players = less bots
Also scandals and news about lack of updates, bots, leaked source code etc. make people interested in the game.
Idea: Make a review of some underrated, by your standards, tf2 youtubers
It's accessible and expansive. I started playing in 2011 when I got my first PC and I'm still getting better at the game and learning new things about it.
I agree about the small channels.
I’ve gained a few hundred in a year, I’ve seen some go from like 1,000 to 15,000 in a similar timeframe too.
Imo smaller channels probably get more actual players watching because they don’t have the nostalgia of say, LazyPurple
Actually, saying that TF2 reached its all-time peak this year is untrue. Steamcharts only goes back up to 2012, presumably when the website was created. I can't logically believe there were less than 150k players on TF2's starting days in 2007. The game reached its peak since 2012 this year, yes, but not its all-time peak as there's no way to know how many players were there before 2012.
There were a lot less Steam users back then and you also had to buy the game. I’d only assume it hit its peak when it became F2P.
3:10 Or listening to the absolute banger music
I feel like this has to be a part of pekora's influence during her 2 hour game livestream but that's just me
TF2 is a game I always come back to, and honestly it's kinda magical
5:03 its really sad seeing how low tf2 twitch numbers are, the only reason why thats the case is because its so easy to ruin a stream for someone playing tf2 compared to other online games
How so?
@@M4x_P0w3r It's apparently possible to lag spike servers that streamers are playing on if they can figure out what server it is. Which they can if the streamer happens to press tab to bring up the player list or is set to 'online' while on Steam instead of offline.
@@imlegos2153 Damn, that sucks
Tf2 is like that one heavy medic combo on the enemy team
Just wont die
The tons of people logging into servers and disconnecting 1 minute later might be from people logging in, seeing the server is overrun with bots, and leaving.
Great video! I feel like this is a subject not many people are talking about but it's interesting and quite unique!
It’s awesome to see. I started playing originally in 2010 and stopped in 2016 an currently this past June started playing again. An, it’s been a blast to play again, especially playing on old community servers you use to play on are still active
_Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you'll never really see anyone making friends with people dancing the conga in games like CSGO and CoD_
I couldn't live without it, it's my childhood game and I always loved its animations.
Man, I haven't played in years. But I still watch your channel, and I always end up wanting to get back in. I don't own a PC, but you can bet TF2 is the first thing I'm installing once I get around to building one.
this came out on my birthday! I wish too be like you someday, my fav tf2 youtuber! Good video as always!
I’ve seen many players introduced to TF2 due to SFM/Gmod animations, so I’d say they’re a decent factor in the game’s surprising growth despite falling to neglect.
I love TF2, I always recommend people who have never played it to play it.
I was also looking 3 or 4 weeks ago into this.Mainly because I wanted to see how much of that number is bot accounts but I got bored and stoped so yea thank you for making a video about it.
I love TF2 please keep the TF2 community alive please keep uploading, I remember my 1st crate ever I unboxed an unusual bot dogger with the circling purple electricity effect back when the robo update came out.
The game play in the background was consistently terrifying, just so you know.
absolute stomper
I reckon a good reason is youtube. Ive seen a recent explosion of react channels and stuff reacting to tf2 things and since youtubes algorithm hypertargets that content to people who like tf2, the community swarms that creator with views, boosting the videos performance, getting them into tf2 and the cycle continues. I know off the top of my head at least two react youtubers who this has happened to recently, and this effect also introduces that channels original, non tf2 audience to tf2.
Ive noticed a lot of people ive grown up with even myself didnt have a good system to run games. I only had a laptop which had my school files then games on it. Now that we are hitting that age where we can financially spend our own money on systems to run games we all came back and naturally came back to the old games we missed. Im 22 and coming back to TF2/WoW/Minecraft/Project Zomboid/Gameboy DS N64 Emulators/CSGO/Rust/League/GMOD/. These were games we'd watch youtubers play wanting to be apart of it and now we can. I know its not going to be 100% of the population but that has to play a role in "newer" people coming into the game. We still play new games that come out however it doesnt seem to grab our attention for a long time.
I imagine the less than one minute timer is due in part to getting into a casual server, getting killed by a bot, then leaving
I think the playtime chart might have to do with the games with "anomalies" are free to play. As to the ones with playtime in the 1-2 hour mark are not. People are more likely to continue playing a game they paid for than one they did not I think.
Good Question.
Your video brings a smile on my face and a tear to my eye, you're right, it's a special timeless masterpiece and like the games you mentioned (CS:GO or Minecraft), it just doesn't age at this stage :)
It also is highly customisable, from simple hud changes to brand new modes and weapons
I blame the endless lockdowns. I mean, I was able to play Mass Effect 3 multiplayer again without waiting 30 minutes to an hour. That plus the game is FTP and is just fun while easily accessible.
I started playing TF2 5 months ago (May) and it's already one of my favorite games, which is weird because it's not at all the type of game I usually play (My other favorites are Stardew Valley, Terraria, Minecraft, Portal, etc) but I just love the mechanics of each class and improving my own skill. The art style, humor, and trace amounts of lore are also neat additions. The learning curve, community, and Valve's neglegance are annoying but I have hope for it
I mean you're right in that it is a FANTASTIC game for the price of literally free. As a relatively new player I have loved getting to get into the less toxic parts of the community, MVM, trading, and even some more competitive PVP (even if the skill ceilings are so high as to appear daunting some days). So the idea of coming back to realize a classic masterpiece of gaming history for no price at all seems very appealing to a lot of gamers my age (college to high school level). The youngest generation of gamers is used to really great games being old because we weren't alive to play them when they were new, so we get to experience that at a different time than others. This was a really insightful video, good job toofty!
I joined the game back in the end of November 2020 when I got my very first laptop and this was the very first game I downloaded. I've known about Tf2 long before by a friend of mine who was more than happy to describe to me what the game was like, it sounded crazy to a younger me, a man firing a rocket at his feet to achieve flight is all I really remember from back then (I think this was in middle school)
I've watched the "Meet the _____" videos from Valve before as well as the other animations they have done to see a glimpse of what their world is like, and I watched other CZcamsrs who played TF2 to try and get an idea of what to expect and when I finally got my computer I went home, made a steam account, and went on my way.
It was hard and confusing at first, I have never played with mouse and keyboard before so I wasn't sure how to really aim at first, I couldn't even communicate with my teammates at first because I was F2P so I couldn't even ask for help, and some instances even got kicked accused of being a bot...but since then I have fell in love with this game.
TF2 is definitely a mess don't get me wrong, but there is so much to love. In what other game can you walk up to a crazed mad man with a rocket launcher and challenge them to a friendly game of rock, paper, scissors? In what game can this massive muscular man come up to you and offer you a sandwich after picking off one of his friends with a sniper rifle? In what game can your enemy become your friend? This is why I really love TF2, because it's not a game to be taken fully seriously, it's a game to enjoy and have fun in.
The bot crisis is still on going and it's rough, but there are ways to fight back, not just against the bots themselves but their wishes to ruin the game. I remember one match of 2Fort where bots took over, so one team set up a bunch of sentries since the bots know to avoid them, and if someone friendly on the enemy team came over the sentry would be wrangled so they could come into our spawn area and everyone just danced and had fun in each other's company because while our colors might be different we are all still players wanting to have a fun time and I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon.
"A guy called mastercoms"
Facepalm intensifies
mastercoms is a she.
My bad, apologies to mastercoms
Guy/guys is kinda gender neutral, I will happily walk in front of a whole gaggle of girls and shout "morning guys" to demonstrate
FACT
Tf2 and Deltarune, two FREE and amazing games. Playing both gives me peace and hope
A great video with some interesting observations, who knows which direction tf2 will take and in the end I am not sure it matters. Tf2 has been quite an experience, I am just glad I got to be along for the ride!
I started playing about a month before the summer update give or take and I gotta say, I suck at this game but the interactions you can have with people are an absolute blast
I start playing TF2 a few weeks ago, i have so much fun playing it even when the first download have a problem, so i just play the offline mode
Note: im already re-download it and i can play online mode now
TF2 is Life and everyone should give it a try!
Tomorrow is the 2021 Halloween update bois. Been playing since the beginning and loving it to this day
Tomorrow? Can't wait to murder merasmus and throw fireballs at people as a tiny baby man.
You. You TFTubers are the reason it grows. Why players get to discover TF2. There’s been an increasing amount of CZcamsrs who got more and more popular, including you. The algorithm sure has helped, and thus more people discover the game, or some come back after having left. So thank you for always bringing awesome content.
I love TF2
Valve employees: DOCTOR, ARE YOU SURE THIS WILL WORK?!
Gabe: AHA, I HAVE NO IDEA!
*They then created this timeless masterpiece*
I LOVE YOU TOOFTY! fr tho ur videos inspire me as a demo main.
Been watching the tf2connect event from nine months ago, and toofth was hitting some pipes, damn
The easiest way to debunk that playercount is by simply considering economics. If TF2 really had 100k+ players it would be a huge potential source of revenue for Valve. The fact that we haven't had a major update in years means that TF2 is no longer financially viable for them. So while the game definitely wont "die" (whatever that even means) for years to come, people who believe those numbers are just delusional.
Or it is the opposite, it is valuable. The game has so many stable players that valve doesn't have to do anything at all and get passive income
If player count significally drops then its up to valve to decide if its worth supporting
Right now its literally free money maker that requires no effort to upkeep
tf2 is timeless. it has addictive gameplay, tons of memes, and effectively something for everyone. overall the game will always have a home on our computers. games come and go. but tf2's community is always accepting new players and helping them. jump academy was one of biggest things to really get me in the game. its a community game (warframe is similar in this aspect)
I'm not sure if I understood the steamspy thing correctly, but could the staying-for-a-minute-or-less numbers be due to a combination of:
-Bots being quickly voted out (omegatronics, youtube bots, funkytown micspams)
-people landing on half-empty or bot-dominated servers (very common, I do it a lot)
-people landing on 2fort (some times I forget to filter it out)
-Ping issues from slow internet nations. (it would be important to see where all the new players are coming from)
I'm a new player myself, no particular reason why I even joined but I'm glad I did, this game''s huge fun.
Great video!
Jumped into a 2h long of 5CP Process game and I enjoyed every second of it. Both teams had good leveled players as well as beginners and over the 2 hours we barely got any bots and they got kicked before anyone had to type in the chat. It felt like the good old days where you could join any game and have fun for hours.
TF2 Growing? Its bad joke mate. Keep dreaming. TF2 IS DEAD!
nah
No
We newbies are having fun messing around, thanks for the work ye do!
I played a couple maps during this year's Scream Fortress and seeing people getting their Halloween achievements for the first time made me very happy...
I'm just surprised there wasn't an update to go with scream fortress, at first I was really confused, and still am.
@@lonkzelda7871 The janitor just fell asleep and forgot to add the contracts
@@MarKBBQ Ah, now I understand
As someone who plays and does do videos on this game its still holds up so dam well! i enjoy trying different ideas and seeing random things happen^^(of course my channle is a mix of videos)
I used to play a lot in 2013.
I've recently began playing it again, mostly due to nostalgia.
Having community servers against random matches (like Overwatch) probably helps, you see many regulars on specific servers that know who plays there along with.
There's a lot more people that play video games there was 10 years ago. TF2 might have a higher player count, but I assume it has a much smaller market share than 10 years ago.
Great video btw 👍
TF2 Rocks... personally it been so long since i have played this game but watching tf2 gameplay in your video, sure brought up some old memories btw this was the first fps game of my life. It will always have a place in my heart.
i came back to the game a few months ago after not playing for 4 years, the community as a whole is entirely different as it was back then and its so nice to see everyone being so accepting of us!
I'm playing this game from time to time because I'm currently learning how to det jump/ blast jump and the mobility is crazy in just crouching while rocket jumping.
I miss being a medic,i miss reflecting rockets,i miss taunting people while invisible,i miss putting a tele behind enemy lines, I miss having to find cover from snipers, I miss rocket academy, I miss sticky traps... I miss tf2.
There's also 2020, where I noticed seemed to be around when those charts started to go up so. A lot of people were stuck inside which could have lead to the gradual increase of player counts
TF2 just always somehow manages to draw my attention. Like every time I thought about trading and taunting and pvping during the time when I gave tf2 up, it just got nostalgic. So now I’m back this year playing and it’s been really fun. Started playing quite a few years ago
A few things that might explain some of the data shown in this video:
I might be wrong about some of these, but i'm pretty sure this is the case
teamwork.tf shows the number of people currently in servers.
Steamcharts shows the number of unique users that played in the last hour, which when accounting for people on the menu, and people loading and quitting the game, makes it a lot larger than the value teamwork.tf shows.
Steamspy counts the number of unique users that played in the last 2 weeks, which makes sense to have much higher values than the others, since players in different time zones might never play with eachother, and it also counts people that only play once every week or so the same as people that play for hours every day.
As for the steamspy play times, as it only counts people in servers, if someone leaves a server it probably counts that as "one play", so if a bot gets kicked within 30 seconds, that will count as playing for 30 seconds.
There is such a big spike because if it takes a bot 1 minute to find and get kicked from a server, then a bot being active for 1 hour could count for over 60 "plays", which would need many more hours for real players to play to have the same impact for longer play times.
The graph is also more skewed towards the lower end because in TF2, players often leave a server after getting rolled, when the server gets overrun by bots, or just when the game ends, counting for more shorter "plays".