User-generated content and community mods for Team Fortress 2 have made big bucks for early adopters of Valve's peer-to-peer marketplace, generating royalties of nearly $50,000.
Released on the 30th September as part of the "Mann-Conomy" update for PC and Mac, Valve's new initiative allows creative users to design their own maps and gameplay offshoots for Team Fortress 2 and put them up for sale on a dedicated marketplace.
Five community members took part in the initial round of content creation, explained Valve - Rob Laro, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern and Shaylyn Hamm. Money generated from sales were meant to go to their respective Paypal accounts, but something went awry - they all earned so much that it exceeded Paypal's limit on how much money could be sent to individuals.
As a result, yesterday they all received cheques for the first two weeks of sales, and the return ranged from $39,000 to $47,000 per person. Yikes!
"It's astounding that so many people want to purchase the items that came out of the community," said Spencer Kern. "The response exceeded my wildest expectations. There really is no doubt at this point that there's a huge demand for community-created content in TF2 and, hopefully, more games will start to tap into this demand."
No-one's happier than Valve president Gabe Newell though. "At a time when content creators are struggling with changing markets and evolving technologies, the Steam community is sending a clear message with these checks. Platforms that enable this kind of peer-to-peer exchange of virtual goods and services are going to be enthusiastically received. They create an inherently greater efficiency in connecting creators and consumers."
Ka-ching. That's got your attention now. Fancy getting involved? Head to the TF2 Contributions website for more details.
Released on the 30th September as part of the "Mann-Conomy" update for PC and Mac, Valve's new initiative allows creative users to design their own maps and gameplay offshoots for Team Fortress 2 and put them up for sale on a dedicated marketplace.
Five community members took part in the initial round of content creation, explained Valve - Rob Laro, Shawn Spetch, Steven Skidmore, Spencer Kern and Shaylyn Hamm. Money generated from sales were meant to go to their respective Paypal accounts, but something went awry - they all earned so much that it exceeded Paypal's limit on how much money could be sent to individuals.
As a result, yesterday they all received cheques for the first two weeks of sales, and the return ranged from $39,000 to $47,000 per person. Yikes!
"It's astounding that so many people want to purchase the items that came out of the community," said Spencer Kern. "The response exceeded my wildest expectations. There really is no doubt at this point that there's a huge demand for community-created content in TF2 and, hopefully, more games will start to tap into this demand."
No-one's happier than Valve president Gabe Newell though. "At a time when content creators are struggling with changing markets and evolving technologies, the Steam community is sending a clear message with these checks. Platforms that enable this kind of peer-to-peer exchange of virtual goods and services are going to be enthusiastically received. They create an inherently greater efficiency in connecting creators and consumers."
Ka-ching. That's got your attention now. Fancy getting involved? Head to the TF2 Contributions website for more details.
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Comments
irritant 22 Oct 2010 12:13
1/4
I'm not sure if it's impressive that a community contributor can make such serious money simply from creating a few 3D models, or terrifying that the public are stupid enough to hand over real money simply because they are too impatient to wait until they get the items in TF2 through "natural" means.
DrkStr 22 Oct 2010 13:50
2/4
And here's the justification for Sony charging for LBP2 community levels, remember the community members will only get a cut of the profits, Valve in this case and SOny with LBP2 will also get some of the money spent.
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irritant 22 Oct 2010 14:39
3/4
Really? Are they charging for community levels? I downloaded a couple of community levels on LBP PSP and they were quite simply s**t. I hope they plan to screen them and only charge for the ones that are any good.
DrkStr 25 Oct 2010 14:19
4/4
irritant wrote:
Really? Are they charging for community levels? I downloaded a couple of community levels on LBP PSP and they were quite simply s**t. I hope they plan to screen them and only charge for the ones that are any good.
They haven't said anything yet, but you know they're thinking about it.