Valve Remembers Team Fortress 2 Exists, But In The Worst Way Possible
It’s been over 6 years since Team Fortress 2 received a major update. But don’t worry, Valve hasn’t forgotten about its popular class-based FPS franchise. In fact, the Half-Life creators have approved a new TF2 DLC for Funko Fusion aka that Funko Pop-themed video game coming out later this year. Yay...?
Funko Fusion was announced in April 2023. It’s a third-person action-adventure game that plays a bit like the recent Lego games but replaces all the cute Lego minifigs with ugly, big-headed Funk Pop figures. Funko Fusion will feature characters and worlds from various movies, TV shows, and games, including Nope, Jurassic Park, Megan, The Thing, Hot Fuzz, The Mummy, and more. And now, we know that the beloved characters from Team Fortress 2 will also be playable in this pop-culture fever dream.
On July 1, as spotted by Wario 64 on Twitter, a new Team Fortress 2 character DLC pack for Funko Fusion went live on Steam. The new DLC is free for all Steam users and contains playable Funko Pop versions of Heavy, Scout, Medic, and Engineer. Here’s the DLC’s store page description:
Packing more punch than the sandvich, this all-action add on is kind of a big deal! Relive some of your favourite Team Fortress 2 moments in Funko Fusion with these characters.
You might be wondering: “Hey, where are all the other characters from TF2?” Or maybe you are asking: “Oh god, why does any of this exist?”
I can’t answer that last question, but as for your first, it seems Valve and Funko never got around to making figures based on the other characters, like Pyro or Sniper. Weirdly, I don’t think there was ever an official Engineer figure from Funko, but apparently, the devs wanted to include him anyway. Maybe that means the other TF2 characters could eventually arrive in Funko Fusion via a second DLC pack? I know I’ll be waiting intently for that day.
I don’t think many people would mind Valve approving a TF2 DLC for Funko Fusion if the studio still supported the game in a meaningful way. However, that isn’t the case—the last major content for Team Fortress 2 happened all the way back in October 2017, over 2400 days ago. TF2 also has a bot problem, with the annoying bastards constantly ruining matches, forcing players to run fan campaigns to get Valve’s attention.
So yeah, for many players, watching TF2 continue to slowly die from a thousand cuts as Valve does little to help or grow the shooter has been a frustrating experience. And then Funko Fusion announces a TF2-themed DLC. It probably feels like rubbing salt in an open wound at this point.
Funko Fusion will released on September 13 on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. Yes, it seems like it’s also skipping Xbox One.
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