It’s sort of astonishing that the venerable class-based online shooter Team Fortress 2, which made its debut way back in October 2007, has never had any sort of competitive matchmaking. It didn’t even have it when it went free-to-play in 2011. That all is going to change, however, as Valve has confirmed there will be a beta for the feature later this year.
The first hints of competitive Team Fortress 2 matchmaking appeared back in April 2015, when eSport League TeamFortress.tv broached the idea with Valve in a meeting. The results of that meeting were posted on YouTube. According to the site, Valve told them they were working on ”(competitive) matchmaking as a high priority,” with possible features including a one-click lobby system.
No official features or info has been released yet. Valve has created a Steam page for ”Team Fortress 2 Competitive Beta,” but there’s nothing posted there yet, save a missive from the studio promising; ”We’ll be using this group to send out announcements related to the competitive beta as well as seed beta invites for the expansion of the closed beta. If that sounds like a thing you need, get in here!”.
While Team Fortress 2 has been a professional eSport and featured its own competitive leagues, it hasn’t had much of a real presence on the eSports scene because of the lack of official support from Valve. A competitive matchmaking service will be a shot in the arm for those independent leagues looking to get a wider reach.
