Team Fortress 2 update to introduce Competitive Mode and matchmaking

Team Fortress 2, the acclaimed team-based FPS from Valve, is getting an update soon titled ‘Meet Your Match’, as detailed here. The update, split into two sections, is set to add Competitive Mode and matchmaking.

Competitive Mode – eerily similar to Overwatch’s new Competitive Mode, launched just a week ago – is just what was expected; a difficult mode where 6v6 teams fight each other with no team changes, no class or weapon restrictions, fixed shotgun spreads and no critical hits. There are 18 ranks to attain by continuing to win in Competitive Mode as well as gold, silver and bronze medals for outstanding players in the fields of kills, damage, healing and support. Those who leave games will face a tough punishment: abandoning a game causes an instant loss, as well a short-term ban, but with subsequent abandonments the ban increases in time. Players chasing scores will also not be impressed to lose points, which can cause your hard-earned rank to decrease.

Those who feel like this mode will be good for them need a Premium Team Fortress 2 account, though you’ll need to provide your number as a security measure. If you really don’t want to do that, there’s a Competitive Access Pass available for an “introductory discount” of $10 when the update comes around, which suggests that it won’t be that cheap for long – Valve haven’t stated what the full price will be, though.

Next, the reveal of matchmaking was handled quite nicely by Valve, who wrote “That’s when it hit us: Take matchmaking and apply it to video games. “But what about…?” you say, and we cut you off mid-sentence, gently place our fingers on your lips and whisper: Matchmaking has never existed in video games before.”, a clear, joking reference to Overwatch.

Day 1 of the update is live, and Day 2 is coming soon. We’ll have to wait and see what Competitive Mode and matchmaking can add to the Team Fortress 2 experience.