Valve responds to TF2 bot issue, says it’s ‘working to improve things’

Image: Valve

The company responded to a campaign from Team Fortress 2 players who want it to fix the game's bot issues. The issue has become large and we are working to improve it.

Team Fortress 2 is suffering from huge numbers of automated players on its public server that are ruining the game for legitimate users. According to IGN, bots will ruin the server by crashing it, as well as posting endless spam in chat. The issues afflicting the nearly 15-year old game were the subject of an entire episode of Reply All last year.

TF2 community, we hear you! We love this game and know you do, too. We see how large this issue has become and are working to improve things.

— Team Fortress 2 (@TeamFortress) May 26, 2022

Fans are trying to get a response from Valve by using the #SaveTF2 hashtag. It has over 38,000 upvotes and 2,410 comments. The campaign describes itself as a peaceful protest.

Over the years, there have been signs that Valve is taking steps to address the problems. Eurogamer reported that the game was patched in mid 2020 to address the issues. There has been little official communication from Valve on its progress. The Team Fortress 2 official account had not posted a message in almost two years.

Team Fortress 2 is one of the most popular games on the platform. It is the sixth most played game on Valve's service, with over 70,000 concurrent players, putting it above other popular titles like Grand Theft Auto V, and FIFA 22.

Team Fortress 2 is not the only online title that has had problems with cheating and hacking. Call of Duty: Warzone and Halo Infinite have been forced to introduce anti-cheat measures in order to keep their games enjoyable for legitimate players.