A serious problem occurred in the economy of the shooter Team Fortress 2. A player now claims that the Steam operator Valve made a lot of money from the Steam marketplace. Valve, meanwhile, presents the solution to the problem – but many find it too “exploit-friendly.”
What was the problem? In the shooter “Team Fortress 2”, unusual hats suddenly appeared from older loot boxes on July 25 with a 100% chance.
These hats are otherwise very rare. The cosmetic items are traded on the Steam marketplace and are actually valuable.
Because the supply of the otherwise rare hats increased:
- there was suddenly a price explosion for loot boxes, the crates.
- the price for the rare hats, however, fell sharply.
- much more people logged into Team Fortress 2
- there was increased activity on the Steam marketplace.
Accusation: Valve profited from the exploit
This is the accusation of a player: On reddit a player says that according to his calculations, the Steam operator Valve made a profit of over $30,000 from the market crash alone from crates 82 and 85.
When all is added up, Valve might have made over $67,000 in profit from its mistake in Team Fortress 2. This is due to the fee that Valve takes from each transaction on the Steam marketplace.
The user then precisely details how much money the various loot boxes and keys were sold for and what Valve’s share was each time.
Others say: Reset would be too complicated
This is what’s behind it: The implied accusation behind the calculation is that Valve will not simply reverse everything that happened on the marketplace on July 25. Because Valve profits from it and would otherwise have to refund the money.
This “reroll” has been demanded by many in the community. But quickly skeptics said: “Valve will not reset the trade.”
But the skeptics believed it was not because Valve made money from this, but simply because it would be too complicated.
Valve leaves trade as is – but offers “refunds”
This is how Valve now responds: Valve had briefly suspended trading a week ago and marked the items from the crates as “non-tradable”.
On Friday, Valve now presented the solution to the problem (via teamfortress.com):
- The first “unusual hat” that players bought on the market on July 25 will be tradable retroactively and will become a normal item
- All other hats will remain non-tradable
- Anyone who deleted a hat from these buggy loot boxes out of fear of a ban will receive that hat back
- Anyone who wishes can trade these non-tradable hats and receive a refund for each hat, each crate, and each key they purchased on the marketplace
Players find: The honest one is now the dumb one
This is how it is seen: Valve’s current solution is viewed critically in the Team Fortress 2 community. They had warned against exploiting it. Many players expected that Valve would reverse all trades on that day and that the exploiters would look foolish.
Now, people believe that those who exploited it ultimately benefit. And the “honest” players who did nothing are the suckers.
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