Valve announces that Team Fortress 2 is now free-to-play, saying this change is part of the Über Update, which they are calling the "largest content pack delivered to TF2 since it shipped in 2007." There is an interview about this with Valve's Robin Walker on Develop explaining this will not entail advertisements, just microtransactions for hats and other aesthetic items. "We've been toying with the idea of making Team Fortress free-to-play ever since the Mann-conomy update [in September 2010]," Walker said. "The data we got back from that update leads us to believe that TF2 would be more successful as a completely free product." He goes on to discuss the benefits of this move: "It's a belief of ours that in multiplayer games it's generally true that the more people playing the game, the higher value the game has for each individual customer. The more players, the more available servers in your area, the wider variety of other players you'll find, the greater the opportunity for new experiences, and so on." Here's a Team Fortress 2 is Free to Play trailer and the Meet the Medic trailer, and here's the announcement:

Team Fortress 2 is now Free to Play

June 23, 2011 - Valve, creators of bestselling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), announced today that after four years and over 200 updates, its popular and critically-acclaimed online action game Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is now Free To Play (F2P).

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.

New players interested in experiencing what PC Gamer calls "the most fun you can have online" will have access to training and offline practice modes, so they can hone their skills before jumping into the ever-expanding TF2 universe.

To celebrate the launch of the Über Update, Valve has released "Meet the Medic," the latest in its series of TF2 animated shorts.

TF2 is now Free to Play for PC & Mac players via Steam.

For more information on Free to Play, please visit http://www.teamfortress.com/freetoplay.

For more information on the "Über Update" and "Meet the Medic", please visit http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate.