Ever since the item set inside of TF2 began to grow, players have screamed for ways to directly buy the in-game items they wanted. In a little less than two years, Team Fortress 2 content has grown from random items in-game to the availability of purchasing them through web sites linked to the Steam Store. With the introduction of the Quakecon Bundle, TF2 now has a DLC presence in the Steam Store.
Giant Mann Steps, Years Apart
The Mann-Conomy Update introduced the in-game Mann Co. Store back in September of 2010, finally allowing players to directly turn their cold hard cash into in-game weapons and hats. Over a year later, and with only a single sentence in a December 2011 blog post, Valve announced online links to items–that anyone can embed in their websites–linking directly to purchasing the item(s) in the Steam Store. With the introduction of the Quakecon Bundle, this weekend marks the first time items are available as DLC for purchase, and gifting, from within the Steam Store.
The Quakecon Bundle
You won't like me when I'm angry
The Quakecon bundle is on sale for its introductory weekend with 56% off its advertised price tag. Until Sunday night (August 5), for $12.99, players can add to their backpacks all of the Quakecon associated items without having to purchase the Quakecon bundle.
- “The Original” – A rocket launcher re-skin for the Soldier class. While this weapon performs the same as the default rocket launcher, as a throw back to the original Quake rocket launcher, it centers on the HUD and features bad-ass Quake rocket launcher sounds.
- “Wingstick” – A miscellaneous item for the Engineer class. Unfortunately this is only a cosmetic item unlike its namesake. It is designed after an in-game boomerang-type weapon in the game RAGE.
- “Dragonborn Helmet” – A hat for the Heavy class based off of a similar hat worn by the main character, Dovahkiin, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
- “The Anger” – A hat for the Sniper class. This hood and mask is based on the appearance of operative Resistance members in the game Brink.
- “Pip-Boy” – Another miscellaneous item for the Engineer class. This device appears as a large electronic device arm band in-game. It is designed to look like the Pip-Boy 3000, RobCo Industries™, in the Fallout series of games.
The Original Rocket Launcher
After the Quakecon weekend sale the Quakecon Bundle will presumably revert to its listed retail price of $29.45 in the Steam Store. Oddly enough this amount is $1 more than purchasing each of the items individually at regular price in the Mann Co. Store. The bundle listed in game has the same items yet it advertises a retail price of $14.70 with a 12% discount to get to the $12.99 promotion. The difference might mean that there will be a higher price for purchasing items in the Steam Store than the Mann Co. Store. This may have something to do with the fact that you can purchase the bundle from the Steam Store as a gift, saving it to your Steam inventory for later activation or sending to a friend. It could also just be a marketing gimmick to make it look like buyers are getting a better deal.
So now that players have another easy way to throw their money at Valve, what will the marketing geniuses come up with to promote the method? Now that players can obtain items without even having to launch TF2 and can gift items directly to friends without trading, what new sales and promotions will come our way? Maybe some exclusive items during a Halloween event or the Steam Holiday sale 2012? The Quakecon Bundle is not a huge development for DLC in general, but a big step for TF2 in the direction that the Free to Play model has been going for a while.
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